So I woke up this morning to find that the floors of my mini are wet. after some investigating I believe it is coming from somewhere on the roof/sunroof. I'm not 100% sure its coming from there though. where are the usual places to check for a leak??


it seems to be more on the passenger side and it looks like some water has dripped down the passenger seat as well.


Need help soon as the next 5 days is all rain

 

Make sure your sunroof drains are not clogged. Good thread with steps on how to fix your possible issue here in this NAM thread. Some other good info in this thread here as well.

 

Thanks! going out to check it out now! Hopefully I can resolve the issue today.

 

You're welcome. Be sure to update and let us know what you find.

 

so it doesn't seem to be coming from the drainage tube. but It is instead dripping off the whole length of the airbag (im assuming that's what the white cloth is???). any ideas where that is coming from??

 

not sure why the pictures have been rotated 90 degrees to the left.

 

And you checked the drains/drain exits for clogging? In this thread here I list where they are location wise (good link in Spencer's post too) and there is a good video in the OP post of where they leak out in the front of the car. Last post also gives some good suggestions.

 

I think it may be the drains in the back because the floor behind the passenger seat was wet as well. it looks to me like it leaked in the back and dripped all the way down the airbag to the front as well. does that sounds plausible?


Also how can I get to the rear drains? both on the interior and exterior

 

For the rear, there isn't much on the internet to help with this so I went and messed around with our R53. For image #1, I recommend taking some compressed air and blowing it into that hole (one on each side). I wanted to see exactly what and where the tube ran so I pulled the pillar off slightly (be careful as there is an airbag). When pouring water into the sunroof, it immedately made its way to the front drains. If I wanted it to leak out the back drain, I had to stick my finger in the front one so that it would pour out the back drain. I'd suggest checking out them all to make sure the hoses aren't loose/damaged.





Here is a good visual video for the front drains:


You checked this hose on the fronts to make sure it wasn't disconnected correct?

 

I really appreciate you doing all of this to help me out! unfortunately I've yet to find the problem. ive checked the front hoses to see if they were disconnected and i've pushed air through the front and rear hoses to see if there was any crap blocking the line.


The only thing I know is that the the edge of the headline is wet across the passenger side which you can see in the pictures I attached earlier.

 

No worries! Maybe someone else will chime in with some helpful ideas as well. Only other thing I can think of is a seal is leaking somewhere on the sunroof or around the area of where your headliner is wet. What you can do is have someone spray the car from the outside around the area that is wet inside and you can sit inside the car to watch and see if you can see any water seeping in. Keep that piece of the headliner down/exposed so you can see. It could be a very slow leak so you might not see something right away, but wont hurt to try it out. I did stumble upon this comment here in a sunroof thread. He said, "there was an imperfect seal somewhere in the roof area." Looks to be an active vendor on this board. Maybe you can PM him and ask him specifically what seal was bad? The OP had a leak at the 3rd brake light, but as a result was seeing water on the drivers side. Hope this helps a little and that someone else has a brilliant idea as to what it could be.

 

I found the leak!!!!!!


I feel stupid for not finding it earlier haha. it looks like one of the seals around the sunroof has lost its adhesive and is starting to sag and fall off. It'll be the seal that my finger is touching in the picture attached. I believe it is part #7 in the diagram also attached. could I get some conformation?

 

Great! Looks like #7 is the trim 54107178716 here, but still technically helps keep water out. #6 is in fact the actually seal that keeps water from the drains entering the vehicle, 54107039723 here, and looks like that is a seal that individuals have had issues with before. Here is a thread on NAM with some good info and some good PDF files to help with the replacement. Look at post #6 for some good detailed information about the seals and how to replace it. Let me know if you have questions.

 

Just as an update to anyone who comes across this forum i ordered the 2 parts listed above. Will get them installed as soon as they get here! i'll leave an update after that as well.

 

The info right here: Not as typical as the drain tubes but it does happen

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-out-seal.html

 

Did this fix your leak?

 

When fishing wire or trimmer line through the drains, is there danager of tearing them or disconnection portions that are hidden from view?

After the metal tube, is the remainder also metal?