Has anyone else experienced this? All of a sudden, my package shelf seems a half inch lower (or, the interior of my hatch door, a half-inch higher).

In any event, when I try to close the the hatch, the round section holding the rear wiper mechanism bounces against the package shelf, instead of going into the rounded indention underneath.

The thing won't close properly unless I remove the package shelf.

I've examined the shelf and it looks normal. What in the world is going on?

Stephen


By the way - thanks to everyone for the grocery bag suggestion when it comes to the "burning plastic smell." That's how I found the forum, and yep, that's what was underneath my car. It still smells, but maybe the residual will burn off shortly.These are the first problems I've ever had w/ the car (and it has 34,600 miles... figures, right?) : )

 

Yeah, it's a bit annoying. Just make sure the 'package shelf' ***** are fully seated into the recesses. It's easy to get them slightly out when doing stuff back there and instead of thunk, you get a 'thud'. I may have to try adding a detent. Probably something as simple as a patch of felt at the rear edge of the **** recess would help keep the **** in place during normal use, but not cause a problem when you want to remove it.

 

I had the same problem with my '03 MC. From the very begining. I put some thumb tacks in the rubber bumpers on the shelf and that has helped. I also put small squares of velcro (loop not hooks) where the thumbtacks hit so it doesn't rub a hole in the plastic.

 

That happened to me just the other day. It was not pushed back all the way. Tried to shut the door and it bounced right back open, scared me to death.

 

Yeah it's a stupid design. I'm on my 2nd shelf. The first shelf I had, the dealer tried to repair it by putting some double sticky foam tape on the ends of the shelf. Lasted about a week, then began catching again.

They gave me a new shelf, and it's been fine for the last 20,000 miles. Now it's doing it again. I have to close boot twice--first time it snags, bounces, then it closes. I know everytime it snags it only gets worse, but the only way to solve it is remove the shelf altogether. They should take a hint from Toyota like the SCION Xa cover that retracts.

Oh well.

 

i am also on my selcond shelf. the first one got "bent" some how. the dealer gave me a new one and so far, 25 k, later no problems.

 

They don't even need to look to Toyota - the M Coupe has a retractable hatch cover that works great. Must be too costly or something for the Mini

(Of course that specific design would not work with the fold down seats, but it just goes to show that BMW has used a retractable cover before. As I recall the removable retractable one in the WRX worked well.)

 

You wanna eliminate the problem once and for all??? Easy! Install the rear seat delete and dump the shelf. In the 3 years I've had my 2 MINIs I've had rear passengers about 6 times. Now they'll have to get in through the rear hatch.

 

That was a constant problem with my '03. I always meant to shorten the cords a bit to solve the problem (removing the shelf is definitely not the only solution), but instead I just sold the car and bought an '05.

 

I thought about shortening the strings and tested it with zip ties... you can't get them short enough to help the closing and still allow the opening of the boot all the way.

Just take a thumb tack that is 1/4 to 3/8 inch long and push it into the rubber on either side. You'll never notice the problem again. I also recommend a small piece of velcro loops to avoid chaffing.

You could also do the reverse and build up a mound of sorts in this area and not modify the shelf at all.

 

This is a real easy fix. Take a small rubber tube, about 1/4 " outside dia., and using rubber cement or hot glue, attach to the little rubber pad at rear part of the shelf. This will raise the rear level of the shelf and boot will close fine