hey everyone, I just discovered an inch of water in the spare tire well of my Clubman!! WTF?!?!

anyone experience this? It only has 6700kms on it, have had it since March... apparently it doesn't like the spring rain we've had.

It did a nice job of filling my digital tire pressure gauge with water, as well as soaking everything else in there (gloves, cargo net, etc)... i'm glad the first aid kit wasn't in there!

I searched and found 1 person complain of this back in 08... he mentioned that when parked, his front end was angled up, as is mine on my driveway, perhaps the sunroof isn't draining properly...

It's off to the dealer next week...

 

Yeah, check the sunroof drain tubes! That would be the most likely culprit. Also check the rear door seals, rear windows (make sure they are glued in completely), antenna, and another big culprit would be the taillight assembly seals.

 

update, the dealer was no help, "could not reproduce"... its up to me to diagnose

 

My 2010 is in the shop right now for a similar problem. I was out of the country for a week and left my car in an uncovered parking lot. When I returned, the passenger side floorboard was soaking wet. The dealership called a little while ago and told me the sunroof drain tube had a kink in it that caused it to back up water all the way into the A-pillar. They've fixed it (supposedly) and are airing out the interior etc. for a day before they give it back. Hopefully this is a one-time occurance.....

 

I had the same "could not reproduce" from my dealer! I's upsetting, i can't seem to find the "leak". Any help??

 

where is your interior getting wet?

i took mine home and started taking things apart (after a good soaking with the garden hose)... i also couldn't get it to leak in my driveway. So i took off the cargo area scuff panel to get a better look in behind it, I did find an area that looked like it had been wet, but had since dried... i noticed some holes where the body and rear valence get welded together, the factory plugs them up with some black tar goo and then presses on the rubber door seal, well some of those holes didn't get any goo and thus were a direct entrance into the cargo well. I don't actually know HOW the water got in there (if it even did), but my only theory is that continuous spray from a long drive we did on the highway (3hrs) in monsoon rains a week before i found the pool in the tire well was the cause. This would explain why EVERYTHING in my tire well was soaked, including all the stuff stored in the styrofoam tool kit as the water wouldn't have just been dribbling in, it might very well have been spraying/splashing in *shrug*.

So anyway, i filled up those holes with silicone and of course we haven't had any rain since! So the verdict is still out.

 

update:
we drove in some major rain on Saturday while heading for Toronto, I checked the well a couple times, bone dry... so I guess my fix worked as it hasn't leaked in any of the recent downpours or during a 2+hr drive in solid rain

 

I found the water in my tire well last night as well. About a pint, but it hasn't rained since I bought the car, so it didn't happen on my watch.

Guess its time to call Mini today.

 

Okay I know this is an older post (not too old though) I notice moisture on my front window after getting home from being out of town. I has been raining and so I checked and sure enough I have some water in my tire well. So anyone else reporting this issue?

Vereinmann, any chance you have Pics of the holes you covered?

 

joey, i can't really take pics of the holes i plugged as i don't want to pull the rubber seal off them again. They are easy to find tho, along the bottom of the cargo opening, pull back the door seal from the lip its pressed onto, there you will see painted, ribbed metal, there should be quite alot of black tar goo along there, but not likely filling every raised rib... PM me if you need more help/info!

 

I recently had the same problem with the front passenger side floor being wet after a torrential rain. Did the fix you described by the MINI dealer work?

Thanks -

 

Has anyone else had this issue recently? As this post is fairly old I'm wondering if there are any updates from dealers. I found an inch of water in my spare well and the styrofoam was wet, etc. just like this original post. We've had tons of rain this summer fall, but none of the interior carpeting is wet, just the well. Leads me to think it's coming from driving, not sitting in the rain. As we are 3 hours from a dealer I'd like to get more than just "could not reproduce" if I take it all that way. I don't want a trunk full of salty winter water.

 

I haven't had any more water in the well since my first post, so either I solved the problem myself, or the exact situation has never repeated itself

 

A question on your fix. By "the cargo area scuff panel" did you mean the black plastic panel that goes up and over the bottom of the opening and has a U shaped cutout for the left door catch?

Sorry to drag up old memories ...

 

Yup that's the part I'm talking about.

No worries, I hope my post/findings can be of help to others!

 

Ugh, was driving and heard this werid squeaking coming from the rear. Thought it was my umbrella rubbing around. My entire wheel well is filled with water. Guess I'll take it in on Monday, I'll take a picture when I get home.

 

Dry Vac the water out and it was soapy, washed my car with a power washer last week so it might have been my fault. Going to let it ride this time and check it again later. No more power washing for me.

 

Finally took the car to the dealer where they ordered new rear door seals. They were installed last week. So we'll keep track of the water level. If that doesn't work I'll go with the Vereinmann fix.

 

weird, i've powerwashed mine MANY times and never found a hint of water! Seems like there are multiple different ways for water to get in there...

 

Having this exact problem. Discovered it today.

 

I had the same problem with water in my spare tire well and it took a while to figure out where it was coming from. Mine turned out to be the gaskets for the clubman doors. The dealer replaced them a couple of months ago and I have been good since.

 

When you say the clubman doors you mean the rear doors? The weatherstripping?

 

Yes, exactly.

 

Just and FYI

the rear doors are called "barn doors"

and the extra side door is called the club door or clubman door.

 

I guess I spoke to soon on my water leak issue. After I made my last post I had to put something in the back of my car so I decided to check everything out to see if it was still all good. Of course there was water in there again. This is now the 5th time the car has been in service for the water leak so I am really starting to question the car over the long term. Sadly I have started to look into the North Carolina Lemon laws. I still love how the car drives and it still puts a smile on my face everytime I get in it but if this continues I am going to have to look at my options. It is really disappointing to me because my family has had mini's the majority of my life and ever since the BMW mini's came out I have wanted one.