Its been peeing it down with rain recently, It turns out our mini cooper (2002)apears to be letting in lots of water! I wrung out a soaking chamois this morning placed in the area behind the passenger seat and there tonnes more water where that came from.

I've read a few threads on here about various leaks though most appear to be related to the footwell or the boot. those that i have found relating to our particulr problem mention 'sticky tape' and a lack of a seal.... as far as i can see the inside of the main body has seals etc all round the door and the door itself doesnt appear to be missing anything obvious.

Can anyone give me a detailed breakdown of exactly where i should start on findoing thhe hole/leak and suggest how i can fix it.


I'm not taking it to BMW/MINI out of principle as I doubt they will be interested in a car of this age unless i'm will to shell out loads of cash. despite the fact that BMW obviously skimped on testing/development etc. list of faults within the last 6 months include rubbish quality bushes being replaced with proflex, faulty airbag sensors/light now on, knocking steering column and seats that do not recline properly or move forward under their own steam.

bought the car used, it drives brilliantly and puts a smile on my face, just a let pity that soembody didnt do their job propelry when it came to reliablity, my fiat was more reliable that this mini which really is saying something!!

Any help will be much appreciated.

cheers

Right lets start from the beginning. Its an 8 year old car. It WILL have faults! End of - parts do not last for ever.

Bushes are rubbish?! 8 year old car - these will go. They don't last forever.

A sensor has gone - again an 8 year old car

Seats don't move on their own?! My back rests do but the seat won't slide unless you push them. This is the same on brand new cars too. You bought the car second hand - you don't know how many times they've been used. At the end of the day those seats could have been used thousands of times - its a mechanical movement - it won't last forever! Needs maintenance.

Air bag light - who did it? Sounds like they didn't reset it or did the job incorrectly.

Seat - I'd put up with it. It'd cost a couple of hundred at least to fix it - may as well just push it... Not like its loads of effort.

Leak - fold the seats down, sit someone in the car and spray around all the doors, panel joints etc with a hose pipe. This should reveal the source of the leak to you. There's a possibility its the switch that causes the window to rise when you shut the door making the window stay open...

Just remember its an 8 year old car and it will have faults! Its more worn than a 4 year old car, hence why its cheaper to buy it ;)

Thanks, (I think) for your help.


Maybe the tone of my post was all wrong eh... :)! I am happy with how the car performs , but compared to other used cars i've had and all the 'known issues' ive read about on here i am trying to not get dissapointed with what is a great car to drive

Am well aware of the cars age, and to expect faults because of the age and yes i do know seats do not move on their own accord thanks. Having managed to find an example with just over 40k on it i wasnt expecting all the problems to appear at once. Always a risk i know with a used car.

I've also been advised by a respected mini specialist that some of the parts weren't fantastic from new -hence the replacement (in the case of the bushes) with different non bmw parts (see also 'steering columns).

All i wanted was a bit of advice on how to isolate this leak as there are no obvious seals missing anywhere and it doesnt appear to be coming from the boot or the front A pillar and the seat belt isn't wet which is what most of the other 'leaky' posts refer to.


looks like i'll have to put up with it til the rain ceases and pull the thing apart till i find the leak. unless anyone else has some sage advice.

Which mini specialist did you use?

Have you tried sitting someone in the car with the seats down and then squirting it with a hose pipe? That should help you identify where your leak is coming from.

40k on an 8 year old car can (not always) be a bad sign. As the mileage is very low it could be that the car has only been used for short runs (school run, round town etc) which puts a lot more wear on the car than doing a long run... Parts obviously wear faster in town too with speed bumps etc...

I'm sorry if my post came across wrong, but I've read a lot of posts saying how rubbish/badly designed/low quality a mini is because a couple of mechanical wear and tear parts have worn out over 7/8 years! Parts don't last forever, and 8 years is a long time when you think about how much abuse these parts get - rain, salt, snow, heat, too fast on speed bumps (we've all done it) etc. It gets incredibly tiresome when you read people saying that the car is rubbish, badly designed, low quality etc the car is - its 8 years old!!!

You might consider the water diverter plastic sheet inside the door. If it is mislocated, it can send water over the sill into the car. A friend of mine just had this problem with his BMW 325.

My 2002 MCS has an ongoing leak at the passenger door frame.

As far as I can make out, water is somehow getting to the middle section of the door seal (the pinchweld section) and finding its way into the passenger footwell.

I have taken the carpets out and can see where the water is coming from (inside of door seal at bottom of door frame).

I haven't had a chance to check how the water gets to the inside side of the door seal.

Here's the thread that I contributed to:
http://www.mini2.com/forum/first-generation-faults-fixes/132535-water-leak-door-seals.html


Cheers,

Dave