Water leak - door seals

[trucker]

My 01 MINI has a problem with both door seals, not leaking as such, but acting as a channel for water to get into the car footwell on both sides.

The cars has always been damp in the winter ( ie windows running with condensation ) and have recently decided to investigate why.

After having removed the whole interior carpet ( took 4 hours from start to finish) I drained over 5 pints of water from the carpet.

Drying the inside out thoroughly, it quickly became obvious when i started to pour water over the roof where the water gets in, and how.

Basically, the door seal comprises a continuous metal V shaped clip embedded into the rubber which clips over the metal edge of the door aperture on the car body. On the edge of this is the actual seal which the car door / window presses against .

Along the top edge of the seal right under the plastic gutter trim attached to the roof, the metal clip is acting as a 'gutter', and filling up with water, which then flows along between the metal clip and the car body, and depending how the car is parked ( up hill / downhill ) then runs down towards the sill. As it runs down the water drips out onto the sill area INSIDE the car. These drips join together and then run down ino the footwell.

At the moment I have not managed to do anything to cure it, but plan to fill the metal clip groove up with black silicone, and then push it back onto the car door opening, so stopping the gutter effect.

[Dave Elliott]

Interesting.

This is probably also the cause of the rusty seam at the top of the sills.

Dave

[trucker]

Having done some more research about this problem it seems that it is a lot more common and widespread than I imagined it might be.

It looks like ALL MINI's might be prone to the water crossing behind the seal clip and collecting on the top edge of the sill causing rusting even in newish motors !

http://www.mini2.com/forum/australia...australia.html

In some respects I am happier now I know that its not my particular car thats a problem, but wonder if MINI are aware of the problem.

[Dave Elliott]

Hi trucker,

I'm sure MINI/BMW are well aware of the problem, but understandably they are not publicising the fact.

There are many MINIs that I have heard of that have had the rust "repaired", some with rust re-appearing shortly after.

My guess is that they take to the rust with a wire brush, clean up the area and respray (I've heard that they paint the area thicker than before). To me this is not a fix. It only temporally hides the problem.

BMW/MINI have to find out where the water is coming from (or more precisely how it's getting under the seal); something that you seem to have solved.

I will have to have a look at my own car and investigate whether there is another solution apart from using silicon rubber.

Personally I would be more comfortable with BMW/MINI supplying new door rubbers and me fix the rust (after all I've owned classic minis for over 30 years, so I know a lot about rust !!!

Oh, and another thing. Have you noticed that the seam at the bottom of the door is sometimes not closed up, i.e. there is up to a 1mm gap between the two panels, only closed together at the spot welds. perhaps this is so that the sill box section can breath. However I would imagine that quite a few of us may have water sloshing about in the sills due to water coming in from the seal problem as you described.


Cheers,

Dave

[Bmx 777]

my car seems to be leaking too, when it rains my seatbelts get soacked

[Karen24668]

I too have had a problem with a leak, my local garage suggested that it might be due to the door seal. I have had the seal replaced but can still see water dripping in through the door. Araughhh don't know what to do now car is 51 with 36,000 miles and its own paddling pool. Has anyone managed to resolve this problem, does BMW recognise this and what do I do next?

Any help would be really appreciated.

I have signed the airbag light petition - who needs airbags....

[Mini4000]

Quote: Originally Posted by Karen24668 (original)

I too have had a problem with a leak, my local garage suggested that it might be due to the door seal. I have had the seal replaced but can still see water dripping in through the door. Araughhh don't know what to do now car is 51 with 36,000 miles and its own paddling pool. Has anyone managed to resolve this problem, does BMW recognise this and what do I do next?

Any help would be really appreciated.

I have signed the airbag light petition - who needs airbags....

sorry but i haven't got a solution to your problem, but i do got the same isseus ... i have a little pool in the trunk area and keeps getting wet ...

especially if there is a lot of consecutive rain it is impossible to keep it dry...

also i have the airbag light problem.... it seems to come from the sockets underneath the drivers seat. if touched a little, maybe through vacuming , it can give fault codes back to the computer....

and the dealer always seems to find this something very odd...

[Bmx 777]

so r u saying ur airbags inflate by mistake? not sure why my safety belt r always soaking after the rain

[petrina149]

I have recently bought a 51 plate mini one from Arnold Clark and it had a wet patch in the driver footwell. I reported this to Arnold Clark and they said that the water was coming in through the door seal so they replaced it and dried out the car.


This was about a month ago and recenty I've noticed the same wet patch appearing again. I can't see where the water comes in so I think it might be around the door seal again as I've read other threads about a gutter effect.

I plan to pull up the carpet and investigate further any tips on doing this ? This is my first car and I know very little so far any advice would be great!

Also does anyone know how to solve this gutter effect, I read something about using silicon? again any advice would be great and pic's if possible

Thanks in advance
Petrina

[Dave Elliott]

Hi,

I joined this thread some time ago when I suggested that the rust on the sill seam may be due to water getting behind the door seal.

Recently I had the rust "fixed", but since then the passenger floor well has been filling with water. I have taken out the carpet and can now monitor the situation. After a reasonably heavy downpour there can be over a litre of water in the passenger foot well. I have seen the water trickling (flowing) from the door seal.

I'm sure I'm now experiencing what Trucker found in the first post of this thread.

Has anyone found a solution to this problem yet?

Trucker has suggested filling the door seal with silicon which will no doubt work, but silicon is horrible messy stuff. I wonder if there is a product available like a heavy wax that will stop the water flowing in the cavity of the seal.


Dave

[mab01uk]

There was an official BMW TSB (Technical Service Bulletin) for this although not well known about outside of the Dealer network. Much info on the problem in this NAM Forum thread in the USA:-
MINI COOPER :: North American Motoring - Rust :: Door Sill area of '02-'05 MINIs

The BMW TSB is post #48 in this MINI2.com thread:-
http://www.mini2.com/forum/faults-fi...in-here-3.html

[Dave Elliott]

Thanks MAB01UK,

However the TSB and thread relate to the rust issue under the seal, not how to stop the water getting under the seal.

The rust on both door frames of my 2002 MCS was fixed under warranty earlier this year. Unfortunately the door seal on the passenger side appears to have been put back in such a way as to ex hasberate the "leaking door seal" problem.

I now have the carpet removed whilst monitoring the problem and trying various things. As mentioned in my previous post I'm after some sort of product that will prevent water getting behind the seal in the first place.


Cheers,

Dave

[jamesdoherty1981]

Anyone got a solution to this?

[1958 harry]

Most cars rust like this there!!!

We had a 53 plate Ford Ka and at 18mths old the sills were rusting in the same way as the Mini's - Fords response to this was less than helpful and basically told us that some parts of the car weren't even ainted and they would do nothing about this!

Probably explains why at 3 yrs old the Ka had serious rust!

To treat this why not wire brush the rust treat it etc then waxoyl the sill/rubber trim to stop it reoccuring?

[Dave Elliott]

No solution to the leaky door seal (I presume this is what you meant) that I know of.

I'm still carpet-less as I continue to monitor the situation in my MCS. Unfortunately it's summer here, so I'll probablly have to resort to a hose-pipe or wait till winter to see the leak again.

I managed to locate a Sikaflex priduct that should "seal" the seal, but I haven't had any spare time to use it.


Cheers,

Dave