1st Gen R53 Cooper S Most liked posts in thread: Water in boot hatch < WHAT?

Climb in the boot & have someone spray water on all parts of the hatch area. With flashlight in hand look things over. Take the inner cover off first. Good luck.

 

Was the water in the hatch, or boot? If hatch, also check the license plate trim/topper piece. While you're in there, you'll find a connector that goes to the boot handle "switch" (the pad you push when you open the boot from the outside). That connector is wrapped in cloth anti-rattle tape from the factory, and that cloth can get wet. Dry it thoroughly, then waterproof that connector using liquid electrical tape or smother it in dielectric grease (bulb grease), or use your own waterproofing method. (Don't just wrap with electrical tape, that's not gonna cut it). If it gets wet it shorts and your boot won't stay closed, just keeps going "boonk" randomly until dry (or until battery is flat).

 

Just pull on it and the pop clips will come loose. Start at the corners it just pulls off. Then disconnect the the boot hatch handle where you open the boot. You need to remove 3 or 4 torx 20 screws and then it comes right off. Then you will see the little connector that needs to be dried and sealed. Liquid tape of silicone works great.

Good luck.

 

Couple places to check. The gasket on the boot handle could be bad as could the seal where the wires & washer fluid tube enter at the top of the hatch. Possibly the washer tube has gotten loose from the wiper. I'd pull that panel cover from the hatch & look for any witness marks left by the water. They may lead you to the source of the leak.

 

I had similar problem. Mine was my third brake light by the spoiler. I just pulled it out and used clear silicone to seal it. No more problems

 

Forgot all about the 3rd brake light. Good call.

 

Be very careful about that water, one of our club members shorted out his main electrical wire, the one that goes underneath the rear trim and snakes to the left, was not good at all. Luckily, he had bought it from Carmax, and was still under their 90 day warranty They ended up shipping it to the dealer, was there for almost a month. Would have been a $2500. bill :eek6:

 

Only time anymore that my Mini sees water is when I wash it, I just drive hers in the rain, mine stays comfy in the garage :lol:

 

Don't mind the rain, sort of a Mother Nature car wash. When she throws hail I run for cover & hide the MINI.

 

mine had a similar problem when i went to change the battery i noticed an inch of water had collected in the battery box. i threw a towel in there and got all the water out and it hasn't come back since

 

At the bottom center on the inside of the boot is the drain that normally stays outside of the car. However if it becomes blocked then the water will flow from several other undesirable locations. Putting a small scribe etc inside the drain to clear it out will normally help with future issues.

 

That's cool, congrats

 

You should probably check that the drain ports on the bottom of the hatch are not clogged.
Mine were, cleared them out and now water wont collect there.