On the Mini, you get access to the lights via the wheel well arch. There are two little inspection covers inside the liner you can take out, just to replace the bulb
BHPian Jeroen recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
The other day I noticed condensation in one of the Mini lights.
These are the fog/DRL lights. However, my Mini does not have the Front Fog light option. As you will see, that was most likely the cause of the water ingress/condensation.
On the Mini, you get access to the lights via the wheel well arch. There are two little inspection covers inside the liner you can take out, just to replace the bulbs. If you need to take the complete light unit out, the wheel arch liner has to come out.
So, on the jack and axle stand, the wheel comes off.
Here you see those two inspection/light bulb change-out covers.
I undid the fasteners and peeled back the wheel well liner. I left the rare section in place.
The window spray reservoir has to come out too. Three bolts, two connectors and one small hose disconnected. The reservoir has a very odd shape. In the middle it is open, to accommodate access to this very Foglight/DRL to change out the bulbs. The filler neck has some very elaborate twists in it, and poke through various chassis struts up next to the air filter. Apart from the three bolts it is held in place at the bottom with a large plastic bracket. Which I broke pulling the reservoir out of course.
The offending part is finally out!
Here you can see the problem. The DRL fitting goes into the small top opening and seals that. But as my Mini does not have a front fog light, the main much larger opening has just been “taped shut” by the Mini-geniuses! At some point in time that will start to peel back and you will find water inside the light unit of course! Duh!!
I used a kitchen towel to dry out the inside as much as possible. Next I put it on the window shelf of our kitchen, in the sun to dry out completely.
In the meantime, I tidied up bits on the Mini, which I had now access to, due to the wheel arch liner being peeled back.
My trusted JB weld to the rescue to fix the broken bracket of course!
You might recall I got this very special tape to fix some of the holes inside the Ford Fiesta Chassis. I used the same tape to seal up this Mini fog light opening.
Re-installed everything. Tested the lights and the window spray before I pushed the wheel arch liner in place. Cleaned the wheel hub before refitting the wheel Torqued the nut lugs to the specified 140 Nm.
All done!!
Last weekend I visited the Antwerp Classic Car show. Always a nice event. I picked up a new engine. I am very pleased with it!
Jeroen
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