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Can my Sunroof cause my car to not start?

We had a 2009 Mini Cooper S come into Euro-Asian on the back of a tow truck and the Mini was in a no start condition.    After further inspection we found the Mini Cooper was not getting spark to the Ignition Coils causing it to just crank over and not start.  

Our master technician, Will found the passenger side floor board of the vehicle very wet.  The passenger side floor board is the area where the junction box/ module lives.   After removing the carpet we found the junction box/module to be submerged in water.    The water source was coming from the sunroof drains overflowing into the 2009 Mini Cooper S instead of draining outside of the vehicle.

Will removed some of the trim around the passenger side carpet area to gain access to where the water was pooled up and used a wet vacuum to remove the standing water and he also found the Junction Box/Module connectors and wiring harness to be corroded from water damage.  The water damage was causing the Module to not send spark to the Ignition Coils of the 2009 Mini Cooper S causing the no start condition.

After replacing the Junction Box/Module and Connectors, cleaning and clearing the sunroof drains and coding the new Junction Box the 2009 Mini Cooper S is now operating as designed.  Water intrusion in a vehicle can cause so many problems and costly ones at that.  

The moral of the story is:  please let your favorite technician know if you experience any moisture inside your vehicles as quickly as possible.  Also let them know if your vehicle lives under any trees that release a lot of debris.  That debris will find its way into those sunroof drains and clog them; we recommend having your sunroof drains blown out annually.

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