Help with a problem and how to fix it once we know what it is?

[BoCRon]

This is on my BFFs brand new MINI. She just completed her first ever detail and thought she'd spilled something on the car somehow and asked me to take a look when she was over. I noticed she had the same "spill" in the exact same places on both sides of the car so figured it was not that.

Anyway when you lift the hood, there is a place at each corner and this mess seems to be dripping from it.  When you lift the hood there is a small opening at each of these corners and you can see there is this clear oily stuff just ready to keep dripping. I figured it out when I pressed on the hood a bit and created more drip! Needless to say it's made a mess out of her trim and I'm thinking it will be a pain to get off.

When I thought about it I realized my R56 had grease dark spots in the same place and I always thought it had to do with me dripping the liquid wax or something when I was detailing. But mine were nowhere near the extent of this. 

 

 

 

She is going to the dealer on Tuesday so will have it looked at. But when she gets it back (assuming they don't replace the trim which is what I told her they should offer to do) I'm wondering how to best clean this up. She has been cleaning it with Adams all purpose cleaner for the past 2 days thinking it was an error she made.

[Team Adam's]

Strange. If its running out of an area under the hood I see 1 of 2 possabilities:

 

1) Its a concentrated slurry of oil and something else from a lube point running out in those areas.

2) its a concentrated amount of something else (detailing related) collecting and running down there

 

I don't think I've ever encountered an issue like this before.

[SYMAWD]

Try APC and a tooth brush.

[LFairbanks]

Is it your motor mount leaking oil?  Looks like a common problem on Mini's.

[BoCRon]

I will take a pic of my MINI with the hood up to show the points. It is not detail related I'm pretty sure. All she did was clay, wash and use liquid paint sealant, followed the next day with a coat of H20 G&G, none of which has this consistency. It's like thick vegetable oil.

The all purpose isn't touching it.

Annette

[BoCRon]

I was actually thinking it is cosmoline.

[LFairbanks]

Try Denatured Alcohol and see if it removes that oily substance.

[Ricky Bobby]

Its either anti-corrosion protection running out from the body seam, or leaking motor mount oil sounds plausible if its an issue on Mini's (I have not researched this nor do I have Mini knowledge)

 

Weird, either way.

[BoCRon]

Ok, I took some pics of the areas on my MINI. Since my MINI is a bright color it was a bit easier to point it out. 

 

Here's a shot showing the 2 points at which the drip in emanating.

 

 

And a shot with the hood up showing the 2 points the drip is coming from. You can't see from the pic but there is a little opening at each of these corners.

 

[chops1sc]

I wonder if you could run some water and/or cleaner into the larger holes in the hood and see if anything nasty comes out of the smaller ones. Put some plastic over the fenders before lowering the hood.

[Team Adam's]

Very strange... certainly keep us posted if you figure it out. Its a head scratcher, thats for sure. Especially considering its only those areas.

[Odds and Ends]

Did any of your previous MINIs do this?  Let me check with my MINI club members to see if they have ever had anything like this.

[BoCRon]

The pics showing the problem are not my MINI. But I did have a similar issue with my '11 R56. But nowhere near the amount that is on the one in the first post. On my '11' I had streaks on the same points on my trim but never took the time to study where it came from, I just assumed it was a result of water dripping on my trim after applying a product. It took a couple of years but I eventually got rid of it. The drip must have run out of whatever and I just kept cleaning it.