Leak?

[Anonymous]

I tried it with a hose as well at one point, and I blasted the seals all around the window much more than really would be advisable and nothing came through, so its not a "leak" where water pours through. It only seems to happen when the car is sat in the rain for a while....normally overnight, once whilst at work during the day.

That picture has the door open for more light, but the water is their without opening the door....I dont normally have anyone in the passenger side, so when I get in 1st thing in the morning, the passenger door hasn't been opened, so its not from opening the door, although I see what your saying - on occasion I get that on the drivers door after opening it. I also wondered if opening the drivers door created some kind of vacuum, sucking water out (if that makes sense) so I tend to look through the drivers window before I open the door, and can see the water on the passenger door.

With regards the drip trails etc, thats the thing! No idea where its coming from. The top of the pillar is dry, so I dont think its dripping from the roof etc, sometimes there has been water on the tweeter grill, and others, like the above picture, coming from under the tweeter plastic casing - so with the 2nd picture thats why I think its getting in under the seal and coming out ontop of the tweeter cover...and below! only worked that out this morning, so I might have a closer look.

GAP - got a quote from ala.co.uk for 4yrs cover of £22500 for £224 and told dealer to match it if he wanted the business. He offered me 3yrs cover for £250 which I went with. Got paperwork and saw it was only for £10000 cover, not £22500 like I asked him to match, so felt he had mislead me and cancelled it. Thats the "cut-down" version of events!

 

[Andrew*Debbie]

I appreciate its a bugger to sort, but how many attempts at fixing are reasonable?

In US states with a Lemon Law, reasonable is somewhere around 4 or 5 repair attempts.

 

[Anonymous]

I appreciate its a bugger to sort, but how many attempts at fixing are reasonable?

In US states with a Lemon Law, reasonable is somewhere around 4 or 5 repair attempts.

So that translates to:

In UK with crap laws, reasonable is whatever the dealer dictates!!!!

HaHa, thanks for that, cos it does give me a benchmark for myself, although probably no actual consumer protection. Its not enough to warrant returning the car at this stage, but if its drags on for months...... I really do think the dealer is keen to sort it and not taking it lightly, so at the moment I don't mind it going back several times. I think if it gets to 5 attempts even they will be pushing for more! If they say "nothing we can do" then I'll be kicking off, but I really don't think it'll get that far.

I'm thinking there is something loose/not seated correctly behind the tweeter plastic cover etc. I don't know if there is a seal that is missing etc. If I had the guts I'd have more of a look, but don't want to dismantle it really. Might look on real-oem to see if I can get an exploded view of the area?

 

[JVE89]

Part 3 maybe?

 

[Anonymous]

Wow, thanks for that, that is good service!!!!!

On the exterior of the car, I would agree, part 3 looks like the culprit. I don't know if the dealer striped it down in the previous 2 visits. I expect they will be doing that next.

Would be good to find a similar diagram of the interior, showing the tweeter housing etc. (hint hint!!!).

 

[JVE89]

Here's a diagram for the speakers, just showing the tweeters, not the housing though,

Did you rinse the mirror area with a hose?

 

[andysat]

Sorry to hear of your trouble,it has nothing to do with night temperatures affecting the rubber seal has it?

 

[andysat]

Took 2 trips to get mine fixed, i think around 1k in seals and who knows how much labour LOL!!!!

Washed it at weekend, trying to make it leak this time and its still water tight. Last couple of days its been heavy rain and no sign but it never did leak under normal rain, just when washing.

They will get to the bottom of it. I know with mine once they stopped it leaking around the tweeter area they said it started leaking somewhere else so more seals replaced.

HOW MUCH FOR RUBBER!!!!! FFS!!!! :headbang:

 

[Rialas]

I must confess (and my post is not of much use tbh) but I have never ever owned a cab/convertible that has not suffered the occasional leak to a greater or lesser extent. Hence they're always garaged and only come out on sunny days.

 

[ksher]

It only happened few times to mine (only few drops).

 

[bigshurv]

My 8.5 year old fabric roofed Z4 is 100% water tight. oke: :fuelfire: AND it lives outside 24/7. Tut tut BMW, should do better.Praps I won't be changing for an E89 version in the not too distant......... :thumbsdown:

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the diagram. I didn't realise there was a speaker in the side of the footwell. There are 16 right? (in the pro package)...I was having trouble working out where they were!!!!

Night temperature....um, not thought of that. It has happened once during the day, but I couldn't comment on the temps at the time.

When I used the hose, I pointed it all around the window edges, so yes, I would've pointed it at the front corner of the window where the wing mirror attaches, but not in the actual wing mirror glass.

I hear the message about convertibles leaking, but this is too much, and too often (intermittent, but getting more frequent) for me to ignore. Also, it only affects the passenger side, so I'm sure its a fault with that side somewhere. I'm too pedantic to let it go. Before discounts etc, this car was almost £40k, so this sort of leak is not acceptable.

 

[andysat]

Totally agree with you :thumbsdown:

 

[Anonymous]

Dealer rang today to say they have booked my car in for it's 3rd visit, but the earliest they can do is 23rd May!!! Still, they are keeping it for a few days, and lending me my salesman's new 328i, so that will be fun.

Went out to look at the tweeter covers/seals tonight but didn't do much cos I don't want to break anything. Was looking at the seals where the roof meets the top of the windscreen pillars and noticed they are different on each side:

Drivers side, flush:

Passengers side, slightly out:

I have noticed this previously, but didn't really tie up the possible connection. When I did my hose test I dont think I did too much around this area, so I will have another go.

Can others check theres out and see if theres is different?

 

[TitanTim]

Hi Kevin,

Just checked mine, the drivers side is flush and the passenger side is pretty much flush perhaps a mm difference between the roof guttering and top edge of windcreen but nowhere as much as yours.

I'm still getting the odd drip on the passenger side however after using the Gummi fplege last week the seals inside are dry so its certainly helped.

I'm going to try the krytox on all the seals this weekend.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200732747439?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

Tim.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for checking. I shall definitely point this out when I take it in. I'm not sure if its the roof not aligned correctly, or the seal not positioned right. I think if the roof was wrong, then I'd have bigger problems, and when open, it looks like the passenger side seal is slightly further back.

Sounds like your Gummi has helped. I'm gonna do another hose test at the weekend (might even wash it!!!) and see if that leaks.....ironically, I hope it does, cos then there will be a way for them to test if they've fixed it! When (ha, if!!!) its fixed I will look into the extra lubrications that you mention.

 

[TitanTim]

Thanks for checking. I shall definitely point this out when I take it in. I'm not sure if its the roof not aligned correctly, or the seal not positioned right. I think if the roof was wrong, then I'd have bigger problems, and when open, it looks like the passenger side seal is slightly further back.

Sounds like your Gummi has helped. I'm gonna do another hose test at the weekend (might even wash it!!!) and see if that leaks.....ironically, I hope it does, cos then there will be a way for them to test if they've fixed it! When (ha, if!!!) its fixed I will look into the extra lubrications that you mention.

No probs, if you look at your pic of the seal, bottom part you can see a channel gap, it looks to be so far in that water can get behind it and run down the inside and then drip onto the top of the door trim, it doesn't look to be sealing fully to me. I would get a hose like you say and give it a good spray in that area

Tim.

 

[pharv72]

Had mine 2 weeks now and each time its rained have had the drips in this area on both doors, also the alarm has been going off randomly when parked up outside the house, seemingly only when its raining and at 3am lol, so wondered if the two were connected, mbe the water dripping in was triggering the sensors.
Left it in with the dealer 2day for couple of days to see if they can fix, also getting a wheel refurbed after some stupid kerb jumped out in front of me.... dont want to talk about it :headbang:
Paul

 

[Anonymous]

those kerbs can be pesky little buggers!!!

Did you notice if your seals were aligned correctly or not? Lets hope they fix it and can tell you what was wrong...and please let us know the outcome!

Were you able to replicate it with a hose?

 

[rayz4]

Had mine 2 weeks now and each time its rained have had the drips in this area on both doors, also the alarm has been going off randomly when parked up outside the house, seemingly only when its raining and at 3am lol, so wondered if the two were connected, mbe the water dripping in was triggering the sensors.
Left it in with the dealer 2day for couple of days to see if they can fix, also getting a wheel refurbed after some stupid kerb jumped out in front of me.... dont want to talk about it :headbang:
Paul

BMW know the alarm problem in the rain, the fix is they foil wrap some sensors in the doors, seems to have worked on mine so far. Tell your dealer about it next time your in there.