Leak?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
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Hmmm sounds interesting, service guy didnt seem surprised or anything when I was telling him the symptoms, so prob come across it before.
Yes I can replicate the leaks, initially just thought it was the pressure of the washer but was happening when just sitting in the rain too, so in it went. I'll let you know the result nxt week, cant pick up again till wed due to work.... at least they gave me another convertible - 118i m-sport
Thanks guys, Paul

Oh, never noticed the seals, sry...
 
rayz4 said:
pharv72 said:
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. :thumbsup:

That's interesting - our alarm went off last week at night when it had been raining. We haven't had any leaks as far as I am aware though. Are you saying that BMW think the alarm problem is caused by the leaking? as this means they are admitting to the cars having a general leak problem?
 
Hi Kevin, I was looking at the roof seals this afternoon after washing the Zed :) , especially the passenger side as mine wasn't quite as flush with the windscreen seal as the drivers side. Anyways if you open the door and feel under the roof seal in the corner there is gap enough to get your finger in. You can then pull the seal gently outwards until its flush with the windscreen seal, all good now. I put the roof down and back up and the seal is seating flush with the windcreen as it should.

It might worth you having a look at yours and see if you can do the same. I expect at the factory they just bang the seals onto the roof and don't really bother ensuring theyre lined up correctly.

Cheers.

Tim.
 
Thanks, I'll look into that.

I washed it today, and sprayed quite a bit of water at the mis-aligned seal, also in the water-trough on the top of the roof/door and all around the wing mirror area. Nothing!

I'll look into moving that seal though, cos if thats the cause or not, it should look right!

Noticed Deb has kerned the two rear wheels on her 1'er when I washed that yesterday! I wasn't happy!
 
kevinmarkwhite said:
Thanks, I'll look into that.

I washed it today, and sprayed quite a bit of water at the mis-aligned seal, also in the water-trough on the top of the roof/door and all around the wing mirror area. Nothing!

I'll look into moving that seal though, cos if thats the cause or not, it should look right!

Noticed Deb has kerned the two rear wheels on her 1'er when I washed that yesterday! I wasn't happy!

Hi Kevin.

Just to let you know my little adjustment of the seal and using the Krytox has paid dividends :) Zed has been standing in torrential rain today and no leaks or drips at all. Applied the Krytox on the mating surface between the roof and windcreen seal in each corner and noticed on the outside the rain wasn't penetrating between the seals.

Tim.
 
Well got car back yesterday, they had to re-align the windows so they sealed properly at the front and after a pretty heavy nights rain not a drop of water in the usual areas. Alarm didnt go off either, they said the sensors in the doors had to be wrapped with foil, so spot on guys at the mo.
Also, wheel looks like new again...
Paul
 
Just a quick update.

Stealer had my car in last Wed - Fri to look at the leak. They said they sprayed it with a hose for over 4hrs and were able to replicate the leak....which was a good thing.

They then diagnosed that a piece of tape which holds the seal onto the roof wasn't long enough, so they replaced that and left it over night to dry. Sprayed it again on the Friday and stayed dry, so we thought it was fixed.

Hasn't rained since...until today. It was parked at work all day. It was dry when I drove in and then it drizzle rained most of the day. Got in about 5pm and the leak was back! Passenger door not opened all day. Two drips on the passenger tweeter mesh and two on the passenger window switch. Not as much as before, but in the same place, and it hadn't rained heavily, which might explain why not as much water as before.

Drove straight to the stealer and they were as peed off as me. Booked in for next Thursday and got a loan car until the following Friday (bet it won't be a tasty one this time!).

The seal at the top of the window pillar is still stuck out on the passenger side (as shown in pictures on page 3), so I'm gonna point this out to them....

This will be visit number 4 for this issue. I did say to my salesman tonight its nearly time for a free upgrade...he laughed it off!
 
Try adjusting the roof seal Kevin, 1 min job and put some krytox grease on the roof to winscreen seals where they mate. Mine hasn't leaked since. AIl credit to your dealer but I think they might be trying too hard in the dark.

Tim.
 
Yeah, I remember you said you adjusted yours. Ironically, when I got it back on Friday I noticed it was still stuck out, and I was tempted to try moving it, but thought I won't touch anything until I see if the leak has gone (to rule out me stuffing it up). I'm tempted to do that, but I'll let them have it again and make sure I point it out to them this time, then take it from there.

Thinking about it, I'm suspicious that whatever they did with this "tape" last week was a red herring, and it is probably this sticking out seal all along. Initially I thought it was just a "cosmetic" thing, but now I'm not sure.

Once its sorted (hopefully), or if they don't alter the sticky out seal on next visit, I'll have a fiddle.

Once I'm happy the main leak is resolved, then I'll get some of the gummy stuff or krytox....would you still use both or just krytox? Does it just smear on, and does it last long?
 
kevinmarkwhite said:
Yeah, I remember you said you adjusted yours. Ironically, when I got it back on Friday I noticed it was still stuck out, and I was tempted to try moving it, but thought I won't touch anything until I see if the leak has gone (to rule out me stuffing it up). I'm tempted to do that, but I'll let them have it again and make sure I point it out to them this time, then take it from there.

Thinking about it, I'm suspicious that whatever they did with this "tape" last week was a red herring, and it is probably this sticking out seal all along. Initially I thought it was just a "cosmetic" thing, but now I'm not sure.

Once its sorted (hopefully), or if they don't alter the sticky out seal on next visit, I'll have a fiddle.

Once I'm happy the main leak is resolved, then I'll get some of the gummy stuff or krytox....would you still use both or just krytox? Does it just smear on, and does it last long?

I use both the Gummi Pflege on all seals and just use the krytox where the roof seals against the windscreen in the corners, its like a grease so I wouldn't want to use it on all the seals as a bit messy. The Gummi Pflege stops the seals drying out and is a clear liquid. Useful also around the door seals to stop the windows sticking to the seals in winter.

Tim.
 
Quick update.

Got my car back on Saturday. They had it in on Thursday 7th and it was due back Friday 15th.

So, on Friday I went in and they said they thought they'd fixed it cos have had it on test for 4 days and no leak. But about 30 minutes before I arrived, they moved the car and a tiny bit of water came in from somewhere else!

So they made some more adjustments and kept it overnight. I went back on Saturday at 11 as agreed and they said they'd only had it out testing for 30 minutes (obviously means they put it inside overnight, which is good from a vandalism point of view, but not good from a testing point of view as it mainly happens overnight!). So they said they've leave it on test (ie under a hose) for longer and ring me later.

Finally picked it up at about 2pm. Told them if it leakes again I will be going to the salesguy and exploring my options for complaint (not personally at the technician, cos I genuinly get the impression he's as annoyed as me!).

So, its back and I now have to just see how it goes. It did rain last night, but not all night. It was dry this morning.

Tim - I pointed out the "sticking out" trim and they've put that right. I reckon that was it all along! I'm gonna get some of that gummi pflege stuff soon and put that on, once I'm happy the main leak is sorted.
 
Sheez... this is an epic... in evry convertable I've owned in the past I'd come to expect that they would leak... until I got my E85... so quite understand why you've been back time & again.

really hope it's now sorted
 
Hope its finally sorted :) well mine leaked a little puddle the other week which run down the door and into the speaker grill, it had been raining hard all day, thought I had managed to stave the leak off. Strangely when I got to the car I dried the water up, it was still raining very hard and drove off and then parked up in the pouring rain and it didn't leak anymore. It hasn't leaked since in steady prolonged rain or when washing the car. I've given the corners of the roof and good soaking with a hose and it stays dry inside. It seems to me its certain conditions that dictates whether the roof leaks on that particular day, whether its temperature related and the seals aren't quite upto the job I really don't know. Its not bothering me that much if its only once in a blue moon.

Tim.
 
Never had a convertible before, but in my book, any modern car costing nearly £40k (well, before discounts) shouldn't leak (at least not like this)...thats why I'm insistent with it. Hopefully its sorted this time, so that will be the end of it.

Its raining quite nice at the moment, so will see in the morning....

Tim : once in a blue moon would be ok - like you say, its certain conditions. The way mine had gotten it was every time it had been raining for several hours (not even heavy rain...one day it was fine misty rain).

Not many other people have mentioned leaks, so I think generally they are ok.
 
Well deck me, guess what?

ITS FRIGGIN LEAKING AGAIN!!!!!!!

Rained hard last night. NO leak this morning.

Parked at work all day and raining. 1 small droplet on the tweeter. Wiped that off when I got home.

Checked 2 hours later and the same old water droplets were back...several on the tweeter cover, some just in front of the window switch.

So, the leak hasn't been fixed.

What do I do now? I'm going into the dealer in the morning and will go direct to the salesman, not the reception desk (they will be happy to book it in again) but my issue now is this has been in 4 times, and although they've tried several things, they haven't actually got anywhere, so clearly don't know where the issue is. I'm certain that they will just keep having it back in, but should I put up with that? I mean, this could go on for ages.

I'm not going to go in shouting, but need to make my point that this is not what I consider reasonable for a brand new £40k (before discount) car.

Any advice?
 
Have the seals been replaced? if not might be worth suggesting they do that.

Poured with rain here today and I put a cloth on the passenger door this morning but no leak. Perhaps it wasn't the right type of rain :)

Tim.
 
Went into my stealer this morning and went to the salesman and said I need to talk cos its leaking again. He whisked me off to the service dept and told the service manager it was leaking again. The service manager said he really doesn't know where its leaking from (this is obvious, cos its not fixed!). Anyway, the conversation then went onto escalating it to BMW in Germany via a system called "Puma" where it would go to a techy dept. Another option, apparently they have a facility in Bracknell (I think) that has turbines and sounds like a wind tunnel, that they can use to force the water in, to actually pinpoint the leak. They said it might be an option to take the car there.

The salesman said to the service chap why don't they just replace the seals - apparently BMW won't authorise that until he can tell them where the leak is coming from...and thats the problem, they don't know!

So I left the service department with there next plan of action being to escalate it to Germany for advice.

I asked the salesman for a talk, so we went back to his desk and sat down. I explained that the car has been in 4 times and they clearly don't know what the problem is, so what are the options for getting a replacement car. He basically said, that at this stage, those options were zero! Unless it was a serious safety risk, then BMW would rather fix it on warranty rather than replace the car (obviously!). He said they would fix it, but how long it will take he doesn't know! I said that was my point....I could be in the same position in 6 months time! I used my analogy of buying a TV and it being faulty....it would be swapped out, not repaired.

I said I am happy for it to be looked at again and even be sent off to this wind tunnel place, but that I want if fixing on the next visit. They are following procedure, and to be honest, now they have escalated it to BMW in Germany, there is the chance that they will have seen it before? (although on visit number 1, they told me they'd phoned for advice and the people they were asking had no idea....).

They told me they would ring when they had an update but it might not be till Monday. So I rang them today to check and as expected, no update yet. They suggested sending photo's to BMW, so I will email the salesman my photo's.

So, not really any further forward, but I have let them know that I am now losing patients. However, they've also let me know that it could play ping-ping going in and out for quite a while, so I will see what advice they get from BMW and then think about putting something in writing.

Oh, one thing he said when I mentioned about a replacement car : he said that as a dealership he would be happy to help me change to another car...but that would cost me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's not that I want another car (i.e. a 3 series etc). I still want the Z4...I just want one that doesn't leak!

Here's the video I took this morning after the car had been sat in the rain all night:

 
Mine is or was leaking in the same place as yours Kevin, I find it a little hard to believe your dealer is clueless or BMW for that fact as there are plenty of instances of these cars leaking. Its whether customers have actually complained or not. Mines going in Monday night and was going too mention the leak but not sure I'll bother really, its dripped a couple of times, been dry in torrential rain and when washing, then had one day when there was a pool and as bad as yours in the Video but since then with putting the roof up and down a few times it hasn't leaked since and thats sitting in torrential rain, so it seems very hit and miss.

Knowing BMW I think you will be very lucky to reject the car unless its something terminal or seriously cosmetic. I don't see the point of them sending your car to BMW, why not just change the seals and then see if that cures it, would probably be cheaper. Would they be driving the Zed from the dealer to BMW? I wouldn't fancy that to be honest.

Tim.
 
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