Small leak

There you go them - solved.

Did you order the mastic too, to fix the membrane in place?

£80 is steep for a bit of waterproof foam :(
 
If it doesn't come with, or you didn't order, the butyl rubber seal - http://www.amazon.co.uk/TREMSHIELD-BUTYL-TAPE-6mm-8mm/dp/B008452SWQ
 
Good news and bad news - the guy at BMW ordered the wrong part :evil: On the plus side, as above the weather guard is only £25, which is easier to swallow. So will have to wait a few days to get this sorted now. Rain cover in the mean time!

Regardless of price there's not much choice other than buying from BMW, I've just removed what was left of the old one and it just falls apart, so no chance of buying a second hand one.
 
edd_jedi said:
Well the leak source has been solved. Upon removing the door card, I was greeted with the 'work' of a previous genius that has cut away most of the door membrane :o So that explains the leak. The door card and door were full of water. Just ordered a new one from BMW at a cost of £80, will hopefully be able to pick it up later today before it rains again. Although the drivers side doesn't appear to be leaking, I'll have to check that too.

door.jpg
Click to expand...


The window actuator was replaced prior to my ownership if you look at the history
they must have hacked it apart

since you've had all the carpets out and the door cards off, it would have been ideal time to get some sound dampening material in there to make the ride that bit quieter.
 
Cant understand peoples mentality,our e46 had been butchered with a stanley
knife! what a way to treat a car costing many thousands of pounds :thumbsdown:
 
Cant understand peoples mentality,our e46 had been butchered with a stanley
knife! what a way to treat a car costing many thousands of pounds :thumbsdown:
 
nightyard said:
The window actuator was replaced prior to my ownership if you look at the history
they must have hacked it apart
Click to expand...

Ah yes that would explain it. Obviously wasn't done by somebody that knows BMWs very well then, they all have weather guards in the doors. Currently water drips straight on to the window motor and you can tell it's seen plenty of water as the stickers are all water damaged. Hopefully that doesn't pack in any time soon!
 
More good and bad news - the new membrane is fitted and it looks as good as new again. The dealer were even kind enough to give me some OEM butyl tape as the stuff I ordered hasn't arrived yet. No leaks at all now, not a drop gets past the membrane :)

door1.jpg

But, annoyingly I have somehow triggered the airbag light, which is really annoying because I took all the usual precautions (disconnected the battery, waited for 10 minutes, handled very gently etc.) I didn't want to unplug it at all, but you have to to get the cable through the membrane.

I've had a quote from a local garage of £40 to reset it. Is there any easier/cheaper way to do it? I assume the dealer price will be laughable.
 
Glad that worked. Prior damage to the membrane accounts fro nearly all leaks.

Airbag light - Since you appear to have followed the correct process and assuming at no point did you turn on the ignition while the airbag was disconnected with the battery connected, then you've either not connected it correctly or have a fault in the loom.

£40 is mid range price. Dealer is around £50. Some Indy's may be less and a few of the guys on here have the right tool to reset foc.
 
I'm 99% I connected it again properly and I doubt the loom as been damaged, it worked fine before and was never under any stress. Maybe I didn't leave the batter disconnected long enough? It was definitely at least 10 minutes so I assumed that would be fine, but have seen some people recommend an hour.

There seem to be lots of reset tools on eBay starting at about £25, can anybody recommend one that definitely works with the Z4?
 
If it's any consolation I worked on my doors many years ago and am 100% confident I handled the loom correctly, never screwed up, etc. but the airbag light came on.

Put back togehter and BMW diagnosed a fault in the door card loom :headbang:

They must have been correct as I never told them I worked on the door and new loom, fixed and no issue since.
 
Due to the amount of bodge jobs I've found so far and the fact water was still getting in somewhere, I whipped the other door card off and sure enough that side had been butchered too:

leak3.jpg

A quick trip to the dealer and another £25 later, this side is now back to how it should be:

leak4.jpg

I bought a diagnostic cable and installed INPA, and the airbag error is the passenger side as suspected (I don't appear to have triggered the drivers side one while replacing that membrane.) I tried resetting it but it won't clear, so I guess I'll have to take the door card off and make sure I connected it properly. Hope the loom isn't damaged - out of interest was it expensive to replace?
 
No they're quite logical to be honest so no guide needed. If you slide off the handle cover you can see all 4 bolts there, then there's one more behind the handle and one behind the airbag badge. Once they're all out it just pulls off (obviously be careful not to rip it.)
 
Be very careful with the door handle insert. Slide it up towards the glass by 2-3mm then lift the bottom edge away from the handle and slide it down. If you break the lower locking tab it will fall off when opening the door :(
 
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