Water - Help Please - E86

[Wigsters]

Hi All

The good news is I am taking a trip in the car tomorrow, the first for a long time other than a blast around the block.

The bad news is I have damp (very wet under the passenger seat) floors that need sorting as it will no doubt only get worse. I know the two common things are the door cards (some sort of seal inside) and leaking from below the windscreen, I plan to check them both but having placed paper around the doors a few months back I find is dry despite the floors being wet I think the issue is the windscreen area.

I have spotted the below;



Is that slight gap normal or something to indicate a problem?

When I get inside the engine bay is it this black trim that I need to remove, along with the wipers, to get to the drains that are supposed to take water away?



Sorry for the questions, I hate mystery problems and this is driving me nuts!

Any and all assistance would be appreciated, the car is perfect (only done 50k) and has no other issues but this need sorting or the long term prospects for the car are bad I would say.

Thanks in advance.

 

[patriot66]

Before you go to the trouble of pulling the wipers off and the scuttle panel are you 100% certain the doorcard membranes and/or door seal rubbers are not leaking ? Sit in the car, first on one side and then t'other and have someone play a hosepipe over the windows, window seals, wing mirrors and doors in general for several minutes. Keep a sharp eye on both door seals with a torch.
If certain then go ahead and remove the wiper arms and scuttle. Get some spare trim clips for the reverse of the scuttle panel beforehand as some will almost certainly break. You can then clean out the area all around the wiper motor/mechanism. Then pour some water in to the drain holes and check it flows freely from the drain hole exits in my photos. These get full of leaves and detritus very easily

 

[Wigsters]

Hi, thanks so much for that -- really appreciate it, especially the advice about where the drains should exit as I didn't have a clue!

I will indeed check the doors again, I am pretty certain but will get the boss to run the hose around whilst I watch for ingress. I did leave the paper to try and catch where it was entering but it is dry around the doors and the carpet is damp all the way down from under the glovebox area -- so my suspicion is I am taking things apart

Managed to find some diagrams too, from the forum, so armed with those your pictures above I will at least know what I am trying to achieve -- figure I probably can't make it much worse!

Thanks again, really very much appreciated.

 

[Weston Matt]

Take out the cover under the glove box (the one you take out to get to the micro filter) and try and feel the top of the carpet to see if it’s wet. If it is then it will be coming in where the vent goes through the bulkhead. I ended up removing my carpets as mine was that wet

 

[Wigsters]

Good tip Matt, that's a great idea.

Did you have to remove the seat to take out the carpets? For some reason, seat removal seems scary.....

 

[Weston Matt]

You have to remove pretty much all the interior trim including the seats. My carpet was dripping wet though

 

[Wigsters]

Update. All came apart easily (sort of...) and it is now sat in the garage waiting to be put back together.

Everything was pretty clean actually but the smallest of the plastic waste pipes (first picture from Patriot66) is completely missing, so any water that passes to that drain dribbles the wrong side of the soundproofing/firewall material and at a guess into the cabin from there. Seems to simple as a fix but I can't see anything else wrong.

Taking the picture to BMW today and hoping to get the part ordered.

I have also ordered some aftermarket rubber seal to run along the end of the cover where it meets the windscreen. On the basis that this area seems to seal only by pressure and it is warped in one place, if I stop (or at least reduce) water getting into the area to start with that will also help.

The car is now living wherever the sunshine is present, carpets lifted to allow air to circulate and hope with time that the sponge under the carpet will dry out.

Thanks for all of your help, massively appreciated and I would not have got this far without it.

 

[Wigsters]

Update 2.... Apparently, that part doesn't exist!
I spent 45 minutes with the parts guys at BMW (Stratstone) and then looked on Real OEM myself and can't find that part anywhere. Does anyone have any bright ideas before I fabricate something to try and do the job for me?

 

[pulp]

Update 2.... Apparently, that part doesn't exist!
I spent 45 minutes with the parts guys at BMW (Stratstone) and then looked on Real OEM myself and can't find that part anywhere. Does anyone have any bright ideas before I fabricate something to try and do the job for me?

Bit of a bump, but did you get the part in the end? The plastic piece is also missing for me, and there's a load of crap stuck in there. Cheers

 

[Wigsters]

Hi

Sorry, I didn't get the part no -- did my head in but it is like it doesn't exist!

It was, in my case anyway, the cause of the ingress so I sorted it with the below 'DIY' fix.

35mm Drill hole diameter grommet fits the hole nicely.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0798SL55T/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I hollowed the above out and slotted in a drain grommet that was long enough for water to fall through and into the engine bay as opposed to behind the firewall;

Rubber Drain gromet
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/333674910735

Sealed it all in place with some heavy-duty outdoor sealant from Screwfix which, by happy coincidence, was the same colour as my car (silver). Not a drop of water has come into the cabin since and it is now totally dry under the carpets.

I also took the opportunity to add a little sealant tape around the aircon filter on the passenger side of the car. Do not think it was leaking from there but whoever designed it in the location that they did was having a bad day at the office when they thought it would be a good idea to drain water past the unit!

 

[pulp]

Hi

Sorry, I didn't get the part no -- did my head in but it is like it doesn't exist...

Thanks so much for your reply with your research and linking those parts. How crazy that they don't exist. Hopefully this is the cause of the water leak on mine as well.

Cheers

 

[Wigsters]

Fingers crossed, I know how upsetting it can be -- hated thinking of mine sitting there going mouldy

Well worth removing that aircon input shield and putting some weather tape on there, I can absolutely see how that would leak if there was a torrential downpour.

Good luck with it.

 

[pulp]

Fingers crossed, I know how upsetting it can be -- hated thinking of mine sitting there going mouldy

Well worth removing that aircon input shield and putting some weather tape on there, I can absolutely see how that would leak if there was a torrential downpour.

Good luck with it.

Yeah, almost more frustrating than mechanical issues. I have a refurbished DSC sensor waiting to go in and don't want to flood that.

Thanks for the aircon tip, will get on that too.