Waterlogged battery compartment.

B

ben g

Elite
 Essex
I went away for Christmas and new year, so my Z4 didn't move for a couple of weeks. Upon returning, I noticed quite a lot of water in the battery compartment under the boot floor.

I have managed to dry it out completely, but I don't particularly want this to happen again.

Any ideas what could cause this? And any known fixes?

Unsure how water has got in there, but I do know sometimes I get small pools of water on the 'pockets' in the left and right side of the boot, which I can't seem to trace to any source.
 
Worth a read re the boot air vents https://z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=84102

or rear light seals and centre brake light seal have been mentioned before
 
I've replaced all those :cry: still getting water ingress from somewhere. Unsure how it's managed to get into the battery area though.

Usually the wet patches are in these parts on both sides:

sketch-1547409553834.png

I can't see how water could get from these areas, down to the battery area, so there must be another way for water to get in :cry:
 
This might sound random , but did you have a half cover fitted over the roof whilst you left it ?
 
mr wilks said:
Did it start to happen or worsen after the change of roof ?
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I always had the patches of water in the right (drivers side) pocket of the boot, regardless of whether the hardtop was fitted or not. The passenger side area seems to be a new development. I'm unsure when the battery compartment began filling with water as I haven't checked that area for a good while :oops: :(

-Tom- said:
This might sound random , but did you have a half cover fitted over the roof whilst you left it ?
Click to expand...

No cover whatsoever. I did have a hardtop fitted up until a month or so ago, but as above, having that fitted didn't stop the water ingress into the boot.
 
No i was meaning when you changed the soft top from original ? Is it possible not all rainwater is getting to the outlets ?
Though having hardtop on & it still happening ? More puzzling :cry:
 
This happened to me when my drivers side roof drain blocked recently. Parking on a slight incline, front pointing uphill, cambered to the drivers side at home and work didn't help either. Drains cleared (my drivers side was completely blocked) parking in the same places but with the front down hill and in the last three weeks its not happened again.
 
Can someone point out where all these drains are, I would be keen to keep them clear IF I knew where they were. Might be why my passenger footwell gets wet. :(
 
MACK said:
This happened to me when my drivers side roof drain blocked recently. Parking on a slight incline, front pointing uphill, cambered to the drivers side at home and work didn't help either. Drains cleared (my drivers side was completely blocked) parking in the same places but with the front down hill and in the last three weeks its not happened again.
Click to expand...

Cheers MACK, that's food for thought, as my driveway is on a very slight incline. If I leave my handbrake off, the car gradually rolls backwards, so I'll reverse park instead and see if that makes any difference.

I haven't checked my roof drains for a good couple of years, so that's probably my next job :thumbsup:

What did you use to clear the drains? Last time I done mine I used a bit of wire and went up from under the sideskirt. Any better ways of doing it?
 
You can easily confirm if they are clear by dropping the roof and filling a jug with water. Pour a little down the cavity next to the roof hinge mechanism. If it doesn’t immediately appear on the ground just in front of the back wheel then you have a blockage.
 
Striven said:
Can someone point out where all these drains are, I would be keen to keep them clear IF I knew where they were. Might be why my passenger footwell gets wet. :(
Click to expand...

Passenger footwell leaking is Normally down to Door Membranes not being replaced when having work on windows/regulators,etc replaced.
You should always renew the door membrane,but some don't,and they end up coming loose,then water gets into the footwell.
Failing that,Door seals,but look at the Door Membranes first :thumbsup:
Apologies for the Thread hijack,Op :thumbsup:
 
ben g said:
MACK said:
This happened to me when my drivers side roof drain blocked recently. Parking on a slight incline, front pointing uphill, cambered to the drivers side at home and work didn't help either. Drains cleared (my drivers side was completely blocked) parking in the same places but with the front down hill and in the last three weeks its not happened again.
Click to expand...

Cheers MACK, that's food for thought, as my driveway is on a very slight incline. If I leave my handbrake off, the car gradually rolls backwards, so I'll reverse park instead and see if that makes any difference.

I haven't checked my roof drains for a good couple of years, so that's probably my next job :thumbsup:

What did you use to clear the drains? Last time I done mine I used a bit of wire and went up from under the sideskirt. Any better ways of doing it?
Click to expand...

I used the airline at a friends garage. If I didn't have access to an airline I guess I'd use the good old wire/coat hanger technique etc.
I think I mentioned it in a thread at the time that my drivers side was block with one of those "helicopter" seeds and other gunk. I only cleaned them out in June as well!
+1 the jug of water near the hinges to check if the drains blocked. If it is it might be worth trying a bit of hot water in the same area, sometimes when mud etc has blocked the drain it softens it enough to "break the seal". Enough to get things flowing again until you can clean them out properly.
I had a lot of water in the area highlighted in your photo and a few drops in the compartment behind the battery, I bet it could be tipping over from into there when the vehicles moving etc.
 
Will give the jug of water a go tomorrow and see what happens. Hopefully that's the source of my problems :lol: cheers
 
Ben I had a water leak exactly how you're describing it and i spent weeks trying to trace it! It drove me mad!

Checked the drains, light clusters were taken out and seals checked, air vents checked but all with no obvious signs of leakage. I finally siliconed around the joins/creases around the boot opening, near where the hinges and struts sit, also the top line of the lights. Never leaked again after that and it's probably been 5 years.
 
Lance said:
Ben I had a water leak exactly how you're describing it and i spent weeks trying to trace it! It drove me mad!

Checked the drains, light clusters were taken out and seals checked, air vents checked but all with no obvious signs of leakage. I finally siliconed around the joins/creases around the boot opening, near where the hinges and struts sit, also the top line of the lights. Never leaked again after that and it's probably been 5 years.
Click to expand...

Cheers for that, I'll try and give the seams around those areas a dab of sealant at some point. I reckon you might well be on the money with that advice as I noticed a few times the water pools happened after washing the car, which could either be from the drains being blocked (water running off the roof and not being able to get out through the drains), or as you said, the joins in the metal around the boot opening. Hopefully after all this, I can finally rid my bootspace of water :lol: :thumbsup:
 
Update: parked up at work today and I've just gone out to my car after a couple of hours and noticed a damp patch on my driver's side, directly under the roof drain. I lowered the roof and had a look down from the top and I can see water sitting in there, but can't seem drain it using a small metal rod. When I prod around with the rod it seems to be hitting something at the bottom and won't go any further.

Is this something that can only be sorted from underneath the car?

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markplant said:
It may blocked at the bottom of drain , if you can rod the drain from below or remove to see if this empties
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Oh OK, I'll give that a go today. No chance of doing that without a trolley jack. Could just about get my forearm under the sideskirt :lol: :thumbsup:

I removed the drain bungs years ago, so maybe it's just clogged up with mud and grit from driving down rural roads.
 
You can remove the cover in front of the rear wheel arch but needs small tools.
Best to jack it up to see what you’re doing.
 
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