Z3 Wet Carpets

[JohnnyZ3]

Hi all,


I hope you can help me with this problem which is driving me crazy to solve.

I bought a Z3 last summer and so far I have been delighted with it. It had a new hood fitted by the previous owner and there have been no signs of any leaks until recently when I noticed it misting up badly in the mornings.

On investigation I found damp carpet under the rear of the driver's seat. The passenger side is much worse, squelchy!

I read how to check the hood drain hole receptacles and I have very gently run a flexible curtain wire down each one. They don't seem to have any blockage and when I withdraw it the wire it is completely clean.

When I run a trickle of water around the rear hood area you can see and hear it in the internal receptacles so it definitely goes down the drain holes but it doesn't exit at one spot under the car, it exits out of several holes along the bottom of the sills. Here is a picture. Is that what should happen?

 

[Grumps]

Hi Johnny. 8ve tagged a couple of guys that should be able to help you.
@Lee
@t-tony
@Brian4

 

[raymond]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPnNm4fYefo&t=28s
Don't park it uphill when raining

 

[Low Rider]

Hello and welcome Johnny

 

[GazHyde]

Welcome

 

[Nodzed]

I certainly don't know for sure I have never seen water come out of the sills on mine I would guess the drain pipe could be split somewhere.

 

[DavidM]

Welcome from Ireland!

 

[oldcarman]

Hi from Canada !! I think your door membrane is loose on the bottom and allowing water to get into the inner car rather than draining for the door. Easy fix, just pull the door card and replace the butyl membrane between the liner and the door metal! HTH. JIM

 

[Bazza]

Welcome from me

 

[billz]

The excess water should i believe just exit from the drain pipe. It should not come through the bottom of the cills. All this will do is speed up any cill corrosion. I would remove the cill in question and trace the pipe to see where it is coming out of. Probably will not be an easy task but everything on the Z3 is usually bolt on

 

[Shelly]

Hi and welcome from me too

 

[BMBabe]

Welcome from Aylesbury where you from

 

[BMBabe]

@Bill Warren whats with the dislike

 

[JohnnyZ3]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPnNm4fYefo&t=28s
Don't park it uphill when raining

Haha

Thanks for the video but it doesn't match the problem.
I've had a hose drenching the hood with someone sitting inside and they cannot see any leaks from the hood or the door.
So it seems like the floor is getting wet from a leak lower down.

The water from the hood definitely goes into the drain holes either side. It's a puzzle that it gets into the sills.

 

[JohnnyZ3]

Hi from Canada !! I think your door membrane is loose on the bottom and allowing water to get into the inner car rather than draining for the door. Easy fix, just pull the door card and replace the butyl membrane between the liner and the door metal! HTH. JIM

Thanks for the suggestion but how can a loose door membrane cause water going down the hood drain holes to finish up draining from inside the door cills?

 

[Vince]

I'm most probably clutching at straws but the carpets were soaked behind the rear seats on my car but it was caused by the rear window leaking before I had a new roof fitted and it had been like it for a long time before I bought it (also the boot/trunk was filled up with gallons of water from a separate brake light seal leak)

So it might be the water got in in previously if the car has had a new roof and you never noticed it till now.

I didn't realise till I did the seat kebab repair as the water gets trapped in the backing foam and then has nowhere to go and it smelt like it must of been trapped under the carpet for a long time as I needed a peg on my nose when I lifted the carpet back plus I couldn't get it dry so I ended up cutting a section of the foam out of the carpet backing and replacing it with new stuff and stuck it to the floor pan and waxoyled the floors and it's been bone dry since.

 

[raymond]

Water will track down the various parts of the door internals and will eventually track down the membranes. If the membrane is not sealed it will leak.
The only real solution is to remove the carpets and trim. They will be soaked by now and then you should be able to see where the leak is coming from when the carpets and trim are removed. I did say that you should not park it up hill in the rain as this will cause water to come in. Here is a link for the door membranes.
http://www.pelicanparts.com/BMW/tec...eplacement/71-BODY-Door_Panel_Replacement.htm
The video link I sent before points the finger at the hood not being fitted properly.

 

[JohnnyZ3]

Thanks for all the suggestions which I will follow up. Anyone have further ideas why the water is going down the hood drain holes and out of the cills?

P.s I'm in Hertfordshire

 

[mrscalex]

You can't at this stage eliminate the possibility it's running down the inside of the door. It could be getting in behind the membrane and exiting at the bottom of the door rather than the sill.

It also might be coming in through the quarter light where it meets the door rubber and running down like that. The quarter light needs to be pre-tensioned when bolted up. This was the problem with mine did, then it exploited a small hole in the door seal at the lowest point and made its way onto the carpet.

 

[oldcarman]

Thanks for the suggestion but how can a loose door membrane cause water going down the hood drain holes to finish up draining from inside the door cills?

Water has a way of finding the path least restrictive so maybe bypassing a drain not draining quite fast enough or the water from the hose getting onto the side glass and sitting in the bottom of the door due to plugged drain holes and if the membrane is loose it flows behind your door card into the carpet. Just throwing out suggestions and hoping you find the leak quickly!! JIM