E87 driver's side leak

[Tojja 0]

Hi guys, first post here - and its about a leaky bimmer

Last Saturday I found a huge (2-3 litres) amount of water sloshing around the driver side footwell of my 2005 120i. I park facing downhill on a relatively steep road, which also has a decent camber, so the car is in a distinct lean to the left also.

I had the fortune of actually seeing a trail of the water coming over the bottom part of the drivers side door seal which isolated the issue to the door (and not the windscreen or firewall). It looked exactly like the photo at the bottom of this page: http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.ph...membrane#p26325, though clearly on a 120 not a Z4.

After taking the door panel off, I found the membrane/vapour barrier to be in good condition (no rips etc), and no sealing issues - this seems to be the number one cause of such leaks according the various forums I have read.

However, with the membrane in place (and the door panel still off) I could easily replicate the leak with a hose trickling water outside the driver door - with the car parked in the same spot as when the leak occurred last weekend. This water flows into the door through the gap between the window and the window seal and also around the exterior door handle (both of which I presume is by design).

The specific downhill/sideways lean of the car seems to make the water that has now made its way into the door fall diagonally inside the door, run along the back of the waterproof membrane to the bottom of the membrane, then back onto the inside of the metal door panel and then straight out the hole for the door panel press fit clips - from there it is a quick trip over the door seal, then into the front footwell. That night it poured down, but even so to see ~2-3 litres of water in your footwell is quite a surprise!!!

I have taken everything out that I can be bothered removing (including drivers side seat; don't worry, I know the precautions about the air bags!) and have the carpet up, force drying. The open cell foam underlay has absorbed 2-3 litres of water itself, and even more annoyingly, the right rear passenger carpet is also wet (I am hoping this is just from water flowing along the chassis, not from a separate leak through the rear right door).

I don't want to go through this drying process again, as it is a huge PITA, as you can imagine, so want to solve this for good. Parking in a garage is not currently an option, but I may be able to find a flatter place to park (though I do feel this shouldn't be necessary on a BM!!!).

Online solutions that I have read mainly centre on fixing the membrane (not an issue in my case). Some also suggest drilling 2mm holes through the top/bottom of the door seal where water first accumulates (see the picture above) so that any water harmlessly drains away, though I don't know what unintended consequences this could create. I also thought that an additional plastic sheet inside the door as a primary water deflector could be good, but it is tight for space and would be a nightmare to fit/attach (and also may have unintended issues). Water has been happily at home in this door it would seem; with the door panel off I did notice some white powdery (galvanic?) corrosion on the electric window actuator - is this normal?.

Any thoughts from the experts on how to avoid this happening again?

[*Glenn* 854]

Ring me

I wasn't trying to be silly here, or discrete. I needed to speak to the OP about this. He can post up later

Edited January 21, 2010 by *Glenn*

[Tojja 0]

As an update: I have been able to replicate this condition very easily and in doing so have eliminated a torn membrane as the cause.

The car just needs to be a sideways lean (for example parked on a heavily cambered road) for the water to run past the windows seal and then across and down the inside of the membrane and finally out through the trim clip holes. No forward or backward lean appears to be required.

Pictures of the resulting drips attached. Only a few drops are visible after 5 seconds of drizzling water down the outside, but overnight a few drops becomes 2-3 litres in a footwell!

Also worth noting that 3-series and above have sealed trim clips, which I can only assume is to prevent such leaks; the 1-series on the other hand uses non-sealed trim clips.

1-series clips

3-series+ clips:

Surely BMW wasn't so stingy to save 2 cents per car and cut corners with a non-sealed trim clip?

[*Glenn* 854]

Glad you got it sorted.. the water test helped then ? Must remember that one too and agree on the short cut issue. As I said to you...the E46's had the sealed clips too. Did you also check that the drain holes under the door frames were clear ??

Edited January 27, 2010 by *Glenn*

[Tojja 0]

Not sorted just yet, just confirmed my initial diagnosis! Drain holes all clear (they are ~6" below the trim clip holes so the door would have to flood to get this high).

i do feel that using the sealed clips is a bandaid solution, but if it works I am not going to complain

Glad you got it sorted.. the water test helped then ? Must remember that one too and agree on the short cut issue. As I said to you...the E46's had the sealed clips too. Did you also check that the drain holes under the door frames were clear ??

[*Glenn* 854]

Not sorted just yet, just confirmed my initial diagnosis! Drain holes all clear (they are ~6" below the trim clip holes so the door would have to flood to get this high).

i do feel that using the sealed clips is a bandaid solution, but if it works I am not going to complain

You sure it was coming in from the door cavity ? You did have the door card off when you did the water test ??