E46 Rear Footwells Wet Under Carpet

[nite 0]

I decided to give the car a clean today, and upon putting pressure in the rear footwell, I noticed a squish and saw some water come up through the holes where the floor mat is anchored to. Upon expecting the passenger side, I noticed the rear was also wet. 

Checked and tested the sunroof drains, which were working as expected, draining to the front wheel well.

The rear doors don't get used much, so I often see water piling up on the door sill (outside) when I open the doors. Would the most likely cause be the vapour barriers? I last checked the door cards when I last checked and resealed the barriers about a year ago.

The next question is, what's the best way to drain the water from the foam? I've lifted the carpet on both sides and used some micro fibre cloths to dry absorb it, but it seems non-stop. I have also used a wet vac to try and suck up as much as I can / left it running under just sucking.

I could leave it parked on an incline and put a lot of towels to dry, absorb as much as possible, and let gravity do its thing.

[F10er 62]

Yes, the vapour barriers and door card clips. If the clips don't have the black gasket on them they will also leak. 

 

[nite 0]

Yeah I don't think my door cards are using those ones with the gaskets on them. I'll get some of those. 

[F10er 62]

It is very hard to get the sponge completely dry. The best way i found is to squeeze the water out of the sponge by hand, then prop the corner of the carpet up and park it outside in the sun with the doors open so there's plenty of airflow in the car. It takes a good 3 days to get them completely dry.

[nite 0]

Managed to remove the rear carpet to let it dry out. Now to find the leak

 

[Chanderpaul 15]

Old topic but I recently noticed missing bungs on the under side of my e46 that I can see the foam through.  

25mm bung plug