[Skylinemotorsports]

Originally Posted by Cisco335i

I have this exact same issue on my 08' E90 335i. I also thought it was the window seal in the corner. Having huge electrical problems because of it. I took out my glove compartment and these a lot of rusted metal. FML!!!!

How long have you had the issue? It has only been afew weeks for me, so I am hoping to figure it out before I have major problems....

I take it you have not been able to isolate it yet?

I need to find the drains under the pollen cowl, but on the e92 I did not see them, might have to take the whole cowl off to check, that is about the only thing I have checked yet but cannot find them... I am going to do more testing tomorrow but be much more methodical about it, now that I have duplicated the issue....

[Cisco335i]

Originally Posted by Skylinemotorsports

How long have you had the issue? It has only been afew weeks for me, so I am hoping to figure it out before I have major problems....

I take it you have not been able to isolate it yet?

I need to find the drains under the pollen cowl, but on the e92 I did not see them, might have to take the whole cowl off to check, that is about the only thing I have checked yet but cannot find them... I am going to do more testing tomorrow but be much more methodical about it, now that I have duplicated the issue....

You will have a better view from the wheel well angle of it don't you think?

This is my first season of rain I've had this car so I'm barely getting into it. My money is on a leak through the drain and also my window cleaning fluid leaking on the inside somewhere.

[Skylinemotorsports]

Originally Posted by Cisco335i

You will have a better view from the wheel well angle of it don't you think?

This is my first season of rain I've had this car so I'm barely getting into it. My money is on a leak through the drain and also my window cleaning fluid leaking on the inside somewhere.

But what drain? I really need to find the drains under the windshield, but they are not where the videos show them, but I think the e90 and e92 are obviously somewhat different..

I have ruled out the door barrier, and I do not think this is coming from the sunroof, but I am going to test that out longer tomorrow and make sure its not the pillar drain...

Why do you think its the cleaning fluid? I have not look into that at all, but dont see how that would leak into the car like this...

I am pretty sure it is somewhere under the hood, and I do not think its the window seal, as that is ALOT of water, and that seal would have to be totally FUBAR for this amount of water.... I dont want to put it in a shop, as I dread thinking about how much they could charge for this..... Hopefully someone will see this thread and chime in on what the issue is...

Are you planning on doing any troubleshooting yourself?

[Thorin]

I'm starting to suspect the window drains are clogged (on the left and right side of the windshield cowl). The plastic mesh cover lifts off, with the drain channels below. These get gummed up with detritus and are a pain to clean out.

[Skylinemotorsports]

Originally Posted by Thorin

I'm starting to suspect the window drains are clogged (on the left and right side of the windshield cowl). The plastic mesh cover lifts off, with the drain channels below. These get gummed up with detritus and are a pain to clean out.

Well yesterday I reseated the filter cover on the windshield cowl. I went out today for about 30 minutes and used the hose on three spots, lower center windshield, far side of the passenger side, and up top on the sunroof... So far I cannot duplicate the leak again. Yesterday I was able to though, and I don't think reseatting the pollen filter fixed the issue.

Which window drains? The A pillar drain? The drains under the hood on the far right and left of the engine bay drain great, and it does not seem to be related to the window seal or cowl, but I need to isolate the leak again, and no luck so far today....

Any way you can throw a picture up on the area you are talking about?

Cheers!

[W37V]

Originally Posted by Skylinemotorsports

Well yesterday I reseated the filter cover on the windshield cowl. I went out today for about 30 minutes and used the hose on three spots, lower center windshield, far side of the passenger side, and up top on the sunroof... So far I cannot duplicate the leak again. Yesterday I was able to though, and I don't think reseatting the pollen filter fixed the issue.

Which window drains? The A pillar drain? The drains under the hood on the far right and left of the engine bay drain great, and it does not seem to be related to the window seal or cowl, but I need to isolate the leak again, and no luck so far today....

Any way you can throw a picture up on the area you are talking about?

Cheers!

Clean your sunroof gutters. They are probably clogged. It’s also very likely that one of the rubber hoses (which runs through the pillar) is disconnected. Take off pillar cover and inspect.

[JFolt]

Originally Posted by Skylinemotorsports

Well yesterday I reseated the filter cover on the windshield cowl. I went out today for about 30 minutes and used the hose on three spots, lower center windshield, far side of the passenger side, and up top on the sunroof... So far I cannot duplicate the leak again. Yesterday I was able to though, and I don't think reseatting the pollen filter fixed the issue.

Which window drains? The A pillar drain? The drains under the hood on the far right and left of the engine bay drain great, and it does not seem to be related to the window seal or cowl, but I need to isolate the leak again, and no luck so far today....

Any way you can throw a picture up on the area you are talking about?

Cheers!

I believe the drains he is referring to are under the hood. When you open the hood, there are mesh covers at each corner just in front of the A-pillars (part #7 is the mesh, #11 is the drain.)

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/show...diagId=64_1428

I had this issue after windshield replacement, so for me it was a completely missing lower molding... they just never replaced it. When I poured a bottle of water onto the center of the windshield it would all come into the car from underneath the passenger foot well, where the blower holes are located for the passengers feet. It was a bit hard to see if you only pour a bit of water because the carpet absorbs it. I dumped a full liter out quickly and saw it rush in.

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1529673

Other things I checked first:

1- Opened my sunroof and poured a little water down each corner. The front drains come out behind the front wheels and the rear drains come out in front of the rear wheels. The actual drain opening is hidden by the plastic under body panels but you will see the water drip down onto the ground if they are not clogged. I was clearly able to see all the water I poured down the drain drip out onto the ground.

2- Poured a bottle of water out onto the passenger door window (closed window) to make sure it wasn't getting inside the door and past the door seal which is also a known failure point. All the water leaked out the bottom of the door through the drain as intended so it was outside the door seal.

Good luck. Make sure you dry out your car as best as possible to prevent mold. I parked it in my garage and set up a few box fans inside the car to get air flow on the wet carpet, check the rear passenger foot well as well... there is no separator so that was soaked too. Then I used DampRid for a few weeks to absorb as much moisture as possible.

[Thorin]

That is correct; I spent some time on realOem to try and find the parts but they were greyed out in the only image I could find. Frustrating! Hats off to you for your ability to navigate it better than I could.

[Skylinemotorsports]

So was hoping reseating the cowl would fix it, but after raining this morning and checking again I had another puddle.

I called a shop and they scared me talking about a heating core leak, roughly 2k to repair.

This time instead of just running water over the car, I opened my sunroof and poored some water into it... BAM water started to leak as I was looking into the cabin. The water stayed pooled up in the sunroof area also.

When I got it out of the shop the other day they said they tested the pillar drains and they seemed fine, so I am not sure how to proceed just yet... Might take the head liner off and see if the hose is connected to the drain outlet. Also I have never seen any water on the pillar fabric itself, so I am still confused as to were actually the leak is, but at least I have the root cause down...

[Skylinemotorsports]

So I have checked both the front and rear wheel wells and do not see the drain. Hopefully someone can chime in and let us know where the e92 A pillar leak is.

About the only other thing I can think of to do is drop my headliner and take it to a shop and have them blow some air in the tubs and hope that clears them out..

[JFolt]

Drains are not in the wheel wells, they're somewhere on the bottom of the car underneath the plastic underbody covers. I see you already posted in the only thread on here with a picture but it's not super helpful.

Try pushing some wire or hedge trimmer line down the drain holes and see if that helps push the clog through?

https://www.instructables.com/id/How...Sunroof-Drain/

[Skylinemotorsports]

Originally Posted by JFolt

Drains are not in the wheel wells, they're somewhere on the bottom of the car underneath the plastic underbody covers. I see you already posted in the only thread on here with a picture but it's not super helpful.

Try pushing some wire or hedge trimmer line down the drain holes and see if that helps push the clog through?

https://www.instructables.com/id/How...Sunroof-Drain/

I found a youtube video on a e92 328 that showed where the drains are. You are correct it was next to the side skirt and I had to take the cowl off that is connected to the side skirt, right under the door seam, next to the front wheel well to find.

The drain was alittle clogged with road grim and I tried to clean it out. I am not sure if that blockage was enough to cause this issue though. I tried putting a speaker wire through but there is some inner plastic that keep catching it, so it was not as easy as I had hoped.

It is still raining here so I guess I will check it tomorrow and see if its draining now, I did put a cup of water in there and it seemed to have drained out alot better, but the car is on a ramp and its storming so I said F it for the day.

Will update on if this worked or I have to take out the headliner and apply some air to the tube.

[Thorin]

DO NOT apply pressurized air to the tube! It will force the tube to disconnect from the funnel at the top.

Edit: I see you are disassembling the headliner, this giving access to the tube.

[Cisco335i]

Found my leak. Thanks to valuable input on this thread! Thank you so much my friends!!! Onto the repairs!

[Skylinemotorsports]

Late update, it was the sunroof drains being clogged... I found them under the door seam, had to remove some of the underbody protection to get to them... They where really clogged, took about 10 minutes each, just squishing them and getting all the soot and dirt out.

Have not had a problem since cleaning both sides of the car!!

Cheers!

[Meso]

how do you fix that?

[culto]

My sunroof drains were also clogged, leading to water in my passenger foot well after heavy rains. Cleaned the exit ports in the undercarriage by hand then blew out the lines with compressed air. Both drains are working well now.