[lucius]

I've searched this forum, other forums and Google but can't find anything solid on how to identify what could be the cause of a puddle to develop on the passenger footwell just under the glove box after a car wash or heavy rain storm in my 330.

I'm seeing it could be the windshield seal, something to do with the heater blower??, to the sunroof drain plug. The windshield seal look just fine to me unless it's something I may be overlooking.

I've read all these possibilities that may be the cause but without pics makes it difficult to identify the culprit. Are there any relating D.I.Ys that would at least show where to look?

Any help will be appreciated.
Please advise.

UPDATE 2/11/2014

I live in Mass and we've experienced several snow storms, some slightly warmer days and some sub arctic temps.
I thought my issue had gone away until I noticed a frozen channel and puddle of water one night







New thoughts?
Thanks

[pgaplayerless]

windshield is your most likely cause.

If it was sunroof your headliner would get wet first.

If you have you HVAC cowl on inside your engine bar it wont be the blower.

[Envuks]

So I had something similar happen on an old car of mine. It was a rubber plug in the firewall that was out if place. At a few points there was like an inch of water sloshing around. I just pushed the plug back into place to fix... Finding the water flow can be a bit tricky, but open up the lower dash (DIY threads on that) and follow the water trail. water flows down hill and you know where it's wet so open things up and follow the water to the source. You'll find it so long as you do it while it's wet.

[3s4u2]

There is a water outlet hose that runs down the drivers side windshield rail down to the passenger side kick panel. If this get clogged by an insect or debris it will run out into the floor board. You can run some light gage weed eater line from the sunroof upper right side down the drain tube and unclog it if this is your real problem. Most of the time when this happen it is usually the door rubber seal (Gasket) that has come loose from the door or has been torn.

Sunroof diagram Click

[Meeni]

Dont know if you solved it yet, but there is alsso aa sseal insside the door that caause thiss. usse a water hose to rule out zones, then seaarch for posstss from me i gaave indications for the door fix.

[tmarshall57]

Originally Posted by Meeni

Dont know if you solved it yet, but there is alsso aa sseal insside the door that caause thiss. usse a water hose to rule out zones, then seaarch for posstss from me i gaave indications for the door fix.

The vapour barrier behind the door card was the problem on my car. The butyl sealant which seals the barrier to the door had been disturbed when my passenger door window was replaced.

[E91 Hoarder]

Same happened to my friends Audi A4 due to pine needles clogging the drains and "gutters". Fried all her electronics - over $10K in damage.

I clean mine every month or so. Pop the hood and they will be in top corners near the windshield.

Here is my old thread: http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=700181

good luck.

[duky]

Originally Posted by nubian

I've searched this forum, other forums and Google but can't find anything solid on how to identify what could be the cause of a puddle to develop on the passenger footwell just under the glove box after a car wash or heavy rain storm in my 330.

How did you end up resolving this?

[lucius]

My apologies, I totally forgot this thread existed.
Shortly after posting this, my water issue apparently stopped.
I didn't fix anything. It may come back when I start frequenting the car wash more.

[duky]

Originally Posted by nubian

My apologies, I totally forgot this thread existed.
Shortly after posting this, my water issue apparently stopped.
I didn't fix anything. It may come back when I start frequenting the car wash more.

Haha how fortunate. Thanks for responding!

[lucius]

First post updated.
Any help on this will be appreciated.

[duky]

You probably need to reseal your water vapor barrier. There are a few other posts on these forums with similar issues. This video shows how to do it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=em9TdvaB0_8

I found a place nearby me that does it for $100 so I might just pay them to do it but it doesn't look too difficult to do yourself

[mike3000fl]

I've always wondered how the vapor barrier does anything. Wouldn't the door have to be full of water for a badly sealed vapor barrier to cause a water leak? And where does all this water in the door go if the vapor barrier is working fine? I know everyone says bad vapor barrier can cause water to get in but I just don't get it. Plus it's called a vapor barrier, not liquid barrier. It seems like a normally functioning door should not have water inside of it ever, regardless of the barrier. Someone help me understand this. Completely serious asking this

[Meeni]

The water that pools at the bottom of the window has to go somewhere. The window seal at the bottom outside of the windows is not a seal, it is just a guide. Water goes straight through it, and gets chaneled from inside the door by the vapor barrier toward evacuation holes (look at the tip of your door, at the bottom edge, you'll see the hole. When the barrier is not sealed, water follows it (by capilarity) and gets inside the cabin through the door, instead of flowing toward the exhaust holes.

Now, on the updated pictures of the Op, the water flows from the top seal, not from the door panel. Are you sure the water passages under the hood are clear ?

[lucius]

Originally Posted by ndukyh

You probably need to reseal your water vapor barrier. There are a few other posts on these forums with similar issues. This video shows how to do it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=em9TdvaB0_8

I found a place nearby me that does it for $100 so I might just pay them to do it but it doesn't look too difficult to do yourself

I'm just unclear how that could be based on my updated photos. The water is channeling from above.

Originally Posted by mike3000fl

I've always wondered how the vapor barrier does anything. Wouldn't the door have to be full of water for a badly sealed vapor barrier to cause a water leak? And where does all this water in the door go if the vapor barrier is working fine? I know everyone says bad vapor barrier can cause water to get in but I just don't get it. Plus it's called a vapor barrier, not liquid barrier. It seems like a normally functioning door should not have water inside of it ever, regardless of the barrier. Someone help me understand this. Completely serious asking this

I too am confused by this.

Originally Posted by Meeni

The water that pools at the bottom of the window has to go somewhere. The window seal at the bottom outside of the windows is not a seal, it is just a guide. Water goes straight through it, and gets chaneled from inside the door by the vapor barrier toward evacuation holes (look at the tip of your door, at the bottom edge, you'll see the hole. When the barrier is not sealed, water follows it (by capilarity) and gets inside the cabin through the door, instead of flowing toward the exhaust holes.

Now, on the updated pictures of the Op, the water flows from the top seal, not from the door panel. Are you sure the water passages under the hood are clear ?

if you mean by cleaning the gutters:
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=700181
Then yes, those have been clean for quite some time.

[Skylinemotorsports]

Bump, OP did you ever figure this out? I am having the exact same issue on my e92.

[Skylinemotorsports]

Any help here is appreciated. The tuner shop i just got the car out of said it looks like a window seal, so I called the window guy. THe window guy said it was likely a drain under the cowl, next to the air filter but I cannot find any pictures of where this is located.

Does anyone know what other leak points there might be aside from the sunroof and the window seal? This leak is MAJOR, I got back from a trip last week and had about 2 inchs of water on my winter mat on the passenger side floorboard.

Cheers.

[lucius]

Skylinemotorsports, my apologies for the late response.
I have not resolved my issue. My issue doesn't happen every time it rains which makes it very hard to diagnose.
I will have to wait til next spring for me to tackle this.

[Skylinemotorsports]

Well I am still digging all over the internet trying to find the issue. As I said my leak is coming from the the EXACT same spot. Could be drains or window seal, although the window seal sounds less likely as the issue. I am getting it out of the shop today and going to test what drains I know about and take the well off and look in the wheel well and see if I see a drain there that might be clogged.

Also going to take the doors off and reseal the barrier, I seriously DOUBT this is the issue, as where the water is coming from, that would not make alot of sense.

I am thinking I am going to have to take the whole front dash apart and hopefully see if I can locate were the water stream is coming from and work my way back.

I will keep you posted if I can find the root cause.. such a PITA.

[Thorin]

Top 3:
1. A-pillar - sunroof drain funnels (literally) into a downtube at the top of the A-pillar. If that tube is clogged or misaligned, the sunroof drains right into your A-pillar and into your footwell. Note that your sunroof seal does let water in; it's not airtight, as you may be led to believe. Drain channels exist to move the permissible quantities of water to channel down to the ground through your car.

2. Vapor barrier/butyl seal. If the vapor barrier is ripped, or the butyl seal is degraded, water could be on the wrong side of the vapor barrier. The factory butyl seal is thin, and degrades over time. Plus it does not like to be reworked, so if the vapor barrier was ever removed and replaced, this would be a culprit. Note; your window seals are not airtight at the bottom; drain holes exist at the bottom of your door to allow permissible quantities of water to drain out (make sure these are clean; verify by inserting a skewer in to make sure they are not blocked). If there is a failure in the vapor barrier or seal, water will leak between the interior door panel and door metal frame at the bottom when water is applied to the outside glass.

3. Base of Windshield: missing seal. If the seal is missing, or opened, water could be coming in at the base of the windshield cowl. Tell tale signs are water in the heater fan area. This scenario is likely if you've ever had your windshield replaced.

It sounds like you are addressing these one by one. The worst one has to be the sunroof one, as it entails so much disassembly.

[Skylinemotorsports]

Here is a video of the leak. This was the condition of my 335 after a week long work trip.

I took the hose to it today and was able to get the leak to happen, but I am not 100% sure but it seemed to happen when I left the hose on the center of the windshield for about 4 minutes. I was able to see it coming some from under right upper side of the footwell and dripping down next to the vent.

I took off the cowl to look under the pollen filter and was able to look into the car through where the air filter goes into the cabin, I think I saw the heater fan, and there was zero water around that area. I will take pictures tomorrow of that area. I did not see any water there at all. I also tested the front drains on the side under the hood, and those both drain fine. Testing the sunroof, those drains seem to work also, as I saw the water draining out in the wheel well, as you would expect.

I mean I guess it could be the window seal but i talked with a professional and they say that if it was this issue, it would not likely just start happening but would have been an issue after a window replacement, and really stressed he did not think it would be a seal suddenly going bad. This is an original window. The car is an 09 e92 335 with 67k miles on it. I actually just got it out of the tuner shop and they really did not know where it was coming from.....

As you guys can see from the pictures this is a major problem.

[Cisco335i]

Originally Posted by Skylinemotorsports

Here is a video of the leak. This was the condition of my car after a week long work trip.

I took the hose to it today and was able to get the leak to happen, but I am not 100% sure but it seemed to happen when I left the hose on the center of the windshield for about 4 minutes. I was able to see it coming some from under right upper side of the footwell and dripping down next to the vent.

I took off the cowl to look under the pollen filter and was able to look into the car through where the air filter goes into the cabin. I did not see any water there at all. I also tested the front drains on the side under the hood, and those both drain fine. Testing the sunroof, those drains seem to work also, as I saw the water draining out in the wheel well, as you would expect.

I mean I guess it could be the window seal but i talked with a professional and they say that if it was this issue, it would not likely just start happening but would have been an issue after a window replacement, and really stressed he did not think it would be a seal suddenly going bad. This is an orginal window. The car is an 09 e92 335 with 67k miles on it.

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!!!!