[HollowmanVIII]

So driving home last night the Airbag/Seatbelt warning flashed up, so I checked the battery - to my horror I saw that it was sat inside about two inches of water, god knows how long it's been there. I can already see that one of the red leads has corroded away and come loose from wherever it was connected to lower down, assuming this is what threw the fault up?

Has anybody had anything similar? I have taken it to an local auto electrician to get this water drained and assess the situation.

[HollowmanVIII]

:: update ::

Auto electrician has advised the water has clearly been there sometime as it's actually corroded away the main battery power lead when they removed it. The water has been drained and dried out. They have also drilled two holes to prevent build up again.

However I do need a new power lead which is going to run me £266 including fitting.

Only had the car a week! Hopefully the garage I bought it from will give me some sort of goodwill gesture. Although I doubt this sort of thing is covered under the 3 month warranty they provide.

[dragerboy]

Surely you should figure out where the water is coming from first??

[HollowmanVIII]

Originally Posted by dragerboy

Surely you should figure out where the water is coming from first??

This will be addressed next when everything is up and running again

[tadaska]

I have a roll of blue towel in that storage bin above the battery and after heavy rain if I open the boot I can see that a few drops of water have fallen onto that blue paper towel from above. It's been like that for at least two years but I just can't figure out how that water gets there. The seals look Ok and there are no signs of moisture going in anywhere... But every time there has been a heavy rain I find sings of water drops on top of that roll... The moisture doesn't penetrate deep into the paper towel so there can't be much of a leak. But what's annoying is that it makes no sense that water drips where it does...

[HollowmanVIII]

:: Update ::

It appears the water was leaking in through behind one of the washers/bolts that secure the taillights. Upon inspection of the taillight the rubber seals around it were also quite wet. Changed the washer and will get round to changing the tail light seal as well (mayb LCI tail upgrade).

Worth checking if you have something similar

[Neanderthal41]

Might be worth checking the rear screen washer hose as mine had pulled away slightly from a connector just above the battery compartment on my E91 Touring. Every time I used the rear washer or parked on a hill it was leaking and filling the battery compartment.
It’s not a difficult repair to replace the cables, think I paid about £100 from EBay for the two and it’s just the need to take off the nuts (mine were badly corroded and had fallen apart), clean up the bolts and attach the new cables and then put back the battery.

[HollowmanVIII]

Originally Posted by Neanderthal41

Might be worth checking the rear screen washer hose as mine had pulled away slightly from a connector just above the battery compartment on my E91 Touring. Every time I used the rear washer or parked on a hill it was leaking and filling the battery compartment.
It's not a difficult repair to replace the cables, think I paid about £100 from EBay for the two and it's just the need to take off the nuts (mine were badly corroded and had fallen apart), clean up the bolts and attach the new cables and then put back the battery.

Thanks but it definitely won't be that as mines an E92 (no rear wiper or washer).

[beambeam1]

Strange, I was about to reiterate the same point about the rear washer on an E91...



That was the culprit.

And this was the damage.



Haven't had any issues since but must have been there a while as it had corroded the same areas you refer to as well as the clamp/retaining pin that holds the battery in place.

[AWSAWS]

Originally Posted by beambeam1

Strange, I was about to reiterate the same point about the rear washer on an E91...



That was the culprit.

And this was the damage.



Haven't had any issues since but must have been there a while as it had corroded the same areas you refer to as well as the clamp/retaining pin that holds the battery in place.

Wow! All that rain in Scotland and it wasn't the culprit.

Good job you found the issue.

[HollowmanVIII]

It's a lot more common than you think.

Anyway I'd noticed mine is still getting droplets of water trickling down. So I investigated further. I poured water around my petrol cap while the shutter was closed and hey presto water droplets started trickling in.

Is there a rubber seal replacement I can buy yo stop water getting in through the fuel cap area? I'm certain this is the issue.

[HollowmanVIII]

The small drain hole there. I poured water into it, a lot drains out under the car, however some is dripping into the battery compartment.

Anybody know what could be the issue?

[HollowmanVIII]

Does anyone think there would be any issues with plugging that small hole below the petrol cap? I'm conscious of water still trickling into through it to the battery compartment.

Blocking it may cause some water to pool underneath the petrol flap below the actual petrol cap but surely it will drain off down the side of the car on the bottom half of the petrol flap door...?

[Masher]

did you ever manage to fix this? were you able to clear the airbag/seatbelt code without purchasing a new BST cable?