[R8TD-M]

My wifes 07 328xi inteior is friggin soaked. Pulled the interiror apart today (seats out carpet up) and shop vac'd 1.5 gallons of water out of the damn thing. I know what youre thinking - typical woman left the sunroof open in a rain storm. Not the case, shes surprisngly good with cars.

We first noticed water intrusion approximately 1 month ago. Rear seat drivers side foot well was soaked. We thought maybe a fluke? Happened again, after another rain storm. The car had very agrresive offset wheels on it, so i pulled them off thinking the front tires were pushing too much water into the door sill area, intruding into the interior. Stock wheels back on, no luck, same problem the next time it rained.

Today, i cleaned out the under hood drainage (lots of leaves in there), ran an electrical fish down through it, and used the shop vac in blow (as opposed to suck) to push air through it. Did the same with the sunroof drain lines (driver and pass side, on the front side of the sunroof casette. Not sure if there are more drain lines in the rear. Couldnt get very far down into these, but ran the fish into it as well as pipe cleaners and shop vac blow out.

Im worried something else is wrong. Every e90 water intrusion search i do points to "front passenger footwell" as the wet place. Thats bone dry in this car.

When i say this car is soaked, its really f'ing soaked. I squegeed out a ton of water from the entire drivers side from the gas / brake pedal all the way back to the rear seats.

Based on tracing back wet and dry areas, it SEEMS like the water starts at the driver footwell near the left side, dead pedal- then puddles up and runs back to the rear of the car.

Reaching out here in hopes that someone has some experience with this? something similar?

[crystalline]

It may not be the same thing at all, but this happened in my e46. The vapor seal (sound insulation rubber thing) that is between the metal of the door and the interior plastic developed a leak after I changed the window regulator. The seal is stuck to the door with a black waterproof sealant. The water was in the same place you are noticing, rear drivers side foot well, with slight wetness running up to the dead pedal. I tried cleaning all the drainage channels the same as you but nothing worked. In the end I remembered the window regulator, despite it being the drivers door. I bought some window weld, took it back apart, and glued the crap out of it and the problem was solved. YMMV I have no idea if the e90 is the same, but the leak looked exactly the same as you are showing.

[E90Turner]

The sunroof drain could also be clogged. we see it happen at the dealership every once and awhile.

[BMW_fun]

I would also start with door vapor seal, it's a known problem within E46's and E90's. I had this problem in both of my cars, sealed them and it was fine.

If this won't fix the problem, then I would look at sunroof drainage.

[E90Turner]

sunroof drain legit takes 2 seconds to blow out. I have 120k on my e90, have had my door panels off several times, have removed my barriers several times and I have never had a drop of water inside. obviously you cant rule it out but why go through the trouble of taking the doors apart when you can clear the drains in no time? keep it simple and then tear the car further apart.

[jor2cool4u]

Originally Posted by UsentiFa

Let me know if you need to borrow my ozone machine.
I'm out of Andover, MA

http://www.odorfreemachines.com/suit...FZBefgodO_4D4g

I might take you up on this offer if that is okay!!! I have a car with smoke smell I am trying to get rid of

[Torgus]

Originally Posted by UsentiFa

Let me know if you need to borrow my ozone machine.
I'm out of Andover, MA

http://www.odorfreemachines.com/suit...FZBefgodO_4D4g

I work in Lawrence right on the Andover line by Sal's pizza/495 exits. Any chance I can give you some $$$ to borrow it? Will it get rid of smoke smell? I have the same issue in my E90. Need to clean that bish out!

[Hadley]

Originally Posted by Torgus

I work in Lawrence right on the Andover line by Sal's pizza/495 exits. Any chance I can give you some $$$ to borrow it? Will it get rid of smoke smell? I have the same issue in my E90. Need to clean that bish out!

How about you quit smoking?

[Torgus]

Originally Posted by Hadley

How about you quit smoking?

Who says I still smoke? Car smells.

[jor2cool4u]

I hear you have to leave in the car for a couple days with the doors and windows closed?...

[djh2]

Ozone does a good job at breaking down odors. You'll want to let the car air out before going back inside any high concentration of ozone though, if you can smell it, don't go inside.

Keep in mind too, that ozone (O3) is a strong oxidizer so things should be dry because it could increase chances of rust and corrosion. It's this reactive behavior that breaks down volatile compounds (odors) and kills mold.

(The company I work for makes air cleaning products that use ozone).

[Torgus]

Originally Posted by UsentiFa

Let me know if you need to borrow my ozone machine.
I'm out of Andover, MA

http://www.odorfreemachines.com/suit...FZBefgodO_4D4g

How long does it take? If I have to leave it for a few days I'll throw you some $$$ and do both E9X.

[Etek]

Originally Posted by Torgus

How long does it take? If I have to leave it for a few days I'll throw you some $$$ and do both E9X.

Do mine too lol. But I think I'm gonna wait till after winter.

[Torgus]

Originally Posted by UsentiFa

Two to three days.

Can I borrow your machine over a weekend? I'd like to do both cars so around a week or so in total I would like to borrow it for. I'll throw you some cash or buy you some beer?

[jor2cool4u]

BTW borrowed UsentiFa Ozone machine and the smell is definitely gone in my Subaru. There is definitely the lingering Ozone smell still, but that is slowly going away day by day. Thanks again man! Great meeting you!

[Torgus]

Glad to hear it worked well!

How long did you use it?

[jor2cool4u]

used it for about 48 hours straight on medium setting...the machine was pretty powerful and the smoke smell wasn't very strong so I didn't think I needed the entire 72 hours

[R8TD-M]

The good guys at Tulley in Manchester diaged the car (1hr labor charge) and found the leak. Sunroof gasket was toast. Surprising, given the car had 20K on it when we bought it, and started leaking like a siv with 55K... 500 bucks later and the car is dry as a bone.

This is the 3rd E9x my wife and i have owned and the only one to have ever leaked.
Car was original owner in Boston, and made its way up to our hands in NH as 2nd owners - so its a new england machine through and through.

Doesn't seem like a common problem at all.

[Torgus]

That is annoying. Mine leaked but it was by the rear taillight and killed my amp. But I think that is more common.

[raptor_f22]

Does your car have the shark fin antenna? My indy told me a guy came in once with the same issue and every tearing the car apart it turned out to be a leak with the seal under the antenna or something