E60/1 water in boot - causing i drive issues
Discussion
Hi all,
I wrote this for another forum but as its relevant and a worthwhile excercise...
This is most relevant to E61's with a panoramic sunroof owing to the larger surface of area and water ingress but can affect all E60/1's.
The matter hs been discussed before and a few memebers here have had issues owing to the winter months.
The Problem
i Drive / PDC issues or total failure
Smell of burning
Obvious water in boot / wheel well.
The Cause
As water runs from the roof of the car it runs through water channels on the top edges of the roof.
Also, sun roofs are not water tight. They allow some water in when closed which finds its way to the channels and either run to an outlet behind each of the 4 wheels.
It is this that causes the issue.
The drainage tubes at the front are simply unifrom hoses, a bit like a garden hose. Therefore, if any dirt/grit is washed into the tubes it tends to wash straight out and onto the floor. Blockage of these 2 front tubes are rare.
The hoses at the rear have a design fault. The ends, where the water should pour from, are pinched.
On the end of the hose they have an attachment that easily clogs, causes a back log of water that, in heavy rain finds its way into your boot, wetting the carpet and slowly filling the spare wheel well, right at the bottom like a sinking ship.
In this void, right at the bottom are important i Drive and PDC modules. When wet these electrically fry themselves and require significant work to replace, along with their wiring loom, recoding etc and can cost over 1k to repair.
Facing uphill, parked during a heavy rainfall would be your worst scenario.
The Solution
This is to simply remove the attachment on the end of the 2 back hoses so, like the front tubes you have a a uniform tube, just like the front ones that hopefully will not clog.
Some people remove the back bumper to gain access but that is too labourious and isn't necessary.
I prefer the following.
Open the boot and open the cubby hole on the left.
Pull back the cloth and find this tube.
When you have, now this is very technical.... Yank it skyward. It will resist but it will come.
Once it comes up you may hear the attachment on the end fall off and into your bumber void. Good riddance.
With the tube now out, blow up it hard and you will hear it crackle and clear. If you're lucky you may get a mouthful of claggy water.
Then, simply poke it back down where it came from.
On the off side, the proceedure is the same except you need to remove 3x (8mm IIRC) nuts that hold the fuses in place.
...and this is the little tinker that costs people all this money, the threaded end is what is in the end of your tubes and for no plausable reason whatsoever it is crimped at the other end.
I do urge all to inspect their spare wheel wells asap, especially being mid winter. The clogging effect is accumalative and potentially ruining.
Regards all,
Neil.D
I wrote this for another forum but as its relevant and a worthwhile excercise...
This is most relevant to E61's with a panoramic sunroof owing to the larger surface of area and water ingress but can affect all E60/1's.
The matter hs been discussed before and a few memebers here have had issues owing to the winter months.
The Problem
i Drive / PDC issues or total failure
Smell of burning
Obvious water in boot / wheel well.
The Cause
As water runs from the roof of the car it runs through water channels on the top edges of the roof.
Also, sun roofs are not water tight. They allow some water in when closed which finds its way to the channels and either run to an outlet behind each of the 4 wheels.
It is this that causes the issue.
The drainage tubes at the front are simply unifrom hoses, a bit like a garden hose. Therefore, if any dirt/grit is washed into the tubes it tends to wash straight out and onto the floor. Blockage of these 2 front tubes are rare.
The hoses at the rear have a design fault. The ends, where the water should pour from, are pinched.
On the end of the hose they have an attachment that easily clogs, causes a back log of water that, in heavy rain finds its way into your boot, wetting the carpet and slowly filling the spare wheel well, right at the bottom like a sinking ship.
In this void, right at the bottom are important i Drive and PDC modules. When wet these electrically fry themselves and require significant work to replace, along with their wiring loom, recoding etc and can cost over 1k to repair.
Facing uphill, parked during a heavy rainfall would be your worst scenario.
The Solution
This is to simply remove the attachment on the end of the 2 back hoses so, like the front tubes you have a a uniform tube, just like the front ones that hopefully will not clog.
Some people remove the back bumper to gain access but that is too labourious and isn't necessary.
I prefer the following.
Open the boot and open the cubby hole on the left.
Pull back the cloth and find this tube.
When you have, now this is very technical.... Yank it skyward. It will resist but it will come.
Once it comes up you may hear the attachment on the end fall off and into your bumber void. Good riddance.
With the tube now out, blow up it hard and you will hear it crackle and clear. If you're lucky you may get a mouthful of claggy water.
Then, simply poke it back down where it came from.
On the off side, the proceedure is the same except you need to remove 3x (8mm IIRC) nuts that hold the fuses in place.
...and this is the little tinker that costs people all this money, the threaded end is what is in the end of your tubes and for no plausable reason whatsoever it is crimped at the other end.
I do urge all to inspect their spare wheel wells asap, especially being mid winter. The clogging effect is accumalative and potentially ruining.
Regards all,
Neil.D
rassi said:
Very very good post! Don't even want to think about what an I-drive or PDC module costs!
Thanks. People report that once the module has been ruined the associated wiring loom has to be replaced, then the new parts must be 'coded' to the car owing to the complicated electrical system.
If only a couple of units are ruined it may only be a few hundred to replace but the labour can be significant.
Victims of such issues report bills of circa 1k.
This is frustrating as the problem is so easily avoided but do few know about it until it's too late.
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