E70 rain water in rear footwells
E70 rain water in rear footwells
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Discussion

P1ato

Original Poster:

351 posts

158 months

Wednesday 6th February 2019
quotequote all
My local BMW dealer has done an investigation but can't work out why rain water is collecting in the rear footwell behind the driver seat.

I'm putting down towels that get saturated when it rains hard, so there's a lot of water getting in. My X5 doesn't have a sun roof, and all the door seals seem fine.

Has anyone else experienced this? Any help much appreciated...

Elliot2000

786 posts

206 months

Wednesday 6th February 2019
quotequote all
Check the drains under the bonnet near the bulk head - under the brake servo. They can block up and then the water pours in from the front.

Definitely rain water and not screenwash- rear washer pipe runs under the carpet there and they used to split on early ones and pretty much empty half the tank in there.


Pica-Pica

16,682 posts

114 months

Wednesday 6th February 2019
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Is it rainwater? I had the same, it was the rear heater ducts condensing water, as the air conditioning had failed.

P1ato

Original Poster:

351 posts

158 months

Thursday 7th February 2019
quotequote all
Thank you both.

Definitely rain water. The car's been living on the street under a birch tree. I've tried to clear the engine bay of leaves etc, but I wouldn't be surprised if there's a blockage...

Pica-Pica

16,682 posts

114 months

Thursday 7th February 2019
quotequote all
Do you have hidden mounting points for a roof rack (under a cover, or under a seal)? They may be a source of water ingress. My spare wheel well filled had some water getting into it, luckily there is a drain plug (it was probably also a tooling hole also) and that drained it easily. Luckily no rust and no more water came in. This was a previous E36 saloon, by the way.

Wilmslowboy

4,772 posts

236 months

Thursday 7th February 2019
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This is a well-known issue on the 5 (so may apply to the x5 as well).

The right-hand drive cars have a yellow grommet that covers over where the steering column, would normally pass through the bulkhead, on LHD cars.

This has a cover plate in front of it, water and crud, gets behind the plate, water passes past the grommet (due to a blocked drain hole) and water pooling up against it, the water travels down the back of the glove box and settles in the rear passenger footwell.

Just fixed my own (last week).

More info here

http://forum.bmw5.co.uk/topic/116098-heavy-rain-wa...



Edited by Wilmslowboy on Thursday 7th February 18:05