Water leak under cabby rear seat

[Ian325i]

Hi, does anyone have the answer .......under the rear seat on my 325 cab ,it s getting soaking wet, and drains down into the rear footwells........on the picture there is a rubber grommet ( lower one ). The water seems to be emerging from this grommet .....I don't want to remove the rear panel unnecessarily,if there is another solution....

[brutus]

mmm,,,,,
ideally check your matrix ,, its under to the right of your glove box,,
its known to run down along& down
to where u have a problem,,

?

[Ian325i]

Thanks for the reply......the leak is under the back seat, it seems to be coming from the horseshoe area, and pools under the rear seat and also under the rear footwells....

[brutus]

right then,
horse shoe drain pipes blocked I guess,,,,,,
if cant do ,,?
u anywhere near n. e London, ?
il sort it out,,

[BenHar]

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=275658&hilit=drain+hood

Ben

[martauto]

Thanks for the reply......the leak is under the back seat, it seems to be coming from the horseshoe area, and pools under the rear seat and also under the rear footwells....

Welcome to the zone mate and I hope you found us helpful ??


Mart.

[Topblag]

Also check whether the stitching in the roof above is in tact, missing threads = open holes = water ingress.

[Topblag]

I use talcum powder to track the source of a leak if it’s not clear, make sure it’s dry first though !

[corkie]

I had this blocked drains is my guess !dry it up and pour water into the drain area !

[paultv]

There are three drain levels to deal with....

The first drain hole is inside the horseshoe cover next to the hinge mounts on each side - hard to see. These become blocked and the stowage area
fills with water.

The next level is inside the bottom of the window stowage area - remove side panels and window mechanism to gain access if you suspect water is pooling
in the window cavity - this eventually drains into the rear floor pan, with permanent wet carpets.

Lastly, the water exits the car through the sill drains, I think there's 3 of them on each side. These can be cleaned using suitable stiff wire to remove any blocked exit points.

Result should be, adding water into the horseshoe hinge area on both sides of the car should result in water exiting the sills and ending up on the floor,
if this doesn't happen or is very slow, you have to address any or all of the above.

Paul

[Ian325i]

Thanks for everyone's help and advice ......so quite a few places the water can enter .....!!!! does anybody know the best way to remove the rear internal side cover ,I need to remove the rear side window,or at least look into the cavity where to window winds down into......? all the other drain holes are easily accessible ....many thanks .

[BenHar]

Do the hood compartment and sill drains.

The other one mentioned is not common (i'm not sure what it refers to actually).

Ben

[paultv]

It's pretty simple, after water runs off the roof and enters the stowage area, it passes through the two horseshoe drain holes and runs down the inside of the rear window cavities, At the bottom of the cavities are further drain holes, actually long slots which allow water to pass into the sill area ( point is the bottom of the window stowage cavity is not the lowest point or cavity)

I had at one point about 3 liters of water trapped in this space, I could hear it sloshing around when driving!!

Remove speaker grills in side panels, you find two cross head screws - not the speakers, slide off the left side roof release handle cover as well. Peel down the rubber door seal to release the front edge of the side panel and then lift the panel upwards as it clips into locators along the rear window bodywork edge. Use a torch to investigate the drainage situation and remove the four mounting points for the window regulator unit as well as the wiring and draw the whole thing up and out of the cavity . Good idea to mark the bolt positions to help correct re positioning.

Only take the regulator out if you have to, it can be a bit of a bugger.

Hope this helps,

Paul

[BenHar]

Thanks, Paul.

I thought it just went straight into the sills there. Didn't realise there was another restriction to block!

Ben