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Water in the rear wheel well?!

Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2012 11:13 am
by Jungian64
On my 318 '90 touring I have a pool of water in the rear offside wheel well - I think its finding its way across from a disconnected wash wipe, as I found a 90 deg bend tube in the ashtray & the nozzle jets on the outside cover are broken & disconnected..! ( having only had the car a week or so)
Qs - how do I trace & identify if my hunch is correct?

Thanks.

Re: Water in the rear wheel well?!

Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2012 7:59 pm
by Jungian64
any clues?

Re: Water in the rear wheel well?!

Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2012 8:08 pm
by dobbie82
Usually sunroof drains I believe?

If you take the carpets out of the boot you will see some drains coming down each side.

Mine is a good 6" deep :/

It has happened on most of my e30's

Re: Water in the rear wheel well?!

Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2012 9:38 pm
by Jungian64
..thanks but I dont have a sunroof above the REAR wheel well 8O

Do the sunroof drains run all through the car to the boot?!

Re: Water in the rear wheel well?!

Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2012 9:42 pm
by dobbie82
SOrry didnt see WHEEL well sorry!

Even simpler then, it is probably splashing up through a hole :/

Re: Water in the rear wheel well?!

Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2012 9:44 pm
by dobbie82
and yes the sunroof drains run through to the back of the car and usually fill up the well that holds the jack

Re: Water in the rear wheel well?!

Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2012 11:38 pm
by Jungian64
..and if this is the case, whats the fix? ( sorry, I also meant the well where the jack ( was) stored!)

Re: Water in the rear wheel well?!

Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 2:12 am
by Touring_IOM
Stare into the boot compartment and get a mate to open the sunroof and pour a jug of water into the sunroof dranage hole making sure not to coat the interior in water. Mine is leaking from the connector that connects into the condenser thingy ma bob that has that flap jobby. :D Hope this helps.

Re: Water in the rear wheel well?!

Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 9:50 am
by jmc330i
Condensation can also be a cause for the swimming pool effect.

There is a small rubber bung at the front of the rectangular well (on both sides). These have a small hole that normally gets blocked and won't let any water out. You can seen them from outside, open the hole up and the water should drain out.

There is a thread on here somewhere with a picture I posted showing the rubber bung.

Re: Water in the rear wheel well?!

Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 12:41 pm
by Jungian64
Thanks chaps - bright sunny day in Devon, so will have a delve around.

'Mine is leaking from the connector that connects into the condenser thingy ma bob that has that flap jobby. Hope this helps' - :eek: best technical description Ive heard in a long time lol :cool:

Re: Water in the rear wheel well?!

Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 5:13 pm
by Jungian64
Well, lining out & half inch of water sponged out.. daughter poured water down the sunroof drain holes and it all came out in the right places ( in between the the chasis & rear bumper moulding?) then little helper pressed rear squirter with my head in the boot - no water leaking out of the bottle, rear pipe or in fact the jet next to the wiper! pin stuffed down the jet but it seemed clear? so a bit perplexed as to where the water originated from in the first place..though all fingers point to a small rust hole in said well..

So now how do I get water to come out of my rear wash wipe?

Re: Water in the rear wheel well?!

Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 5:26 pm
by TPS
Rear Light Gaskets? Boot Seal?

Re: Water in the rear wheel well?!

Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 5:35 pm
by adit
this car is not a Touring, but you'll get the idea:

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... ndensation

Re: Water in the rear wheel well?!

Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 7:44 pm
by toby
Jungian, I have a theory that all the mystery water is perhaps part of the collective unconscious...
:D


Water might be coming in through rear lights.

Re: Water in the rear wheel well?!

Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 9:34 pm
by Jungian64
TPS - Thanks...see if I can get out of devon to pick that seat up this wk!

Adit - helpful post cheers.

Toby - My namesake would undoubtable agree..in fact Iam probably 'inviting the water into my metaphorical well'... :roll:

Re: Water in the rear wheel well?!

Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 10:14 pm
by toby
Brilliant!

I was serious about the rear lights leaking though.

Re: Water in the rear wheel well?!

Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2012 3:01 pm
by Jungian64
Yep, took that one in the way it was intended too! Grateful for your contribution.

Re: Water in the rear wheel well?!

Posted: Wed Feb 29, 2012 12:48 pm
by Jungian64
..folow up question..how do I get my rear wash wipe to work? water in the bottle but not a dribble out the back?!

Re: Water in the rear wheel well?!

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2012 8:35 pm
by toby
Do a search mate. Others have answered this one better than I could.

The overview is that basically the pipe has to be correctly routed - there a special little slot in where the pillar and roof meet that the pipe should go through. Make sure it's not kinked anywhere else, like around the tailgate hinge.

The washer jet may also be blocked, so get a thin bit of wire and poke it through the nozzle and the pipe below.

If there's still no joy, strip the trim off the tailgate in order to access the back of the motor. Pull the pipe off to see if water is actually getting to the motor. See what's working and what's not - process of elimination (archetypally).

Re: Water in the rear wheel well?!

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2012 8:45 pm
by jonny323i
most of the time its the gaskets behind the lights it certainly is on mine