Sunroof seal

[gengis]

Hi Guys,

I'm looking for a sunroof seal...Part No B54121906999.
I believe the seal is in two sections. I'm looking for the rear section which is approx 160cms long. Can anyone help me try to locate this part?

Please don't shoot me...as this is for my Lancia Beta restoration, and I think the sunroof seals are the same.

Thanks in advance.

[The_Diddler]

Here you go



http://bmwfans.info/parts/catalog/E30/4 ... ing_frame/

hope it helps

[magpie]

about £60 from bmw if they still do them last time i heard

[gengis]

Thanks for the quick reply...Item 4 looks like the part I require. Where can I purchase this?

[sleepy]

Hi,

Sorry for the hijack but i have been looking at he sunroof seal on the car i have just purchased 325i sport....the passenger footwell was absolutley soaking with water so have removed carpet and interior and checked all panels...the car is solid so i will treat the surface rust and re-paint.

The sunroof seals parts 3 & 4 on the diagram above dont seem to meet up and there is a good 1cm+ gap on each side of the sunroof...is this likely to be the place the water was geting into the car and why would this gap have appeared? Looking at the diagram i dont seem to have part number 2 either...what is this bit? Any advice appreciated

gengis - you should be able to pick the seal up from bmw dealers although they seem to be quite expensive....there are also seals on ebay at the moment if you have a scan

[Brianmoooore]

Hi,

Sorry for the hijack but i have been looking at he sunroof seal on the car i have just purchased 325i sport....the passenger footwell was absolutley soaking with water so have removed carpet and interior and checked all panels...the car is solid so i will treat the surface rust and re-paint.

The sunroof seals parts 3 & 4 on the diagram above dont seem to meet up and there is a good 1cm+ gap on each side of the sunroof...is this likely to be the place the water was geting into the car and why would this gap have appeared? Looking at the diagram i dont seem to have part number 2 either...what is this bit? Any advice appreciated

gengis - you should be able to pick the seal up from bmw dealers although they seem to be quite expensive....there are also seals on ebay at the moment if you have a scan

You use parts 3 and 4 or part 2, not both,
Note that the seal is NOT designed to be waterproof. It's there to prevent wind noise, and to limit the amount of water that gets in when the car is washed.
The drainage gutters around the roof aperture collect water that gets through, and feed it to four drain tubes at the corners.

[sleepy]

So is there a common issue when there is water ingress in the footwells, is it likely to be something to do with the sunroof or something different altogether. I have checked and the scuttle panel is solid...any other common places?

[Brianmoooore]

There are many reasons why passenger footwells get wet, and all of them except two involve the word 'rust'.
Is the rubber grommet behind the left hand side of the glovebox, where all the wiring goes through into the engine compartment, fully in place?
Is the liquid water or coolant? The electric valve on the LH side of the heater box is the part that fails if the cooling system gets over pressurised.
Check the condition of the two 6mm studs that hold the glovebox hinge in place. Rust around these, especially the RH one ( it often rusts off ) is serious.

[sleepy]

Oh no....this doesn't sound good. I think it was water, I'll inspect all of the places mentioned tomorrow and report back

Thanks for the advice, you have been most helpfull

[sleepy]

Well i have been inspecting the mentioned areas and the drainage holes for the sunroof are ok. The rubber grommet and glove box screws are solid with no signs of corrosion but the water is getting in through the scuttle and there is a small rust hole near the grommet as per pictures below. I put have a litre through the passenger scuttle and could just about see 1 water droplet forming at the rust patch

This patch seems to be about the size of a 50p and from the inside the outer bit of metal is still solid with only surface rust....is this likely to be a big job....i am going to go over with wire brush but doesnt seem to be bad, was thinking i may be abe to treat the small bit with rust treatment and seal it up again?

Pics:





Showing the litlle bit of water coming through


Any advice appreciated

[The_Diddler]

Only way for a proper repair would be to cut out all the bad metal and replace.............

[sleepy]

Was hoping that wouldn't be the case....any idea's how much this sort of job should cost? I'll post up some more photo's once its been wire brushed as the above photo's are a bit misleading i think and make it look worse than it is.....i'm surprised how solid it is considering the amount of water that was in the carpet

[The_Diddler]

Was hoping that wouldn't be the case....any idea's how much this sort of job should cost? I'll post up some more photo's once its been wire brushed as the above photo's are a bit misleading i think and make it look worse than it is.....i'm surprised how solid it is considering the amount of water that was in the carpet

Look worse than it is

The words you are looking for are it will be much worse than it looks.......................

There's nothing solid about that due to the water getting in, try a screwdriver and see.

Seriously, before thinking about repairing that, look over the rest of the car, jacking pads, rear arches, back panel etc.

It may become very scary very quickly

[sleepy]

You are scaring me now

I have already done that and that is the outcome after knocking away all the fragile bits, if i can find this wire brush in my garage i will be able to clear all the surface stuff and give you a better representation.

Outer scuttle good with no signs of rust or rot, inner arches solid with minimal surface rust...looks like the have been treated before. When you refer to the back panel are you meaning the inner rear quarter pannels or something else?

I am following your advice and going to strip more stuff so i can see everything, is there a specific way to remove the plastic scuttle drainage grille?

[The_Diddler]

The scuttle panel plastics are held in by metal/plastic tabs, three along the longest sides top and bottom i believe, you will need to lever them out, just be careful with the paint, and the plastics, the tabs can break just be careful.

Clean up the areas best you can, a screwdriver prodded in that area will reveal all.

The back panel around the towing eye can be very fruity.

Don't mean to scare, but E30's do like to rust.

For best advise start a thread in the photo gallery about rust repairs, that should help alot.

[sleepy]

Thanks The_Diddler...i was actually thinking of starting my own thread in the owners gallery as have a couple of other issues i need to check to such a diff noise/drivetrain noise.

Found wire brush so going to give it another cleanup and see what i'm left with....i'm used to the rust side of things as i have owned various e36's and currently have a e21 sitting in my garage too

Thanks for your help and will start my own threadn soon

[Brianmoooore]

The scuttle panel plastics are held in by metal/plastic tabs, three along the longest sides top and bottom i believe, you will need to lever them out, just be careful with the paint, and the plastics, the tabs can break just be careful.

The plastic grills do NOT "just lever out". This will remove paint where the steel clips scrape over it.
The correct procedure is to slide the grill downwards a few mm, compressing the spring clips at the bottom, then lifting out the grill at the TOP. Replace by reversing the above.

[Brianmoooore]

I've been studying the pics, and I don't think this is actually leaking in from the scuttle box, which is what it would be if the glovebox studs were rusty.
The bulkhead is partly double skinned, with the skins bending in different directions at the top to form the floor of the scuttle box. The resulting seam is filled with seam sealer, but if and when this fails, water gets in between the two bulkhead skins and rots the thinner metal on the inside, which is when the glovebox studs fall off.
The scuttle box drains through a triangular hole at each end into the rear of the wheel arches, and in your case I think that this water draining through the LH end is then running down the back of the wheel arch area, which is the reverse side of where your rust is.
I do agree with the Didler that there is a lot more rust here than you think! Very little of that is surface rust, and there's going to be a considerable hole there when it's all cut out.
It's not that difficult to repair when you get stuck into it though. A bit of practice, a half decent MIG welder, and you'll soon get that back to solid steel again.

[The_Diddler]

The scuttle panel plastics are held in by metal/plastic tabs, three along the longest sides top and bottom i believe, you will need to lever them out, just be careful with the paint, and the plastics, the tabs can break just be careful.

The plastic grills do NOT "just lever out". This will remove paint where the steel clips scrape over it.
The correct procedure is to slide the grill downwards a few mm, compressing the spring clips at the bottom, then lifting out the grill at the TOP. Replace by reversing the above.

Obviously i bow to your superior knowledge Brian.......... If you notice i said "believe" as thats how i have always done it and have never damaged paint or scraped it.

I hope anybody else in the last 25 years has removed them in the way you describe, or we have a serious problem.

You really do have a unique way of making yourself look condescending in your posting style

[sleepy]

The outer bit of metal referred to where the hole is seems solid but yet to go in from scuttle side to see what it looks like

I have created my own thread in photo gallary section and will continue updating my findings on this: http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... c&t=234731