Water in the rear seat (4 door car)

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Wingzero
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Tue Mar 15, 2022 1:04 pm

Hi - I’ve got a pre-facelift 4 door (D-reg) E30. While doing something else, I’ve found that there’s water in the RHD rear seat base. No water in the footwell, backrest or in the boot.

I was installing coilovers on the weekend and there didn’t appear to be any holes in the wheel arch or floor. I’ve taken the carpets off and nothing obvious there either.

The car has a sunroof but there’s no evidence of water inside the sunroof or in the headlining.

Any ideas would be appreciated.
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Cloggy Saint
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Tue Mar 15, 2022 2:15 pm

Have a look at where the seat belt buckles bolt to the bodywork, they can rust and let water in.
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AlexD911
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Tue Mar 15, 2022 3:56 pm

Looking at the pictures looks like your Fuel Tank Brackets are also bubbling under the sound deadening. I had the same thing on my cab, cut them all out and replaced them.

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Alex
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Wingzero
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Tue Mar 15, 2022 9:01 pm

AlexD911 wrote:
Tue Mar 15, 2022 3:56 pm
Looking at the pictures looks like your Fuel Tank Brackets are also bubbling under the sound deadening. I had the same thing on my cab, cut them all out and replaced them.

Image

Alex
I take it the only way to do that is to get the fuel tank out. Right?
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AlexD911
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Tue Mar 15, 2022 9:52 pm

Pretty much mate if you want to do it and investigate properly. Not a hard job tbf to get it out
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FRMATT
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Mon Mar 21, 2022 9:31 am

I had this issue on my 2 door when I parked nose up on slope of my drive. Pulling the seat out it looked to be coming from here as shown in the image.

This was from the trim round the top/back of the window, I've not fixed it properly yet by replacing the seals/grommits, but putting tape over the gap stopped it happening
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Wingzero
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Tue Mar 22, 2022 3:31 pm

FRMATT wrote:
Mon Mar 21, 2022 9:31 am
I had this issue on my 2 door when I parked nose up on slope of my drive. Pulling the seat out it looked to be coming from here as shown in the image.

This was from the trim round the top/back of the window, I've not fixed it properly yet by replacing the seals/grommits, but putting tape over the gap stopped it happening
So i park facing slightly uphill, but where should i check on a 4 door car?
FRMATT
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Wed Mar 23, 2022 8:40 pm

Wingzero wrote:
Tue Mar 22, 2022 3:31 pm
FRMATT wrote:
Mon Mar 21, 2022 9:31 am
I had this issue on my 2 door when I parked nose up on slope of my drive. Pulling the seat out it looked to be coming from here as shown in the image.

This was from the trim round the top/back of the window, I've not fixed it properly yet by replacing the seals/grommits, but putting tape over the gap stopped it happening
So i park facing slightly uphill, but where should i check on a 4 door car?
I didn't describe it well, it's the trim around the C pillar has a gasket and some grommits, 2dr I know but 4dr I think would be attached in same way:
https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showpa ... Id=51_0830
See attached image for what I did to mine to prove it was this, need to get round to ordering the bits to fix properly
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IMG_20220322_164854.jpg
Wingzero
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Thu Mar 31, 2022 6:32 am

So turns out it's not the window trim and the sunroof rear drain might be blocked. Does anybody know where the rear drains out to? I can't seem to find anything underneath the car when i pour water on top of the car
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BenHar
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Thu Mar 31, 2022 7:03 pm

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parkin10
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Thu Jun 23, 2022 11:24 pm

My Turing had a bad leak into the rear seat on the drivers side
It was the fuel tank breather pipe were it enters the wheel archImage
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