2004 X3 3.0i - Passenger footwell damp

[GregE240]

Hi

Long time lurker and first post - be gentle!

My partner has a late 2004 3.0i petrol X3. Great car, and she loves it to pieces.

However, recently the car has started to mist up like nobodys business, and the carpet under the matt in the passenger front footwell gets damp. If you lift the matt for a few days, it dries out.

I have seen some comments regarding sunroof seals, but our car is not fitted with a sunroof, so any ideas most appreciated. The car is out of warranty, but we have a third party warranty which should cover any remedial work.

Many thanks
Greg

[davipt]

Our '06 X3 is also getting damped on back of the passenger side. We have sunroof (or moon roof), and we did get our back door side window smashed once in Paris, so now I don't know if it's something related to the sunroof or the new window. The new windows is not BMW original, but it's made exactly on the same factory, so I doubt it's just from the windows.

In practice the floor is always a little bit damped now on winter when it's raining, and it gets fully damped when we go through the car wash. We also need to keep the carpet out or else it never gets dry.

The funny thing is that the damp comes from the floor, not from above, as the carpet's dry on the top and damped on the rubber bottom, so it's the floor carpet that turns the removable carpet wet.

Some said it could be the draining tubes coming from the sun-roof. But you don't have sun-roof, so we might both have a case of a small defect in the window.

eh

[GregE240]

Thanks for your reply.

The *only* thing that has been done on our car is the speaker in the rear passenger side never worked, so at the last service it was fixed - connectors weren't pushed on.

I wonder if the dealer disturbed the vapour barrier (or whatever its called) and this has led to the water ingress?

As you say it is the actual carpet thats damp, not the mats. Indeed, the mats have a rubber backing so I know it isn't soaking through.

[E5M1R]

I did not have this issue on any beemer, but the car was leaking water trough the A pillar i guess windsheald was not glued on perfectly, it was only wet on the bottom and not on the sides since watter ran down on metal parts that are a bit away from carpet on the side

Hope this helps

[GregE240]

Not really, I'm afraid, but thanks for the thought.

Oddly enough the car had a new windscreen a few weeks ago, but the problem has been going on longer than when the screen was fitted.

Its going in the dealers tomorrow.

[ashori]

If the footwells are being filled with water and nothing else, then it is more than likely that it is the vapor barrier. Basically if the barrier leaks, the water ends up in the cabin instead of outside the car.

[Parrot356]

Couldn't it also be the a/c condensate? If it is clean water and is happening even without rain that is where I would look. If the drain gets pluged the coil has no where to drain but the floor board. Just a thought.

Also when it 'mists' up is it just water or does it smell like anti-freeze. If things smell 'sweet' it is most likely antifreeze. Your heater core could be going bad or leaking....