passenger footwell wet

[Loperamide]

There is a water leak via the glove box when it rains. I had a packet of tissues inside the glovebox and they were wet, so where could the water be coming into the car from?

I have tested the sunroof drains and they are not blocked. The door seals are dry apart bottom left corner of the footwell (see pic you can see the seal on the left hand side), and its not coming from the vapor barrier as the top of the floormat is wet where the water has been dripping from the glove box.

Please help!

[Robot Ian]

Okay, so this is my experience with a similar issue on the driver's side. I believe the drainage is symmetrical, so hopefully this helps you out.

The sunroof drains do not actually need to be blocked in order for seepage to occur. Water runs from the sunroof drains, through tubing down the entire A-Pillar, and then connects to a downspout that runs to the undercarriage of the car where it drains.

However, it is common for a kink (bend) to develop in the tubing that is inside the A Pillar. In my case, this created a gap between the pillar tube, and the tube that runs straight down to the undercarriage. This gap meant that water would flow freely, but also leak into the pillar itself, drip down behind the dash, and make its way into the footwell.

It was actually shorting out some headlight switches because it was on the driver's side.

Popping the trim off the A-Pillar immediately revealed the issue. The diagnosis was counterintuitive, since the water dampness was evident in a different location, and there was no obvious blockage of the sunroof drain itself - it's just where the water originally came from.

I fixed this by un-kinking the pillar hose, refitting it to the downward hose, and then electrical taping the two so they would be less likely to pull apart in the future. Took 5 minutes.

Removing the a-pillar trim involved a Torx driver (T-20 maybe?) and plastic trim tools.

Good luck!

[Loperamide]

Originally Posted by Robot Ian

Okay, so this is my experience with a similar issue on the driver's side. I believe the drainage is symmetrical, so hopefully this helps you out.

The sunroof drains do not actually need to be blocked in order for seepage to occur. Water runs from the sunroof drains, through tubing down the entire A-Pillar, and then connects to a downspout that runs to the undercarriage of the car where it drains.

However, it is common for a kink (bend) to develop in the tubing that is inside the A Pillar. In my case, this created a gap between the pillar tube, and the tube that runs straight down to the undercarriage. This gap meant that water would flow freely, but also leak into the pillar itself, drip down behind the dash, and make its way into the footwell.

It was actually shorting out some headlight switches because it was on the driver's side.

Popping the trim off the A-Pillar immediately revealed the issue. The diagnosis was counterintuitive, since the water dampness was evident in a different location, and there was no obvious blockage of the sunroof drain itself - it's just where the water originally came from.

I fixed this by un-kinking the pillar hose, refitting it to the downward hose, and then electrical taping the two so they would be less likely to pull apart in the future. Took 5 minutes.

Removing the a-pillar trim involved a Torx driver (T-20 maybe?) and plastic trim tools.

Good luck!

Would this cause it to drop into the glovebox, and then onto the floor mat?

[Robot Ian]

Originally Posted by Loperamide

Would this cause it to drop into the glovebox, and then onto the floor mat?

It wouldn't surprise me. My leak was pouring into the footwell through where the OBDII port is on the driver's side. So the glovebox would be the equivalent of that on the passenger side.

Only way to know for sure is to pop off the trim and look for a hose kink or a gap.

[jsoto]

I had a weird one...coming off cracked sunroof cassette. I can't remember which side floorboard it was wetting though, but regardless, it was coming from uptop following the pillar. Just posting this as it may not necessarily be the lines at all

[LOWvert]

Originally Posted by jsoto

I had a weird one...coming off cracked sunroof cassette. I can't remember which side floorboard it was wetting though, but regardless, it was coming from uptop following the pillar. Just posting this as it may not necessarily be the lines at all

So I too though my sunroof assembly was cracked when I inspected the passenger side (where my leak was from).


I decided to inspect the driver's side and dropped the whole roof liner and to my surprise, the driver and passenger sides looked the same. Yes, it appears that the assembly was cracked, but they looked the same on both sides.


I think it is a design flaw. I cannot confirm since I only have one X5, nor did I take pictures when I did this (unfortunately)... but if anyone has pictures, I would be happy to confirm what mine looks like.

[jsoto]

I know there has been way too many post on kinked line.

I have had my A pillars open more than a couple of times - used to have custom audio tweeters in there, etc. Never have a experices a kinked line. Luck of the draw I suppose

[LOWvert]

So I had this same problem and yes it can be caused by a kink in the drain lines, but I think more times than not, water leakage is due to poor design of the sunroof assembly.



Heavy rain and a crappy seal around the sunroof glass will still cause water leaks.


The sunroof mechanism is not designed very well as there is only a small area that actually catches water to divert it to the drains. It is not well protected for larger volumes of water.



For example, if you pour water on the silver run channel (I will try to post a picture later), the water will actually run down the channel and over the sunroof assembly (and drainage area) onto the roof liner, which then makes its way down the A pillar, and into your glove box and footwell area.



Try it for yourself, just be ready with a bucket.


Take off the A pillar and position a bucket on the edge of the seat between the dash. Carefully pour water into the drainage area where you see the drainage hole. You will notice that no water will come out of the headliner. Now pour water vigorously over the entire area (or overfill the drainage area), and you will experience the water draining from the headliner where it meets the A pillar trim... this is why you get water in your footwell because it drains down the A pillar.

[jsoto]

Mine was cracked - I think more on my own fault. At one point, I had a serious audio system in the truck. Uptip, was the control display/EQ/etc. I removed it all and sold it to some enthusiast . Its not unheard of to have damaged casettes...but I think I caused my own $1800-$2200 cassette problem