Water on rear passenger floor

[Purplecty]

It has been raining pretty bad here for the past 3 days but I have never felt water in the carpets anywhere as that is one of the first things I checked when purchasing the X due my knowledge in BMW sunroof and vapor barrier leaks. I did have the AC on with the defroster while driving in the rain last night to keep the windows from fogging up. I have read the rear AC drains can become clogged and cause the water issue mainly on the rear passenger side. Anyone have experience with this?

[wpoll]

My X5 had a damaged vapour barrier on a rear door - only leaked when it rained (doh!) AND it was parked facing downhill - never when facing up hill. I eventually fixed it but I still avoid parking facing downhill...

[Purplecty]

Originally Posted by wpoll

My X5 had a damaged vapour barrier on a rear door - only leaked when it rained (doh!) AND it was parked facing downhill - never when facing up hill. I eventually fixed it but I still avoid parking facing downhill...

I will check the vapor barrier. It's just that it has rained several times and it was it was not we at all. Just so happens I used the AC the other night and happened to double check the carpets after the rain and found the passenger rear wet...

[bcredliner]

Suggest starting with sunroof drains, easy to do and don't have to tear anything apart. Sometimes you can blow them out with just canned air or water pressure then wait until it rains and go from there. If air conditioning is the cause you should be able to replicate those circumstances without it raining.

[Purplecty]

I will run the AC and see if the drains are working properly. Where are the drain locations under the car?

[David D]

Working on this problem as well this weekend.

In addition to the wet rear passenger side carpet, I discovered that the front was wet, as well as the inside of the glove box.

If you open the sunroof and look down in the front corners, you'll see the little drain holes. I poured some water down into the holes and it drains out just in front of the front doors behind the wheels if the drains are clear.

To check the rear drains, open the rear hatch and look up on either side near the hinges. You'll see a black grommet on each side. Those are the drains for the rear of the sunroof. Close the sunroof and put it in "vent" mode and pour some water down into the back corners that way. You should be able to see water coming out of the rear drains at the hatch.

As it turns out, my drains are all clear, so the next step was to check the rear door vapor barrier. It was intact, but water was still migrating along the inside of the door panel. I have the optional side window sunshades, so I removed that and had my wife spray water while I looked inside. Sure enough, the seal around the fixed door glass is cracked and leaking and the water is running down that piece and down the door frame and into the car (anyone know which part #'s these are?).

I haven't tested it yet, but I'm pretty sure that the front leak was caused by a buildup of tree leaves and dirt that had collected in the front corners of the windshield and inside the air filter box under the hood. I vacuumed and cleaned all of that out and am confident that should resolve that issue.

Try the above and let us know what you find.

[ahlem]

I had the same problem and even after blowing air down the sunroof openings from the top my carpet was still wet.
I crawled under the car with a piece of flexible hose attached to a blow gun and shot a blast of air back up the A/C condensation drain tubes (not the same as the sunroof drains). These are soft 3/8" diameter tubes on either side of the transmission about even with the shifter +/-. Took care of the problem when some chunks of organic matter flushed back out when I disrupted the clog.

[Purplecty]

So we had some good rain here this AM and figured this was a good time to check the carpet and sure enought the rear passenger and driver side was wet but more on the passenger side. So it's down to vapor barrier seal or rear sunroof drains...

[Purplecty]

And of course we are having torrential downpours right now! I stuffed towels on each side by the edges of the rear doors and it seemed to soak up most of the water vs. The floor...

[Purplecty]

So I replaced the rear driver door carrier and sure enough the vapor barrier was in pieces. Taped it up the best I could until I get new ones for both rear doors...