wet carpet on driver's side floor

[workingonit]

Originally Posted by workingonit

...It might be awhile before I can do the work: jacking up the X5 enough so I can feed trimmer string thru the drain port underneath, removing airbag fuses & A-pillar panel, un-kinking/un-plugging the suspect drain hose, and the re-assembling dead pedal and A-pillar (after testing). I'll be working in the dirt/sand/gravel/leaf debris that the X5 is parked on, and it's supposed to start raining for three days, starting in about 2 hours, so I'll probably get little done. I'll cover the sunroof with a tarp, in the meantime....

After leaving the tarp on for 3.5 days, I removed it and started again looking for the leak. The floormat was now completely dry, and left no trace where the leak had originated, so I hosed-down the front of the sunroof, and also the driver's window, but not the windshield (where I'm thinking the leak may actually emanate from). No further leaks.

I probably didn't direct the water straight enough downward to bypass the seal on the sunroof, but I did take off the A-pillar cover to inspect the hose. The hose was pretty straight, didn't feel like it was clogged, and the bottom end was still fully intact and inserted into the metal receptacle (part of the A-pillar), showing no stains or past leak evidence there. I couldn't tell if the water came out of the bottom of the drain, as the ground was still wet, and water was dripping pretty much everywhere, after the garden-hose-testing.

I decided not to try crawling underneath (due to a blood-clotted left arm...Dr. says not to bump/lay-on/impact it until he gives me the OK, after a few months), and using the trimmer string trick (my .155" string would probably poke a hole in the hose anyway). Even using the air gun (at reduced pressure) would've been inconclusive, from the underside, since I couldn't observe what came out the top...which raises a question.

How can I get the sunshade to move to the open position (just far enough to access the drain inlet), without making the glass open, and/or the sunroof cartridge itself cycle? I'm afraid of damage (that may already be present) from previous owners, or from just this one-time-only operation (never intend to use it again). I've removed the fuse, and would like to go full manual just to inspect the drain.

Also, the driver's door passed the leak test: Absolutely no water even entered the door, much less leaked inside. I'm 30% sure the leak was from the sunroof, or more likely (in my opinion) from the cracks/hole in the front of the windshield/body-seal interface, adjacent to the hood hinge area (actually on both sides, right & left). I used liquid electrical tape to fill the holes, thus re-directing any water to flow off the windshield and into the hood/body channel, then down towards the front.


So, unless I can safely hand-crank the sunroof sunshade, and or the glass itself open enough to clear the drains from above, then I'll just wait and see if the windshield/body seal repair will stop the leak, or not, instead of risking damage and worse leaks, from the untried, untested sunroof.