Water in Battery Compartment

[talljames]

So, I had a couple of heavy rain days and ended up with water in the battery compartment again which took out my suspension level control module and radio module. I have clean drains for the sunroof and recently cleaned out the plugs on the drop down tailgate. I checked the wire rubber loom cover that runs from the tailgate to inside the car and that is all ok. I have read that it could be due to tailgate light seals. I assume these are the inner ones that people are talking about. Will need to investigate further but if anyone has knowlege of this it would be appreciated. I am thinking of drilling holes in the floor under the battery and using grommets (i am not going to be driving through wheel high water levels). But a bit cautious on doing this.

cheers

[andrewwynn]

I had a similar issue in my e70 and I never found the source so I drilled a hole.


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[wpoll]

Could well be the tail lights - the outer ones are more likely. The seals on these are known to leak on occasion.



Left side - 63216926773

Right side - 63216926774

[Pulelehua]

Use a ($20 Amazon)boroscope fished up under the headliner to check if sunroof drain tubes are fully intact & connected. Easy to pull handles & anchor covers from ceiling for scope access. I used 3/4 heat shrink tube to repair mine after dropping the headliner (careful of airbags).

[cn90]

- Remove everything in the trunk (spare tire etc) and store them in the garage.
Just leave the battery in place.
-Then sit in the trunk while a helper used a garden hose to spray from the top,
just like rain. This way you can find the source of water leak.

[talljames]

Thanks for the comments. I know for a fact that the panoramic sunroof can cause the side cargo pocket to fill up and destroy the amp. Have had that issue before and cleaned out the roof drains with no more issue there. I am too big (6’8”) to climb in the back and look for water leaks, but I have read that before. The corner lights I would have thought would leak into the cargo side areas. My water is pooling in below the battery in the middle destroying the modules on its way. But correct me if this is a legit path. On later x5’s isn’t the battery on the side. I have looked at the three drain holes at the bottom of the tailgate and removed the rubber grommets so shouldn’t be an issue. I had a look at the inner rear lights from the top and the gasket seems to have lost its sponge effect. I also need to check the main tailgate seal. My front door seals are just hanging on (original) but still keeping water out.

I understand that there are three vents behind the rear bumper that act as a vacuum of sorts and the seals tend to go on these. Apparently, you can only see them from inside after removing a panel. Not going down that path yet.

I am going to put a strip of black electrical tape on the top of the inner rear lights to see if that fixes the issue.

[andrewwynn]

Battery still in the middle on my e70.

Option B for finding water leak are the blue shop paper towels. They turn dark blue with moisture. Great for tracking down leaks.

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[talljames]

Now that’s an idea, thank you. I will have a search for them. Will get back to you with my results. Could be some time. I will post back then. Thanks all for your comments, much appreciated.