Drainpipe from the panorama sunroof DIY E70

[Muzimak]

Originally Posted by robnitro

The bottom drain can be reached of you remove the clips of the wheel well near the door side and peeling it back. Sometimes the rubber end of the drain itself is clogged. In my case the bmw dimwits twisted and kinked the line that goes to the outlet on driver's side. I had to remove the inner footwell parts and frm to untwist it properly.

Well since I don't have a air pressure tool I suppose I'll have to open the bottom which I suspect it's the culprit here. I see other guys cutting off the end leaving it open to avoid this happening, I wonder how dependable is this method!

[Viktimize]

Originally Posted by robnitro

The bottom drain can be reached of you remove the clips of the wheel well near the door side and peeling it back. Sometimes the rubber end of the drain itself is clogged. In my case the bmw dimwits twisted and kinked the line that goes to the outlet on driver's side. I had to remove the inner footwell parts and frm to untwist it properly.

If you found a way to do this on the passenger side, you're a better man than I. The washer fluid reservoir basically screws you out of having any hope to access the drain on that side. I'll be tearing apart the drivers side next weekend, I'm assuming I'll have no issue accessing that one.

Even if the tubes are kinked inside behind the kick panel, I'm also not sure how you go about correcting that? The hole to access it once you peel the carpet back, is so small I can barely get a couple fingers in there. Fortunately I could confirm mine was not kinked by the looks of it.

I blew compressed air through mine first. I seem to get plenty of flow through them, but they are backing up a bit when a flood of water goes through. So air wasn't really able to help me.

I will most likely be moving to the fishing line trick for my passenger side before I spend a day removing the fender.

[Muzimak]

Originally Posted by Viktimize

If you found a way to do this on the passenger side, you're a better man than I. The washer fluid reservoir basically screws you out of having any hope to access the drain on that side. I'll be tearing apart the drivers side next weekend, I'm assuming I'll have no issue accessing that one.

Even if the tubes are kinked inside behind the kick panel, I'm also not sure how you go about correcting that? The hole to access it once you peel the carpet back, is so small I can barely get a couple fingers in there. Fortunately I could confirm mine was not kinked by the looks of it.

I blew compressed air through mine first. I seem to get plenty of flow through them, but they are backing up a bit when a flood of water goes through. So air wasn't really able to help me.

I will most likely be moving to the fishing line trick for my passenger side before I spend a day removing the fender.

My worry aswell, that reservoir doesn't give an option to do short cuts. Also, having seen the photos of mud that accumulates down there, I doubt just blowing these pipes is sufficient solution.

[robnitro]

You have to remove the panels where your feet go inside the car to check whether it was kinked. My passenger side was fine so I never opened that side nor tried to look by the wheel well.

[Viktimize]

Originally Posted by robnitro

You have to remove the panels where your feet go inside the car to check whether it was kinked. My passenger side was fine so I never opened that side nor tried to look by the wheel well.

Yes those are the kick panels I mentioned. I do have a glimmer of hope after reading your post, the ease at which you talk about this tells me the driver side must be WAY easier to access than the passenger side.

I hope your passenger side holds up, because it is a nightmare to deal with. From now on I will be doing a bi-annual blowout on these drains just for maintenance.

I will say though, on mine I am starting to wonder if I have some door vapor barriers missing? Majority of water seems to be pooling at the bottom of the B-pillar on passenger side. And it needs to be a good flood of water to back up the drains, which I fail to see how that much water could be seeping through the sunroof as to flood the drains out?

I wonder if anyone has had water issues due to sunroof alignment? I do have wind noise right at that passenger side of the sunroof when it is closed. I know it is not meant to be a water tight seal by any means. But if it's out of whack enough to allow wind noise through, it could very well be allowing more rain water than normal through the seams.

[robnitro]

Drivers side is tight and I was worried about unplugging the frm module because bmw makes them out of glass and they die from less... It was a tight fit and I had to rotate it from the outside and verify it was un kinked from the inside.

Did you remove the passenger side and was the pipe exit visible? Maybe I'll have to pour soap or something non corrosive to prevent future issues.

Air pressure didn't help my drivers side and actually blew apart a coupling near the a pillar... I was so mad, but luckily I was able to drop headliner there and reconnect it.

[Viktimize]

Originally Posted by robnitro

Drivers side is tight and I was worried about unplugging the frm module because bmw makes them out of glass and they die from less... It was a tight fit and I had to rotate it from the outside and verify it was un kinked from the inside.

Did you remove the passenger side and was the pipe exit visible? Maybe I'll have to pour soap or something non corrosive to prevent future issues.

Air pressure didn't help my drivers side and actually blew apart a coupling near the a pillar... I was so mad, but luckily I was able to drop headliner there and reconnect it.

Yes on the passenger side I was able to see the tube plug right into the side of the vehicle where it exits. But from the outside looking through the wheel well, I could not see the outside exit as the washer fluid reservoir is blocking it. I did pour water in from the sunroof, and could verify it was dumping on the ground under the fender.

[iansanderson]

2 ruined extended leather dashboards later, a big thank you for the great info and especially the fender off pics. I have been fighting a clogged right drain for months. Dumped gallons of hot water through it, compressed air, you name it. I thought I had it cleared and put a new (used) leather dash in a few months ago. Well, that didn't work and it still slow-drained and ruined the replacement leather dash (water leaks down the A pillar and soaks in the leather and destroys it)

I finally had enough and went through the SIB and checked for a twisted line. All good. I was able to get to the actual drain without pulling the entire fender off. I pulled the rubber duck bill flapper from inside the drain elbow (pic below) and noticed some small dirt/grit stuck in the drain. Now it finally drains with an audible "suction" sound like the left side. I recommend yanking this thing if you are struggling like I am.