X5 E53 Rear Footwell Flooded with Water - Where is it coming from (Not the Doors)?
 

The dreaded water problem struck my car. Every time it rains, the rear-left footwell (behind the passenger seat) fills with water.

At first, I thought it could be the door vapor barrier, so I opened it and it was a little bit torn above so I fixed it. I tested it, no water came in. Next time it rained, water flooded the rear-right footwell, so I took it to BMW here in Mass. They said the sunroof drains were clogged, they cleaned them and charged me $130. It rained again and guess what; the floor behind the passenger seat was flooded...

After reading some forum posts, I opened the hood and cleaned the carbon filter area that had some leaves. It didn't do any good as next time it rained, water flooded the same right rear footwell.

I've blasted a hose over the entire car - including directly inside the rear quarter window, and came up empty handed - no water appeared inside.

Any suggestions before I take it to BMW again?

Are you talking the left rear cubby in the trunk? Could be a body seam has opened and water from the road is getting in versus water falling from the sky.

Are you the original owner? If not did you do a carfax report to determine if perhaps the X was in a rear end collision with another vehicle?

No, the trunk is clean. I'm talking about the carpet on the right-rear side of the cabin (behind the passenger seat). The water seems to concentrate towards the back - see the red markup in the attached images, I just removed the door sill trim to dry it out.

Check your sunroof drains!

SUNROOF DRAIN

Too bad that they didn't check after cleaning the "clogged" sunroof drains and taking your $130 to see if the issue still existed...or if one of the drains were disconnected or torn.

Unfortunately, you don't have any model/model year/build date info in a signature...so we don't know if this is the regular sunroof or the Pano sunroof. Help us help you better, consider creating a signature that includes your model/model year/build date. A signature can be created by clicking the USER CP link found at the top right of the page...then clicking on the EDIT SIGNATURE link that appears along the left side. :)

Yeah, you're right about the signature Qsilver. It's a 2006 X5 4.4i Sport with the panoramic sunroof - at BMW they said they did the water test after the un-clogging and everything was fine.

Where does the rear sunroof drain pipe(s) run through? Can I check it out?

I have the non-pano sunroof, but check out this thread - I posted pics of the rear drains for mine. They are near the upper hinges for the tailgate - not a terribly intuitive place.

http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...s-realoem.html

130 bucks and it still leaks???? Don't they warranty their work???

I still don't get how the floor can get wet from the sunroof, unless there's a pipe running through or nearby - could it be something else?