Water under passenger seat

[Kbs133]

Only had the Z a few weeks and I have noticed that there is water under the passengers seat. The carpet has acted like a sponge but wondering where the water is coming in

Drain holes are clear

Any ideas

Cheers

Kev

[chapeau]

Only had the Z a few weeks and I have noticed that there is water under the passengers seat. The carpet has acted like a sponge but wondering where the water is coming in

Drain holes are clear

Any ideas

Cheers

Kev

Funny you say that i have exact same problem but its the drivers seat. Think mine may have been related to the seals on the hardtop but still not sure.
Which way are you tackling the drying of it? I'm thinking i'll need to get the seat out and dry properly with a hairdryer or something but the sponge under the carpet seems soaked through and i'm not thinking it'll dry out that way?
Perhaps desiccant packs?

[Kbs133]

I have soaked up the water but the carpet is very wet. I have put the seat as far forward as I can and that seems to expose most of the carpet. If needed I may use a hair dryer. Before I do that I want to find the leak. Strand as the carpet is dry at the sides (sill). Hoping that one of the guys on here will have an idea

[dhobbs]

Check the membrane behind the door card. If that has come loose or is torn then it will drip water into the car.

Mine was loose so I sorted it out same time as putting new speakers in the door.

You can run the air-conditioning to help dry it out.

Daz

[cj10jeeper]

Door membrane is almost always the culprit.. If not sealed or otherwise damaged water opours in. After that drainer rear and bonnet.

Drying with hairdryers, etc. Is a total waste of time. Does noting but heat the top mm's up. It's either carpets out that a real pita, or just let it dry naturally with windows open when possible. It'll take days and days, but does no harm once the problem is fixed

[DMC63]

Check the membrane behind the door card. If that has come loose or is torn then it will drip water into the car.

Mine was loose so I sorted it out same time as putting new speakers in the door.

You can run the air-conditioning to help dry it out.

Daz

I'm not expert on this but surely the door membrane behind the door car isn't meant to keep water out of the car? The membrane is a foam sheet. That would mean my door speaker would be getting soaked!l My car had the window mechanism replaced and the membrane was torn by the installer. It made no difference to any ingress of water. No water should be entering the internal cavity of the door period. The door isn't designed to allow water to pass through it. When I removed my doorcards and installed the speakers and sound deadening, the internal cavities of both doors were bone dry. If water is allowed into the door and left to dry out naturally it would begin to go moldy and smell as it would never quite dry out properly in the colder wetter months.

Water shouldn't be getting in the door. I would've thought the weather strip sealing the window would be more of a point of water entry.
These lose their close fit to the side windows and begin to allow water to run down the glass into the door cavity.

Maybe check the underside of the car to make sure there's no corrosion allowing water in from underneath. Also behind the skirts is worth checking out.

[sw4nny]

It will most probably be the door membrane,had this issue on mine resealed membrane problem solved

[DMC63]

Door membrane is almost always the culprit.. If not sealed or otherwise damaged water opours in. After that drainer rear and bonnet.

Drying with hairdryers, etc. Is a total waste of time. Does noting but heat the top mm's up. It's either carpets out that a real pita, or just let it dry naturally with windows open when possible. It'll take days and days, but does no harm once the problem is fixed

Can you clarify what you mean by door membrane? Oe part No if possible please. I can't find it in the catalogue.

[cj10jeeper]

Check the membrane behind the door card. If that has come loose or is torn then it will drip water into the car.

Mine was loose so I sorted it out same time as putting new speakers in the door.

You can run the air-conditioning to help dry it out.

Daz

I'm not expert on this but surely the door membrane behind the door car isn't meant to keep water out of the car? The membrane is a foam sheet. That would mean my door speaker would be getting soaked!l My car had the window mechanism replaced and the membrane was torn by the installer. It made no difference to any ingress of water. No water should be entering the internal cavity of the door period. The door isn't designed to allow water to pass through it. When I removed my doorcards and installed the speakers and sound deadening, the internal cavities of both doors were bone dry. If water is allowed into the door and left to dry out naturally it would begin to go moldy and smell as it would never quite dry out properly in the colder wetter months.

Water shouldn't be getting in the door. I would've thought the weather strip sealing the window would be more of a point of water entry.
These lose their close fit to the side windows and begin to allow water to run down the glass into the door cavity.

Maybe check the underside of the car to make sure there's no corrosion allowing water in from underneath. Also behind the skirts is worth checking out.

The simple answer is you're totally wrong. Water is designed to flow down the inside of the door mostly in the outer face of the glass. The weather strip on the outside of the eineienis kit a water barrier at all. The membrane is the waterproof barrier hence sealed with special mastic.
Just because yours was torn isn't a certainty water will get in the car but in most cases it's the issue. Speaker is too high to get too much water on it
Hope this helps

[cj10jeeper]

Door membrane is almost always the culprit.. If not sealed or otherwise damaged water opours in. After that drainer rear and bonnet.

Drying with hairdryers, etc. Is a total waste of time. Does noting but heat the top mm's up. It's either carpets out that a real pita, or just let it dry naturally with windows open when possible. It'll take days and days, but does no harm once the problem is fixed

Can you clarify what you mean by door membrane? Oe part No if possible please. I can't find it in the catalogue.

It's a waterproof membrane that is bonded to the inside metal structure of the door, just behind the doorcard. It allows water to flow down the inside of the dioor and not into the car. Part will be in realoem

[DMC63]

The simple answer is you're totally wrong. Water is designed to flow down the inside of the door mostly in the outer face of the glass. The weather strip on the outside of the eineienis kit a water barrier at all. The membrane is the waterproof barrier hence sealed with special mastic.
Just because yours was torn isn't a certainty water will get in the car but in most cases it's the issue. Speaker is too high to get too much water on it
Hope this helps[/quote]

Mmm, ok. The only part I could find in the oe catalogue was the sound insulation. Pics attached. I'm completely surprised to hear that the doors are designed to allow water to pass through. So there's a little drain hole in the door, what if this gets blocked? The door then fills with water sloshing about

Screen Shot 2017-03-05 at 10.54.30.png (14.86 KiB) Viewed 2786 times

Screen Shot 2017-03-05 at 10.54.12.png (180.89 KiB) Viewed 2786 times

[cj10jeeper]

There are 2 large drain slots in the bottom of the door. Unlikely to get blocked and you can see evidence of outflow in mine.
I doubt you'll be convinced but there are countless owners who have fixed a torn or loose membrane and it stops the leaks

[DMC63]

There are 2 large drain slots in the bottom of the door. Unlikely to get blocked and you can see evidence of outflow in mine.
I doubt you'll be convinced but there are countless owners who have fixed a torn or loose membrane and it stops the leaks

I'm convinced that there's obviously water ingress, and it does freak me out lol. Fortunately I didn't rip my sound insulation at the bottom. This, however, has inspired me to replace the torn sheets with new and seal with fresh bitumen sealant.

I'm very openminded and always willing to learn about new things from people with more experience.

[olsonn]

I had the exact same problem when I bought my Z4 a few years ago and I actually took mine to the local stealers to look at as I thought I could keep taking it back until they sorted the problem. Took them months to find the problem, much to their embarrassment. They did all the usual things, changing membranes, door seals etc, smoke tests all to no avail. Finally by chance they did yet another water test and spotted a small drip of water coming from the seal on the screen. It appears the screen had been replaced without using BMW seals, hence the problem. I hope yours isn't this, but if all else fails might be worth having a look at. Leave it out on a raining day and take a look, wont have to wait for one this time of year LOL

[dhobbs]

You can test this by putting some talc on the frame plastics (beneath the door if you get what I mean) and then you can see where water has dripped.
Sealing my membrane solved my problem.