BMW Wet Carpet Water Leak Fix ??? This Is The ONLY PERMANENT Solution... For Business Contact : Nathan's BMW Workshop Po Box 115 Altenburg Mo 63732 nathan.youtube@yahoo.com
I know this is old however it might help someone someday. There's no easy fix for this nor cheap, but if is done right will last another 10years or more :) What I've done, how and what else I should've done -remove door panel glue back whatever pieces are loose let it dry completely and apply some protection on the cardboard lower part - I used several thin layers of clearcoat applied with a soft brush - remove the vapor barrier from the door and clean the interior of the door as perfect as possible. - inspect drain plugs and replace any missing or damaged caps -reapply wax be generous especially on the lower part where it is known the door will rust -inspect wire harness and replace the insolation tape if needed - use same type as factory - textile black single side adessive. -clean all the plugs and apply contact corrosion protection spray use any brand automotive, no wd40 is not for that. -clean the vapor barrier and remove the black old goo aka butyl tape. I used same rags soaked in paint remover/ nitro thinner - this will be fun, the barrier holds well to this powerful solvent however it doesn't have to be spotless. - apply a new cord of butyl tape follow the old contour and while you unwrap the tape from the paper stretch it a little bit. Also put it on the 2 middle sections like e38s my eurospec e39 didn't have there from factory but you can clearly see from the pattern that it was designed to have. - route the electrical harness through-out the vapor barrier dedicated spots center it onto the door frame while you gently press it against door frame. Once it is correct centered apply increased pressure with your hand all around, cm by cm until the circle is completed twice. Don't forget the center pieces. No heat gun needed if temp is above 20C. In fact a hair drier is enough to pre heat the metal frame... - put back the door panel. Replace all broken clips with genuine ones only -new or reused Now what I should have done and I didn't from the start was to replace the windows cranes. After 1 year the cable snapped at right door and another year later on the left door the plastic upper roller cracked and the cable was tangled around and window jammed opened. So replace those cranes with original new ones while you're there. The motors were perfectly fine. All 4 doors will have this failure after 20 years so as a preventive action might not be a bad idea to do them all. If this happens at the front doors things will get very ugly very soon as Nat already explained. If carpet gets wet in front of the car left or right side another cause worth mention it here is the heat exchanger/ AC cabin radiator or its pipes broken, cracked or clogged - dashboard out. ugly stuff also... Greetings from Romania❤
I deal with this on my e39 and on other brands at work. If you make sure the door drains are clean and unobstructed it helps a lot. Water can still fill up the door and run over into the car, but it helps. Clean sunroof drains are very important. Great channel keep it up.
Yes, the door drains need to be cleaned periodically. I spray with WD40 as well and mist with light oil. I've had to clean the sunroof drains of crud, clean thoroughly and reattach the hose to the spout with a slight touch of black silicone then secured each with small black zip ties. The tension of the hose on the sunroof cassette spout goes over time and need the silicone and zip ties to remain secure. So far, so good. I no longer use the sunroof, as a preventative precaution.
Just fixed my E46 had regulators fitted but vapour barrier was left loose,Butyl tape has worked perfectly no leaks also no need to drill holes there are drain plugs in the front and rear just pop the grommets out.The tape will work fine im sure your vid pointed me in the right direction.Cheers
we just had a massive rain in Syd /Australia. and i got a E 39 525i 03 it’s wet at my back set so thank you i will check this out and i have noticed my both back doors were licking water .
Hey Nathan i first wanna say thank you for the content make its helped me out a bunch on my 2004 bmw x3 it's my very first bmw I've owned and i love it watching your videos has made the ownership of my bmw enjoy full instead of painful I'm very appreciative of the time and effort it takes to make the videos you do if you have the time to i would really like to ask your opinion on something about my x3
Hey Jake. Im the same as you with the 04 X3. Curious to know your questions in case we both have the same lol. But this video was helpful for me on one issue.
Hi Nathan. I was hoping maybe you could help me? I am having trouble find the original orginal Lower driver side timing guide to my N62 engine. I really just need the plastic but at one point bmw updated the guide and made it longer and what not but I want the original so I don't have to change out the whole guide. Plz lmk if you can help. Thank you
Yup... That was my case too. Have checked every drainage channel: under the hood, sunroof, and then... A door panel :) I have used a silicone. But drying the carpet is a challenge. I have put some newspapers under, and have them replaced every 2 days, until all was dry. Many other cars have that problem too.
Nathan can u please help me i have steering wheel play in my e39 what is the most common fix to this?? i have new tie-rods but it didnt help. i have like 1 inch play in the steering wheel...
Great video Nathan. I remember having watch one of your older videos to figure out how to glue my door's and unplug the sunroof drains on my first E39. Keep up the great content and God bless.
ive got a question i have a p0740 code on my 1997 bmw 740il but im not experiencing and issues with the tranny at all its shifts like butter what should i do?
That photo of the nasty fuse box under the carpet (stupid place to put it!) is the stuff of my nightmares! My car is nearly 20 years old now so I think I'll just put a weekend aside and redo all 4 doors because having to strip the whole interior to replace corroded electrics is going to be 10 times worse and I'd rather not chance it. I know the back needs doing anyway.
Hey man!.. Did you had any problems with starting your car?.. When you got water there.... I wanted to replace my window crane.. And i Left all open Because was the wrong. Model... And was dripping inside from the door handle.. That was left there... And my car doesn't start know.....there is some junction box there? I have to replace or something.?
The only permanent fix is to instal a new genuine BMW vapour barrier with the butyl, it’s not too expensive from BMW and you will have around another 15 years of leak free service life by using the genuine parts. Do it right the first time ( with genuine parts) and there will be no comebacks on this job.
@@philiplee7604 something else also often overlooked are the foam washers and the plastic arrow clips. Test the old clips in the holes before putting them on the door to make sure they’re tight. Replace if loose when in the hole. They can also leak if the washer is lost
Hey Nathan I’ve been a long time subscriber for awhile now. I’ve recently bought a e39 540i knowing that I’m going to have to do the timing chains guides. I’m planning on buying the timing kit form German auto solutions. I was wondering where you would recommend on getting the parts to do this job. I was also going to pick up a timing kit with a febi timing chain and guides from esc tuning but idk. Thanks for all your videos and your help!
My E53 had a wet carpet in one footwell at the rear. I couldn’t figure it out until the window cable broke and I went to replace it. Low and behold the vapour barrier was not stuck at the bottom.
I used the same tape to seal my skylite windows in the roof--10 yr no leak. I seemed to miss the part of cleaning ouut inside the dorr to guarantee no blocked drains.
im having that issue with my 2007 550i in the rear passenger door..the carpet is soaked and when i shake the door, i can feel there is about 3/4 gallon of water..i will try this fix..
I used to have an intermittent problem with my back passenger doors some times leaking rain water upon the carpet! Sometimes from the car wash also!!! I have place aluminum foil all the way across the door threshold on both sides! That stops the carpet from getting wet! Again the water leaking is an intermittent problem! Even when it rains or the car being washed it does not always leak water! By using the aluminum foil I have not had any water leaking into my carpet since I bought My BMW, it is a 2003 530ia with 137800 miles no codes or oil leaks , everything works! I maintain it by myself!
I checked it. But thats not issue on my E39. Door Panels are sealed, sunroof drains are not clogged. But i still have water near gas pedal, front. And to be precise, there is water only in that place, and after i power wash the car. When it's raining, that carpet is dry. I can't find the place of leakage :/ Nathan, help.
Nathan, can you please help me? I have a 97 E38 (740il) that is making a type of grinding noise that seem like something engages and then disengages when slowly accelerating between 40 to 60 mph. I've had the center main bearing and catalytic converter's replaced because I was told that the noise was because of that; but the noise is still there. Please help! Thanks, Alphonso!
I see that you are using Zip flashing tape. I like the idea but am somewhat worried about the water hitting the adhesive on the inside of the tape and breaking down the adhesive and not holding a seal over time. What do you think?
The tape he is using is Zipwall moisture barrier tape. It's meant for construction and to be a 25 year tape so moisture does not enter the home after the brick or siding is installed
I have a 97 bmw 528i with a m52 engine. While I was replacing the water pump I checked the coolant hoses on the back of the engine I noticed the starter looks out of alignment. I am wondering if I can partially remove the starter to realign it or should I go through the whole process of completely removing the starter.
Now you seal the bottom of the door panel now the water sits inside your door to rot the door inside because we're does the water goes how is water getting inside the door panel anyways that should be the answer
@@OsamaBinLlama the door has holes in the bottom. Water should run down the glass through the door shell to the outside. If your door is filling up with water then the holes are blocked with dirt.
Idk man.. I've been chasing my leak for years.. finally figured out it was the window trim being bent.. I've adjusted the moisture barrier more than I'd like to admit.. wasnt the sunroof or moisture barrier, was the window trim, has a squeegee on it..
Now that I recall, the lawn guy sent a rock flying through my passenger window, and had safe light come out to fix it, only to realize the regulator went bad, and window would not stay up... jammed a screwdriver on the inside for a month until I had time to look at it.. water was shushing while driving, didnt know where it was coming from.. realized it was the door, carpets were soaked, didnt know at the time, cuz no1 like riding in the "old car" with dad.. took the sunroof cassette and headliner down, drains were connected, zip tied for my state of mind, blew some compressed air theough.. rained, same issue.. checked moisture barrier, resealed with removable 3M adhesive from home depot, as well as chaulk.. same issue, swishing returned.. drained out water from door for the final time. Left everything disassembled, rolled up windows, took a gallon of water, poured it above the door.. found the leak was infact the window (silver or black depending on your model) trim with squeegee.. wasn't repelling the fluids efficiently.. small gap where squeegee was completely off glass, realigned glass, took squeegee off, cleaned out leaves, soaked, wiped, took out bend, and mated to glass.. problem solved 👍
I think the key to any leak is to focus on actually fixing the leak. I have seen people rip up carpets etc and dry them out only to have the same leak come back. Just drilling a small hole or knocking out a bung or two solves the wetness under the carpet once the leak is fixed. Finding the actual leak if it's not one of the things in the video can get very hard.
It is that the drain holes in the door get blocked, coupled with a disintegration of the butylene over time, not that there is a leak, per se. The car is designed for the water to enter through trim as the base of the window, but then to flow through the six drain holes along the bottom of the doors. As preventative maintenance, it is wise to check the drain holes and reapply butylene periodically. However, drilling holes in the floor pan is a good backup measure, especially so as the electronic junction box of the e39 is located ahead of the passenger front seat on the floor pan. Keeping that dry is critical for any car that one plans to keep long-term.
Please let us know if you ever have to take this off to replace the regulators. Otherwise, this is a neat mickey trick in a pinch - ex. selling the car
ORrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, you can just reach down under the carpet and pull of the plastic drain cover!!!!!!!! 🙄....ask me how I know! 😡 That being clarified, drill a hole on the bottom of the door, so water drains out would be a better option....if there are no drain slots which should be cleaned every once in a while.
All you bmw owners just get some scotch 3m electrical tape thats 1/2 or 3/4 inch wide and run a strip of tape over the entire sunroofs trim outer edge. You wont be able top open sunroof but atleast you know rain cant come in through there even in heavy rain or carwash. I never open my sunroof anyways.
The vapor barrier is a crap design and just putting tape on the outside is a poor fix. Water trickles down the barrier and will pool at the bottom where the Butyl rubber / tape is. I put a deflector on the seal internally at a higher point minimize the water reaching the bottom of the seal. Then applied new Butyl up to the lip of the metal door opening to remove the pooling area.
If i had a nickle for every door panel i fixed after Jr. (kids) replaced the speakers with "good ones", and ruined this barrier Yes.. id be richer than a mideast camel herder
What about a car cover? But still you spend a lot of money on a bmw and you have to deal with this! I’m planning on buying a new 2024 M4 competition I don’t want to spend a $100k on a car for this I live in Seattle all it does is rain. Ugh. If that’s the case I’ll get the Benz AMG GLE 53 instead
