please help! bad e30 footwell leaks

 Please some info! I noticed a lot of water in the footwells(and damp carpets) on both sides and soaked this up. after blasting with a hose from below it seemed to be ok - no leaks from arches as suspected. However The car has been sitting for about two weeks in heavy rain - and now there is serious water in footwells.I have discovered the water comes from above. Two trails of water coming down from behind the dash on its farthest extremities, and down the inside metal of the wheel arches where it encroaches into the footwell. There appears to be some foamy stuff way under the dash at the far edges and it is soaking. Where is the water coming from? I took the vents off ,from in front of the windscreen, but i cant see rust or anything in there.The battery tray appears a little damp too. (By the way carpets are pulled back and i don't have air con)

Look for a hole at the top of the wing at the bulkead, in the landing panel where the wiper motor is situated. Both sides. The water can gather here and if it cannot drain can eventually run inside the seal and down the side of the footwell. The bottom of the windscreen seal is another area. It can then drip onto the ECU, found this out when mine wouldn't start one day, it had leaked inside the ECU and shorted out!

Rob

Thanks guys will be checking those areas.. Some
more info for you - I took the seats and carpets out
today and i looked way under the dash at the
bulkhead, from inside. Up under the dash towards,
the top right corner, on the drivers side, part of a
square metal box (underneath a foam insulating
stuff) slightly protrudes into this area. This is soaked
through. Is this corner part of the battery tray coming
into the car at this point? I notice the lower edge of
this metal box is corroded slightly and damp . Can
you confirm what part of the car i might be looking at
with that description?? BTW - The dampness is
apparent on the passenger side bulkhead insulation
behind a mass of wires. Almost impossible to get at
i imagine..? cheers again

There is a drain tube that gets blocked and will cause the problem you have I will try to explain where it is.
Lift the bonnet look just past the battery and along the bulkhead is a black insulation panel with cables cliped to it. You will find a "flat" drain tube about 4" long it is attached to the bulkhead pull it of and clear out the muck. This is the main drain from the grills by the whipers. If you cant find it give me a ring 01179406930.



Ron

..it's not the sunroof drain holes is it?
If they get blocked you end up with wet footwells.

i've run water over the screen and into the grille/wiper
area, and the water runs out onto the ground and
also out of the pipe in the engine /bulkhead area - so
i assume this means those are clear.

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Hi Johnny, not sure that this would be part of the battery tray. That square metal box, does it look anything like... this - Its a control unit which IIRC has some foam around the top of it - Mine 'blew-up' when it had some water ingress....£600 for a new one, ouch!

Whilst you have all the bits off, you should do a leak test with someone adding water to windscreen in that area and watch for any drips....
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That looks rather like the cpu from my scrapped E34 525i, £600 ?, they wouldnt happen to be the same unit would they, the car, like my present one was M20 engined.

If its worth horrid amounts of money I might put it somehwre safe, its just lying around in my workshop at the moment.