E30 water leak

E30 water leak. A common problem I know - I've read the previous posts and now I've got a wet driver's side (LHD) footwell carpet. I'm about to investigate but does anyone know how to get the plastic vents out of the top of the scuttle? They look like they need to be prised out somehow. Any tips please?

Thanks Adrian.

get the carpet up lads to dry it out and to help you find the source of the leak(s).
If not a leaky windscreen or blocked elephant trunk then more often than not it is down to corrosion somewhere

Part number for the elephant's trunk is 51 73 1 911 369.

Adrian

RE water in drivers side footwell, just taken off windscreen wiper plastic vents FULL OF WATER blocked elephants trunk, fingers crossed this does the trick, no signs of any rust under there , had a good feel around it seems ok.

PJSM3 - I had a phase of wet carpets with my SE. It was a real struggle to get the carpet out on my own too, as it has about 60mm of soundproofing on some parts, and that was all full of water!

I found a large number of small problems, most of which are pretty standard, and some of which related to my big accident.  There was one which relates to the bonnet seal though.  First off, mine is in one piece, and forms a "c" shape, doing the back of the bonnet aperture, and returning down each wing to the front of the car.  I believe they all should have been like this, but stand to be corrected. 

What I did notice when I experimented with a hose pipe hed on the screen, and me folded up in the footwell was that water was rolling down the w/screen, into the gutter, and running from side to side along the gutter that the bonet seal sits in. It is meant to run then down  the gutter between the wings and the inner wing, and out over the dip headlights.  Mine was getting as far as the bit where the outer wing meets the scuttle (where M3's rust) and then a small amount was dripping in, under the bonnet seal around where the bonnet latches are bolted.  This was fine on the driver's side (by fusebox) as it just ran away forwards.  However, on the passenger side, it was then dripping down into the recess where the aircon pipes enter the cockpit through the grommet in the bulkhead, and pooling there, then leaking in by the speaker in the passenger kick panel. 

I first tried sealign the grommet with Silicone, but coulgn't get right round it, so I pulled off the bonet seal and used body caulking in the little gat where the upstand on the wing meets that on the scuttle, so as to make it waterproof.  The tailing back stopped, and that leak was cured.

Another place where mine was leaking was the heater main body seal. Stupid design, but with only one elephant trunk, the water from the driver's side is required to drain across the car to the trunk, and thus the heater seal sits no more than 10mm out of the (always wet) gutter - hence a small but persistent leak, coming down the top of the transmission tunnel under the heater unit, and then leaking into either or both footwells.  I overcame this by a masterfull botch, which does work and did not involve removing the heater, a job I dread.  If your problem lies here, PM me, and I'll give you the secret.

Best bet to trace all your leaks though is to remove the carpets (which you need to do anyway to dry them out), have a hose and hold it facing up the screen, held under the wiper bades, and crouch on the uncomfortable floor with your head under the dash with a torch, and just sit and watch what happens - it's quite enlightening!

BTW, drying the carpets is a real pain.  I vaxed mine within an inch of their lives, and it still took 3 weeks by my boiler to get the things fully dry.  Drvong the car without the carpet though, every drive becomes an ETC epic!  Beware cooking your passenger's feet though!

Good luck with it, let us know what is finally turns out to be.

PJSM3 wrote: I’ll order a new bonnet seal anyway but I’m beginning to wonder how many E30’s have had serious rot problems due to the problem of water dripping down into the fuse box area. Is there any way water can get to that area besides through the bonnet seal? The second issue is that once water is in the engine bay fire wall area it must run down and (from inside my car) I can see a small drip from the large grommet that holds the wires from the fuse box as they enter the cabin. Do you reckon this need to be silicone sealed from inside around its edge (I can’t see it would be very easy to do from the engine compartment side)? Peter

In my opinion the rusting around the fuse box /inner wing area is caused by moisture getting between the inner wing panel and the strut tower from the wheel arch. There are a number of sections and channels above the plastic liner that can allow a build up of mud and moisture in that area - particularly if the car is run with out the wheel arch liners.

Also there is a second drainage  route from the heater air chamber that drains the driver's side of the chamber and exits out into this wheel arch so this may add to the dampness around that area.

On my car the main wiring loom was daubed with blutac like sealant at the point where it comes through the bulkhead (on the engine compartment side). I guess this was to try and seal that rather large grommet.

Edited by Lancastrian

That's excellent advice . Thanks very much to you all. I need to look very closely at the bonnet seal and I'll try some additional silicone sealant particularly around the wing join area.

Thanks Sam for the PM