'00 Z3M/R - Water under drivers seat carpet?

[tcesar888]

Howzit going!

Yesterday I replaced my seat bushings. While I was at it, I cleaned up the carpet areas. Anyway, I discovered water under the drivers seat carpet, soaking the foam as well as creating some rust spots. Lame! Interesting the carpet exterior was dry.

I found an old sopping wet paper towel under the area, telling me that the previous owner knew about the water. And also found a loose black rubber 50-cent sized grommet with a pencil sized center hole. I couldn't identify where that came from. It has a lip, as if you could use it to snap over/cover something? Maybe from the seat?

And, we have had some rain recently...

Question:

Any one had this happen before? Where might the water be coming in from? I'm thinking there may be a hole on the undercarriage taking in water? From the side or back seam of the soft-top?

Any ideas?

Thanks,

TC

[BMWBergy]

Welcome to the board.

I started a thread a year ago that was supposed to expand to cover the many causes/solutions for water in the interior of our cars. I did this just before moving, and haven't built the thread out fully yet.
Interior water thread

Other than that, you can use the forum's search function to come up with myriad threads covering the topic, which will eventually be incorporated into my thread above.

Good luck!

[tcesar888]

Thanks so much for the assist. I will definitely take a look.

I didn't rip out the carpets yet to officially remedy the situation. I cleaned, dried it up, and sprayed some Boeing in there until I can pull it apart later. Ghaadzzzz...

[BMWBergy]

Suffice to say, water intrusion can come from MANY different sources, so it's important to methodically (and patiently, in case that wasn't implied in 'methodically') evaluate each of the distinct possibilities.

The so-called 'elephant trunk' drains were likely the culprit in my case.
Could be any number of seams or seals in your case, since it's a roadster.
Check for coloration or sweet or fishy smells - those could be signs of coolant, indicating a leaking heater core.

When you do use the search function, make sure you choose to search for "Any Date" and "and Newer" in order to get the proper chronological depth in your returns. If you don't do this, I think the system defaults to 3 months and newer; whatever you're looking for may not have been posted about in some time - so this advice goes for any of your searches.

[tcesar888]

Sounds good. Thanks again!