Blackknight530i E39 Wagon Project 2003 530iT 6-speed (Evolution)

[blackknight530i]

Experienced the same problem with trying to sort out why rear footwells (mainly drivers side) of the Touring were popular migratory destinations for ducks after a rain storm.

Went through the usual list as you have done with the door vapour barriers, sunroof, AC drains, vents and so on. Long story short - the windshield had been installed incorrectly in two areas. One being the exterior trim surround had the corner top 'overlaps' installed as underlaps so water was channeled down the inside side of the windshield. Second was the installer had economized on the sealant so the windshield sides were not completely sealed up. So when it rained water would come into the car about 3/4's of the way down the side air bags and drip off of the air bag mounting bracket onto the carpet. New windshield and surround trim fixed the problem.

The other area where some water was gaining entry was the passenger rear footwell body plug. Sometime in the cars life it had been driven over road debris and some object had kicked up and creased the floor pan and broken the bond of the plug. Plug was pushed up about a good inch, thus wet weather driving allowed some mist to get into the car and the carpet foam backing. Straightened out floor pan and installed new body plug. Doubt this would be your problem, but it did explain one cause of the carpet funk aroma.

Craig

Well, I do have the raised portion in the floor from what I think was poor jack placement by the PO, I highly doubt it's kicking up enough water to fill 5 gallons in the floorboard.

That said, the windshield is original to the car and it still doesn't explain the condensation from the A/C not draining at all under the car.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[blackknight530i]

I think I've discovered the culprit of the water intrusion. I still don't know why the A/C isn't draining, but I'm 90% sure it's not the reason for it. Turns out there's a hole under the driver side wiper motor in the engine bay that looks like there is supposed to be a hose or something.



I highly doubt this hole is supposed to be wide open like that, especially since it goes right into the cabin.



After looking at a DIY for wiper motor replacement, it looks like that hole is for a cable possibly for the cruise control on a pre-TU 540i or something. Either way, I still think there should be a plug in place of it. I'll take a look at my other car perhaps, unless someone has a pic from their own car.

Anyways, I've got the front carpet pulled up to let it dry out, hopefully for the last time. The car sat for a few days in the rain without being driven at all, so I know that since the floor was quite full of water under the carpet, it definitely couldn't have been because of the A/C drains.

[Stück]

Thats for the throttle cable on early models IIRC... should have a body plug in there.

Oh, and it was my wifes 99 528iT, recently sold. No longer a E39 owner. Put her in a F25 X3 35i MSport.

[blackknight530i]

Thats for the throttle cable on early models IIRC... should have a body plug in there.

Hey Jordan! Glad to see you're still around . I hope all is well.

Yeah, I thought there should be a body plug. I'll either order one or find one at LKQ if I can get over there soon. It looked like there was water on the floor behind the carpet right under that hole that I'm sure was just flowing in during the rain storms we've had lately. No other areas up high had any water, not even the hole where the clutch master cylinder feed hose comes in, which doesn't have a grommet. I sealed that up with some silicone for now, but probably wasn't the issue in the first place.

[Stück]

I'm still around, busy as always with work. Don't poke my head in here often, Not on BFc much at all these days as the F10 section is predominantly A. Dead, B. Devoid of like minded individuals.

[blackknight530i]

I'm still around, busy as always with work. Don't poke my head in here often, Not on BFc much at all these days as the F10 section is predominantly A. Dead, B. Devoid of like minded individuals.

I hear that. You working at another yard, or moved on to bigger, better things?

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[philly98540]

How was that body plug missing? Odd.

[blackknight530i]

How was that body plug missing? Odd.

Stupid PO did a lot of crap like that.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[geargrinder]

Paul FWIW that little 'U-groove' in the plastic panel is also supposed to have a little plug in it. The obsolete cable would run though that too Best stolen innerwebz pic I could find below.

Obv its not as huge a factor as the hole in the sheet metal, and theoretically the 'brake booster bin' ('BBB') also has drains but extra water is not exactly supposed to dump there either, and you can see in your pic that y little U guy has water in it. So, while youre at it, plug that guy up too... And probably check the BBB drains if you haven't already (I'm guessing you covered those though as they're 'known watch outs')...



- - - Updated - - -

Stupid PO did a lot of crap like that.

Want me to swing by and see if the plug is lying around in the dirt under the harbor freight tent still?

[blackknight530i]

Paul FWIW that little 'U-groove' in the plastic panel is also supposed to have a little plug in it. The obsolete cable would run though that too Best stolen innerwebz pic I could find below.

Obv its not as huge a factor as the hole in the sheet metal, and theoretically the 'brake booster bin' ('BBB') also has drains but extra water is not exactly supposed to dump there either, and you can see in your pic that y little U guy has water in it. So, while youre at it, plug that guy up too... And probably check the BBB drains if you haven't already (I'm guessing you covered those though as they're 'known watch outs')...



- - - Updated - - -



Want me to swing by and see if the plug is lying around in the dirt under the harbor freight tent still?

Yeah, I figured there was supposed to be a plug in the plastic, but that is covered by the cabin filter housing and doesn't really get standing water like the metal part does.

Yes, I cleaned up in the brake booster area as it looked pretty full of crap, but drains were still working I think.

I'm sure that plug is still under the tent, LOL.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[Stück]

I hear that. You working at another yard, or moved on to bigger, better things?

Moved on, 9 years was enough I grew tired of the owners narcissistic codependant tendencies and walked one day.

I run the front end of an Independent BMW Specialist here in Houston now as the Service Advisor and life is good.

[blackknight530i]

Moved on, 9 years was enough I grew tired of the owners narcissistic codependant tendencies and walked one day.

I run the front end of an Independent BMW Specialist here in Houston now as the Service Advisor and life is good.

Yeah, I knew you left on rough terms from the yard. So cool that you found something you enjoy.

In other news, I got my new sealing plug today and went to install it, only to lose it in the hole, never to be found. Ugh. Looked up the part number and saw that it is the same on the e38 as well, so I went to my e38 parts car and pulled that one. Lost it in the hole as well. UGH! Discovered that the plastic deflector that was in my way (seals to the underside of the cabin filter box) comes off easily and would make getting a plug in there much easier and less likely to fall into the abyss. Well, I used a pick tool and somehow dislodged one of the missing plugs, but it was the e38 one, so the new one I bought is lost forever, but I was able to install the e38 one and reassemble.

I figured this was also a good time to swap the heater control valve with the one I rebuilt on my sedan not too long ago.

Hopefully I don't have any more water intrusions and my A/C can be used now without worry, but I'm still not sure if the drains are working right.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[computiNATEor]

Moved on, 9 years was enough I grew tired of the owners narcissistic codependant tendencies and walked one day.

I run the front end of an Independent BMW Specialist here in Houston now as the Service Advisor and life is good.

Congrats! Life's short; too short to work somewhere you don't enjoy (Here I am at 21 sounding ancient; sorry).

[blackknight530i]

Ok, this weekend was a big test to see if I finally resolved my water issues and I have to say that tentatively, I think I have. I also discovered that the A/C drains are working just fine, so maybe I just had to drive the car a bit for them to start dripping, instead of just letting it sit in the driveway. Maybe it's an I6 vs V8 A/C difference.

Last night though, it rained a ton and when I came out to the car in the morning, the front floorboard was bone dry and there were no squishy sounds when pressing on the carpet like there had been before. There was still that sound in the rear floorboard, but I think I just hadn't dried it out as much as I did the front, so I'll do that and I'm sure it will all be gone by then. The carpet near the heater ducts under the front seats was bone dry, which had been the wettest part before.

So, I'm hugely relieved that I can finally drive the car now without worrying about water filling up and/or the A/C being clogged. Now I'll do a good vacuuming, steam cleaning of the carpets, and reinstall the floor mats. Then I can get to work on swapping the door panels, dash and center console to the black parts.

[geargrinder]

Nice. Always nice to get a long hassle resolved. I just got a minty sunroof cassette finally into my car and the headliner back in and it felt real good to have the car back together and looking reasonably respectable again!

[philly98540]

Glad you got it solved! Water leaks are the worst.

[blackknight530i]

Just wanted to chime in on this car since I haven't posted on it in a while.

The car has been running amazingly well since I last posted, which is the reason I haven't had much to say. I've not had any water leaks since I fixed them in the last post. The car kind of stays perpetually dirty as it is truly a beater and stays outside all the time, but has been pretty reliable. I've hauled a bunch of stuff in it lately, including a full e46 M3 convertible top with the whole mechanism for a friend. One thing that did happen is the radiator finally developed a small crack and started leaking. Had about 85k miles on it, so I guess it was about time. Replacement was pretty cheap from FCP and will have a lifetime warranty on it (wish I bought it from them before) and installed in about an hour or so. The water pump and thermostat still looked good and didn't seem to be leaking and the expansion tank was much newer, so I figured the radiator would be enough for now. Thing is, I'm seeing some dripping from under the car at the hole in the belly pan, and it doesn't seem to be coming from the front of the engine. I'm thinking those stupid plastic pipes that come from behind the thermostat might have given up like they did on my 525it motor that we installed in my buddy's e30. To have lasted nearly 220k miles on the originals, including original o-rings, is pretty impressive. Looks like I might have to pull the intake manifold again soon to replace them. Might just go ahead and get the injectors cleaned while I'm at it. I want to keep this engine running as long as I can, so might as well keep it happy. Still no oil leaks, so that's a positive.

I've also been having issues with the battery dying a lot lately since the car sits a lot. It can sometimes sit for a week and be fine, but other times it can be dead after 2 days. I just replaced the battery about a couple weeks ago and already it had completely died the other day and I had to leave the 2A charger on over a day to recharge it fully. With all the "Trunk Lid Open" messages and keyless remote not working intermittently, I'm wondering if the GM3 is failing and causing a battery draw or something. Could also be a short in the liftgate wiring. Thing is, when the battery is fully charged, keyless remote seems to work perfectly every time. Not sure what's up with that.

Anyways, that's the update for now. I still haven't finished swapping all the black interior parts from my other car yet, but will be doing it soon, along with installing the black headliner parts I got from Europe recently. Probably should do the blower motor while I've got the upper dash off this time.

[blackknight530i]

Hey guys,

Last weekend I finished swapping in all the black interior parts, other than the headliner. I thought I had an extra black AC center vent for the dash, but turns out I didn't, so I'm waiting for one to come in from Clemster, along with an ebrake boot as well. That is why the glove box isn't reinstalled yet, as I would need to take it out to hook up the air mix cable.





I'm really digging the tan stripe on the black. I also gave the interior a nice cleanup with some AMMO Lather and vacuumed the carpets and floor mats. I did the black A-pillars, but without having the headliner ready, I don't see the point of doing the other pillars yet.

[dannyzabolotny]

Nice! How long did it take you? I’m planning on swapping my 540it’s interior to black— I’ve had a full black touring interior laying around for a while and I finally have some time to do it this month.

[blackknight530i]

Nice! How long did it take you? I’m planning on swapping my 540it’s interior to black— I’ve had a full black touring interior laying around for a while and I finally have some time to do it this month.

I had already done the carpets, cargo area, and seats, but the upper and lower dash, console and door cards took me the better part of a day to swap.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[blackknight530i]

Hey everyone, I know it's been a while since I've updated this thread. Car has been running perfectly, so there hasn't been much going on with it, but a couple months ago, it did get hit with some hail damage while visiting my parents in AL. My parents' X5 took the majority of the impact and they got about $3500 in damage, but it was fixed without totaling their car. My car was under a tree for the most part and only the hood, a fender and a few small dings on the roof were all it got. The hood was really bad and they first tried to say that if they tried to get a new BMW hood, they would just total the car. Instead they were going to repair the one on there, but I suggested just finding a used hood instead. My check went from about $1500 to $1680 and they aren't totaling the car. Now, any "normal" person would just get the car fixed and be on their merry way. Me, I'm a glutton for punishment, LOL. I ended up finding a listing for a 2002 540it in Schwarz 2 with only 133k miles just outside of Chicago. It's a CA car though, with no rust and the body is in really good shape. Only issue is that it had a slipping transmission. For the price they were offering, I couldn't pass it up. It wasn't going to be much more than what I got from Geico for the blue wagon.

Here's the majority of the damage:



I had considered selling the blue wagon as-is, but when driving it, I'm still just so happy with the car, so I'm still keeping it for now.

Fast forward to this past weekend. On Saturday, I went with a friend up to a salvage yard about 40 minutes outside of Charlotte that had a 2003 525i sedan in very good condition and they only wanted $150 for a hood. I got there and they let me go into the yard and take a look at the car and see what I wanted from it, so I decided to grab the two fenders as well for $75 each. I figured for $300, I could get it looking at least as good, if not a whole lot better, than it did before the hail. The car wasn't perfect before, but I can say that the new hood and fenders are night and day better than the old ones even before they were damaged. I think the ones that came on the car had been damaged in a wreck before and been puttied a good bit in the corners near the headlights as the panel gaps were pretty wrong. The hood and fenders were surprisingly easy to replace and we had them swapped over in about 1-1.5 hours. Now I just have a few door dings and some rockers that had been bent due to bad jacking by the PO to fix and then body work would be pretty decent. If I decide to keep it long term, I want to have the whole car painted in Atlantis Blue Metallic like this:

unbenannt01br6.jpg

[computiNATEor]

That’s a beautiful blue.

A good paintless dent repair tech can get the door dings out very easily assuming the paint is intact.

[blackknight530i]

That’s a beautiful blue.

A good paintless dent repair tech can get the door dings out very easily assuming the paint is intact.

Yeah, I love that color.

I've got a great PDR guy. He's the one that did the body work and PDR on my M5.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[blackknight530i]

I just realized that I don't think I ever posted a pic of the car with the new hood and fenders installed.



I think the color matches quite well on the fenders, but the hood has been repainted before. The driver side of the hood seems to be a bit more purple than the passenger side, meaning I think they blended it. I didn't end up using the driver side fender I got from the salvage yard as it had also been repainted and was also more purple, which didn't match the door and a-pillar. I had another original driver side fender from a friend I got when I brought the car home originally that I ended up using and it matches great. I'll get the hood painted better at some point, but at least now it doesn't have horrible hail damage. I also know that if I were to sell it, I would feel much better about asking what I think it's worth. Still not sure if I'm going to do that though.

[jicaino]

Man, love that touring.