[Vebben]

Hi, I recently discovered that I had a water leakage on the right side passenger and rear seat footwell. I've been suggested that the leak comes from the vapour barrier in the doors, but i'm pretty sure that's not the case.

I took the carpet and dried all the water up, and then put water on my car to see where the leak was, and it is coming from the floor in the backseat, and from the right corner of the passegner foot well.

I have found no one with this issue, so i'm creating a post to see if anyone has any suggestions.

Thanks.

[tex2670]

I was going to say vapor barrier - I had this happen to me.

[Billfitz]

If you put water on the car from above and the side the leak can't be in the floor, water doesn't go up. The floor is where it's collecting after entering the car, through the door or through the door opening, possibly through the rear quarter window frame.

[iScramble]

I'm going to say vapor barrier as well. Same thing happened to me, passenger front door was leaking caused a pool of water in the front and rear floor wells.

[Desertnate]

If the water is pooling up around both the front and rear passenger areas on the right side of the car, I wonder if it's coming in around the B pillar?

Water coming down either side of the B pillar and leaking in through the vapor barrier from either the aft side of the front door or the leading edge of the back door and then spreading out in both directions across the floor.

[Psi5]

Door vapor barriers are the starting point. After that, check to make sure your front drains are clear. Pour some water on the windshield near the lower corners and, after a few seconds, you should see it drain out behind the front tires. If not, pop the hood and check the grates in the corners to see if they are blocked with leaves or debris. It'll be apparent of they are - you can see it easily.

Another possibility is the sunroof drains. Open the sunroof and *very carefully* pour a little water into the channel near the drain holes. Just a little bit! Make sure it drains out - you should see it come out the bottom of the car. If not, try blowing it out with some compressed air but do *not* stick anything into the drain holes to clean them out,. You can puncture the drain tube and then it gets really expensive.

Finally, check your door seals to make sure they are not worn, cracked, or torn.

Let us know what you find.

[heifetz17]

Despite so many people suggesting the vapor barrier, a leak through here, while possible, is highly unlikely. The most likely culprit is your sunroof drain tubes.

Another rare but possible culprit is cracked seam sealer, either along the roof ditch or under the rocker, although this would cause a leak while driving, not parked.

[CajunBMW]

I have been fortunate on my F30 and have not encountered these issues. But for my E46, I had a vapor barrier leak in all 4 doors over the years and one of the back doors several times. I also had clogs in the sunroof drain tubes. So all are possible. Usually when the vapor barrier was fixed, it did not leak again at least in the 14-15 years I had the car. One door as pointed out was a problem, but my dealer honored their work and fixed it several times since it was on the warranty period. After the last repair it never leaked again. I guess my point is all of these suggestions are valid, but for me, the vapor barrier leaks were the more prevalent issue. Good luck in solving your problems.

[tex2670]

Originally Posted by heifetz17

Despite so many people suggesting the vapor barrier, a leak through here, while possible, is highly unlikely. The most likely culprit is your sunroof drain tubes.

Why is something that is a known issue, that multiple people say that they have experienced personally "highly unlikely"?