I just noticed my used 2006 X3 driver-side rear door is leaking somewhere. We had some good rains here in Florida over the weekend and when I opened the door there's a puddle on the black plastic thing between the seat and door sill, carpet is pretty soaked. So this isn't a dribble, must be leaking pretty good. All the seals look fine. Is this a common thing for X3's? Still under warranty so it should get fixed, but still a hassle, and I'd rather not have it continue down the line.

I am not understanding exactly where your leak is from your description, but I had a puddle recently in mine and it turned out to be from a clogged sunroof drain.

They are a pain to get to, alas, but that would be your dealer's problem.

Good luck,
D

Could be from the sunroof. Did you check the top of the a-pillar? The drain lines from the sunroof run down the a-pillar, which would cause the water pooling in the footwell.

In the front corners of the sunroof cassette, you will see the drains mentioned in post #2, above. Check them to make sure they aren't plugged.

Didn't even think of the sunroof based on the location. Naturally assumed it was the door. Will check that tonight. have a dealer appt tomorrow. if the drain lines go down the A-pillar, how would the water get into the back seat footwell?

I wasn't sure where the water was pooling, thus my question.
That said, I have had occasional trouble with other cars (VW) that would allow water to accumulate in the rear foot well as a result of clogs (outside gunk and leaves) in the ventilation filtration system. Somehow, the blockage would allow water to flow out of the air vents on the floor beneath the front seats.

As I recall, in the VW's case, it was fairly clear that the vent was the source of the flood as there were water droplets visible inside the plastic vent.

Good luck,
D

Don't think there are any vents on the X3 directly to the rear seats (one of my pet peeves on the vehicle). Location wise, I'm still betting on a leaky door seal. Will report what the dealer finds.

Sorry, didn't notice that you were referencing the rear footwell. Others have reported that the water line that runs to the rear washer has leaked into the rear footwell, although IIRC it was the passenger side that had the puddle.

Interested to hear what the dealer reports.

Dealer reports some kind of seal behind the door panel came loose or something. They still have the panel off and are trying to dry out the rug and padding! Supposedly not very common! Not a good start as I've only had this car for 3-weeks, and this is the second trip into service. First trip was for some minor stuff not taken care of before I bought it CPO.

Thanks for the update.

I have to do a little rug drying in my car as well, but only because I was a bonehead and left a bag of ice on the passenger front footwell. Thank goodness for those rubber mats or it would have been worse.

:rolleyes

The seals may be the rubber ones on the bottom/sides of the door on the inside. They are held on by clips that easily break and the rubber does not mate to the frame properly when the door is closed. I just needed new clips to eliminate the leak.

Has anyone looked at Husky mud trays we put them in all of our vehicles their great for holding water and other things!


3series

The seals may be the rubber ones on the bottom/sides of the door on the inside. They are held on by clips that easily break and the rubber does not mate to the frame properly when the door is closed. I just needed new clips to eliminate the leak.

Not those. that's the first thing I checked. Most car doors have some kind of film plastic glued to the metal door frame behind the inside door trim. they had to pull the door apart to fix this.

Not those. that's the first thing I checked. Most car doors have some kind of film plastic glued to the metal door frame behind the inside door trim. they had to pull the door apart to fix this.


The seal they are refereing to is indeed between the door panel and the metal of the door shell. Called a vapor barrier. If you go to the E46 forum and search "vapor barrier", you'll see all sorts of horror stories of puddles of water gathering in footwells a-plenty after having window regulators replaced, due to the vapor barrier not being re-sealed properly. It's attached to the door shell with a butyl strip and it's a real pain to get it to re-seal properly. After replacing my window regulators on the passenger side, both doors leaked and I had to reseal the rear twice and the front 3 times before they stopped leaking (and I'm no stranger to leaking vapor barriers and know what to look for and - I thought - how to re-seal them).

And they're right that it's not common on X3's, because the window regulators don't fail as often, thus negating the need to remove the vapor barrier where the prblem begins.