I have a 2005 X3 with panarama roof and sport package. After a major rainstorm I wondered why there was excessive condensation on the inside of the windshield - so much that there were 7 steady streams of water running down the inside of the windshield. then I found that there was a puddle of water behind my passenger seat. I took it to local BMW dealer and they said they had to order a new sunroof part and install as there was an issue with certain x3's. I got the car back nearly 2 weeks later and not only was the puddle still behind the passenger seat but there is now a leak on the headliner near the tailgate on the driver side arrrrrgh!!!!!! . . . . anyone else had any issues with this recently? I don't want to have a loaner every time it rains . . . . .

So far, I have had two sunroof cassettes replaced. Crossing my fingers that this one drains properly.

yup, x3's have that problem, a little rubber profile gasket that runs along the front of the cassette tends to bend upwards giving way to water, the parts are on backorder right now, we're just hoping that the new replacements fix that issue.

Happened to me about 2 months ago. I have a 2003 X3 2.5. They also had to replace the sunroof cassette on my X3 and had it about a week or so. I found my driver and rear passenger floors soaked. I haven't had a problem since. Was no biggie for me since the dealer gave me drive a 530xi sport wagon as a loaner.. That wagon is wicked.:)

My sympathies to your sunroof problem. My '04 X-3 leaked somewhere in the back and rainwater filled up the little container (bin) area on the rear right corner. In addition, the sunroof would occasionally go wacko walkabout and not shut, even after all reasonable attempts. The dealer had it for 2 weeks and did not fix the problems after replacing the ENTIRE sunroof. The courtesy car was a new Toyota Camry, which I could not wait to return. On the way home from the dealer, it rained like cats and dogs, and by the time I got home the rear bin was completely full of water AGAIN. Surf's Up !!!
So, back we went and I got a nice new X-3 loaner for a week while they replaced a kinky rear sunroof gasket. This time, though, the inner cloth panel had also been replaced, but it was a darker grey to black color, not the same as the earlier light to medium grey headliner material as came with the car. TODAY, it's sleeting outside and I have to replace a low beam light in front of the windshield washer tank. The tank's out, but the bulb is very tight and impossible to remove, so it's off to the dealer again. I'm convinced this car wants a to find a nice new home. Over the past 30 years, I have had all sorts of sunroofs (VW, Volvo, Land Rover) and never a single problem this outrageously assinine.

Ours was discovered when we went to use the spare and the battery well was like a swimming pool. It turned out that the rear drain had clogged - we don't park under trees - what would have clogged it? The car was in the shop for over a month as the electrical system in the car, the panorama roof, GPS system, onboard computer, etc. were replaced - fortunately under warranty. We were given a nice X3 loaner for a trip to Cleveland, as we really needed the navigation system.
A month later, the onboard computer refused to open or display. It was just a loose connection that had come loose, but what a pain to have to take it in to the dealer, be driven back into town, etc. The dash was put back together sloppily - I don't pay big bucks for a car with minute tolerance levels, only to discover a 1/4" gap where it was not snapped back into place. I am sure they will groan when they see me coming.
A couple of questions:
(1) is there an exploded view of the dash somewhere - I could probably remove and reseat the part myself if I could just see how it is hooked in.
(2) if these drains are such a nuisance, a thick wire that could be run down it periodically would have saved them a $12,000 service charge.
Any ideas?
This car is great when it runs, but we have less than 15,000 miles on it. It seems like a lot has gone wrong with it.

Update on my x3 . . . i have not had any water in the very back of my car - they told me there was about 4" of water behind the passenger seat when the gutted the car - the FOURTH time it was in the shop. Service manager and staff at the dealer were intent on curing the problem and every time we did get either an x5 or an x3 as a loaner but interestingly enough we had a 2005 x3 3.0 with 2500km on it and it was both leaking water and the LF headlight ws burnt out (but it had heated steering wheel which i reccomment to anyone north of the 49th). hmmmm. anyways, they put in new sunroof panel, new drains, new rear carpet, new headliner . . it is supposed to rain like a beggar towards the end of the week so we'll just have to wait and see!!!! i love the x3 and would like to trade in on a 2007 3.0si but i wonder about the design of these cars . . . . .

Sorry to hear about your sunroof leaks. That is one problem that no one expects from BMW and yet it is happening frequently in both X3's and X5's. I have a 2002 X5 and I was LIVID when it happened. Apparently the sunroof drains clog (so I was told) and when it happened to my car the dealer removed and replaced all the carpeting including the wool floor mats,the headliner throughout the car and ...The carpets were shipped overnight from Germany! All in it took a week to get the car sorted out and fortunately for me I had the car serviced where I bought it. You really need to have a top notch service department and technicians work on these cars. I have been to a alternative "so-called" authorized BMW service center and they can be downright scary. If you need to spend a couple of hundred bucks (worst case scenario) and flat bed it to a reputable dealer, I would highly recommend it! Some of those guys are a nightmare and a half!

sorry, but sunroof leaks are typical. i worked on one last week where the headliner foam had pinched off the drain, and water leaked into the car, down the a-pillar and onto the floor.

Is it possible to check if the sunroof drains are clogged or open, without waiting for a disaster to happen? Our X3 has seen its fair share of rain, but no wet floors or rear compartment yet. I would like to prevent the problem if I can, though.

Well - our car was completely gutted last week and after 3 days of rain there is now a puddle behind the passenger seat again - they even pressure tested it twice, installed new sunroof drains (as well as reinforcing them) and new carpeting. I sure hope that this does not happen to anyone else out there . . . . . time for a trade and a huge hit from depreciation :-(

Well - our car was completely gutted last week and after 3 days of rain there is now a puddle behind the passenger seat again - they even pressure tested it twice, installed new sunroof drains (as well as reinforcing them) and new carpeting. I sure hope that this does not happen to anyone else out there . . . . . time for a trade and a huge hit from depreciation :-(

Wow, that is very dissapointing. Can you push BMW for a buyback (that's what I planned to do if my third sunroof cassette exhibited leakage). Clearly there's a defect that impairs the safe operation of the vehicle (water = corrosion = potential electrical failures).

good luck

I know what your going through. I had the same problem in my 04 X5 and after 8 vists to the dealer my wife wrote the president of the dealership a very not so nice letter and the very next day they called us in to order an 06 with every option that we wanted. Needless to say we took advantage of that. We just had to sign a waiver that we won't sue them on the 04 model.
My advice to you is make a very big stink about it and go to the top with it.

Good Luck

Ask the dealer about the redesigned panoramic sunroofs and MAKE SURE they are aware of other modifications that need to be done besides replacing the cassette. Not all techs read service bulletins.

surprise surprise . . . came back to from holidays only to find more water in the back of my car. Also this time the entire inside of the windscreen and sinroof were dripping wet as well :-( I wonder if there is anyone in canada that has had a similar issue with this as I wonder what BMW did to resolve their situation. As we don't have lemon law up here you are still in the game after 3 strikes.

surprise surprise . . . came back to from holidays only to find more water in the back of my car. Also this time the entire inside of the windscreen and sinroof were dripping wet as well :-( I wonder if there is anyone in canada that has had a similar issue with this as I wonder what BMW did to resolve their situation. As we don't have lemon law up here you are still in the game after 3 strikes.

Wow, that is not good news. We have a pretty heavy storm forecasted for the end of this week. That will be the first real test on our third sunroof cassette.

Bimmersinner, have you considered contacting corporate to see what they can do for you given the past failure to correct a substantive defect?

good luck

Heard a lot about these sunroof leaks. If buying a used X3, what are the tell-tale signs to look for to see if one has had this problem (I am assuming it will be fixed/replaced)??

Thanks,

Getting my car back once again tomorrow. They say now it is REALLY fixed and that they MUST HAVE pinched one of the drains after they put in the new roof and pressure tested everything. I went 4 days after the last visit before it filled up behind the passenger seat - let's pray for sunshine.

I do not have faith in the x3 after all of this ordeal. From what I hear there are ony certain x3's among a certain series of VIN #'s - my advice to all those buying or comemplating the purchase of an x3 would be to ask the service department if the vehicle falls within the VIN range on the service bulletin.

They tell me that BMW is going to give me a decision within 4 weeks as to what they will give me for a trade in value. Fingers crossed!!!!

Heard a lot about these sunroof leaks. If buying a used X3, what are the tell-tale signs to look for to see if one has had this problem (I am assuming it will be fixed/replaced)??

Thanks,

Ask to see the service history printout. It would show on there, as a service performed under warranty.

Okay . . . I get my X3 back after a SEVERE amount of water on the INSIDE of the windshield - (after the Service Manager had put the car in for a pressure test TWICE and was 100% sure that it is fixed the time before) and i bring it in again to get fixed and they didn't even bother to clean the inside of the windshield for me - or any parts of the rest of the car for that matter after it is in for repair yet again. Do they think that I have extra time to deal with this issue? We now have 5 days of rain in the forecast - I will be AMAZED if there are no water issues.

So I call BMW Canada's "Customer Service" line. BMW Canada's response to this . . . . normal trade in value plus $2000 trade in incentive. I am still gobsmacked. I paid huuuuge money for this car, it has problems UNDER WARRANTY that obviously cannot be sorted by LICENSED mechanics and I still get the shaft?

Why is there no lemon law in Canada? . . . . . How much money do you need to spend to receive decent customer service?

Have there been any reports of sunroof leaks on the 2007 X3si?

RE: problems with the panoramic roof leaking on a 2005 X3. There are two drain tubes in the rear of the channel that drains water that gets past the glass/metal seal. My drains were clogged with maple seeds. Apparently, when you open the glass roof, any leaves or debris on top will end up in the drain. Clogged drain + leaking glass = flood in car. But the real challenge is to stop the leaking in the first place! You can measure the rate of leakage by pouring water on the roof while having someone sit on the rear seat. Open the cloth sun shield (leaving the glass closed), sit tall and watch for water dripping in from the rear brackets into the track gutter. On my 3rd visit to the dealer, he called BMW and says he learned how to adjust the rear glass to make it sit more tightly against the metal so it won't leak. I'm hoping this will be the fix. By comparing my X3 to other X3's I could see that my glass was sitting perhaps 1-2 mm (1/16 - 1/8 inch) higher than other X3s which didn't leak or only leaked a few drops by this test.

Heard a lot about these sunroof leaks. If buying a used X3, what are the tell-tale signs to look for to see if one has had this problem (I am assuming it will be fixed/replaced)??

Thanks,
To test for leaks, have someone pour water gently on top of the car from a pitcher or trash can filled with water or a garden hose. Sit in the rear seat, with the cloth sun shade fully open. Sit tall and look into the track at the rear sides of the moon roof. If you see dripping, that car has a problem! If dry after 1 min of water pouring on the roof, you are OK.

My cousins X3 had the roof replaced twice already...

My wife's '05 X3 had pools of water on the passenger side and driver side floor. Unbelievable. Upon investigating the possible problem, I did find those drain holes everyone has been talking about, near the front "A" pillars, and stuck a small hose hooked up to my air compressor, and blew air through them to clear debris. I found the small hoses go down to both sides of the rig, sort of near where the back of the wheel well is. You need to peek your head underneath a little bit. You can see a little rubber nipple on there that looks like its supposed to keep dirt out, but I stuck my finger in there and pulled out some nasty looking gunk. I'm praying that this was what was clogging the drain holes and that its not something else......we'll see on the next big rain storm. What a poor design on these panoramic sunroofs. Hopefully they get enough complaints to deal with the problem

Ditto on the problem with my '05 X3. BMW was really good about it. Replaced the cassette/cartridge in two days, and they paid for a loaner.

Now it's dry as a bone.

Everybody needs to be sure to clean the drains (4) one on each corner of the sunroof cassette as a regular maintenance. If the drains are clogged, the water flood the tubes and makes its way to the passenger/driver foot area. It just takes 5 minutes to make sure water runs free from the corners of the sunroof gutters and to the ground.
I had an instance 3 weeks ago where I found the passenger foot area flooded after a hard storm, the tubes were clogged. After opening the nozzles uner the car, like a cup of dirty water came out, then I blew compressed air both ways and pour maybe two cups on each front corner and it drained nicely to the ground. No more water in the car.

Could someone please post some pictures of the drain tube points if possible? I will try first to unblock them myself, can't afford to leave the car for 2 weeks at the dealer for sunroof replacement - just can't trust them... We had a very heavy thunderstorm today and I experienced the leak too. Actually I was so surprised by the amount of water coming into the car (driver's seat) as the car was on a road with a slope, that I thought someone has broken into the car from the sunroof!!!
It's a pity for BMW design to miss on this issue, I just love the car sssoooo much....

We have the leaky sunroof as well.. It works ok for light rain and passed a service test but whenever there is a heavy rain the driver footwell gets pretty wet.

I can see trails of where water leaked down the front driver-side post.

After reading about the leaks in 'Several' forums it clear it's a class issue and the runaround I got from the dealer today further reduces my trust in some dealerships. (When you find a good mechanic, Keep them!!!)

I'll be looking at my drain tubes in the next day or so.. If I still don't have success I may take the hours and pull out the whole headliner so that I can really inspect the system... If I do I'll be taking a rash of pictures.

Miller

I've been doing a little reading... and FWIW... cars with Sunroofs have similar issues... and similar drain holes.

And if one was to roll the runroof back and pour a full gallon of water onto the sunroof ledge... water would come out of the underbody of the car...

Convertibles to do this too.

The idea is to NOT keep water out... but to allow some in and drain. Drain holes are usually easy to spot.

But I empathize with you all... it's a maddening experience and most likely, these holes were engineering TOO small for the amount of water on the roofline.

Sunday I spent some time with the X3 and found that all 4 of the tubes were largely plugged up at the exit under the car.

I poured a bunch of water on the roof and watched where it drained out underneath.

At each drain point there is a rubber cap over the end of the drain tube that is designed to leak when water comes down the tube. It must be designed to keep mud from the tires from entering the bottom of the tube.

Anyway the tubes were all dripping when there was alot of water in the trough around the sunroof... All that I had to do was find the four exit plug things and work the gunk out of them while the water was flowing.

After that All four tubes flowed much much better.

This could explain the leaking that I have seen inside the car as well.. Very heavy rain causes the inside driver footwell to get wet but continuous light rain (A portland speciality) will not.

Mil

Ask the dealer about the redesigned panoramic sunroofs and MAKE SURE they are aware of other modifications that need to be done besides replacing the cassette. Not all techs read service bulletins.

I just bought a CPO 2005 X3 and the dealer's service team claimed ignorance about any X3 sunroof problems. Good thing I have the internet to do research...

Does anyone know the number of the Service Bulletin I should tell the dealer about?

What are the "other modifications" that need to be done?

Lastly, has anyone had their sunroof replaced under CPO due to leaking? The CPO warranty specifically excludes "air and water leaks" but the sunroof is covered. The dealer service rep said that "of course" a leaking sunroof would be covered, but as you can guess, I don't trust them.

-pd.

Well, I might have spoken too soon. Last week, we had water come through the headliner again. Took it to the dealer, they're now saying they missed the clogged drains to begin with (even though they replaced the sunroof cassette last time), and are saying the drains clog with debris, etc.

I'm sorry, but the sunroof is closed 98% of the time, and there's no way enough debris gets in there to clog those drains (they said both the right front and right rear drains are clogged).

I'm looking to buy a X3 for the wife, is this leaking only assoicated with the panarama sun roof ? Does the X3 come with just a normal sun roof or do they all come with the panarama sun roof ? Thanks

All US-spec X3's came with the panoramic sunroof. In my case it's been a "minor issue with workaround" I just make sure to have the drains cleaned every 2-3 months. Besides that, the pano sunroof is amazing.

I just found my drivers side rear carpet is wet.

I see the front two drain holes. Where are the rear drains?

Do all four drain out the rear wheel wells?

The front two exit behind the front wheels a few inches in from where the front door meets the front quarter-panel. Pouring a cup or two of water on the closed sunroof should show the locations but it kinda takes a dry-ish day so that the whole car is not dripping.

When I poured water to find the front holes it was just a drip underneath before I worked the gunk out of the end of the front tubes.. I've kinda forgotten about it since my last post as we've had a pretty dry summer.

I've not taken the time to find the rear ones yet but as we're heading into a Portland winter I think I had better find and clean them soon.

Mil

Thanks.

I can see the drain holes in the front so I poured water directly into those corners and found the drains below. Water drained but I did clear some gunk out of the outlet.

I once had a plugged front drain which I discovered by the sloshing sound on the passenger side floor. BMW took care of this for me and gave me a a brand new 335 to drive for a couple days!!!

I'm trying to figure out why the carpet was damp behind the driver's seat. I originally thought it was something my kids spilled which turned musty - they are off the hook. I guess I'll close the roof and pour water on the good side to see where it is supposed to go.

Thanks.

I can see the drain holes in the front so I poured water directly into those corners and found the drains below. Water drained but I did clear some gunk out of the outlet.

I once had a plugged front drain which I discovered by the sloshing sound on the passenger side floor. BMW took care of this for me and gave me a a brand new 335 to drive for a couple days!!!

I'm trying to figure out why the carpet was damp behind the driver's seat. I originally thought it was something my kids spilled which turned musty - they are off the hook. I guess I'll close the roof and pour water on the good side to see where it is supposed to go.

That could be also a failed vapor barrier on the rear door. Has anyone worked on the window regulators or lock actuator lately?

To be frank, I couldn't find the rear drains when I looked for them, but I didn't put water on the rear holes to be honest. The best way to do it is with the sunroof FULLY opened, locate the little holes in the corners and "inject" the water directly. Using the water traces underneeth will be the way to go. I think the rear drains are up by the bumper. If you open the rear compartments in the trunk, you'll see the black hoses coming down from the roof area, that make me think the drains have to be close to the rear bumper....Let us know if you find them, I'll try this weeken also if I can remember!

J.

No work done on the doors.
It poured yesterday and the rear carpet (which is covered by the winter rubber floormat) was damp. I didn't have time to look that close. It was extremely humid outside and as a result of the downpour the inside of my windows were covered in condensation.

I haven't found the holes in the back because when the roof is fully open the back section of glass is closed. If I tilt up the roof the rear section also lifts, but I haven't been able to see where to pour the water.

Which compartment are you talking about? I know there is a small access panel on the side below the window.

I'd like to find the bottom and hope to get lucky that the bottom is plugged. If not maybe I could blow air up from the bottom to clear an obstruction.

Wow, to think I was looking at buying an older X3. Nevermind...

Could someone please post pics of the location of these drains please? Thanks