Water in passanger footwell
- Thread starter andrewjamestwigg
- Start date
Is it passenger front or passenger rear footwell?
Leaking front windshields can often cause water to appear in the passenger front footwell, but I don't think I've ever heard of this in an E36. Another relatively common problem with the E36 is when one of the drain tubes for the sunroof comes unhooked - this can result in wet floorboards.
Leaking front windshields can often cause water to appear in the passenger front footwell, but I don't think I've ever heard of this in an E36. Another relatively common problem with the E36 is when one of the drain tubes for the sunroof comes unhooked - this can result in wet floorboards.
Also blocked drainhole under bonnet vents by windscreen wipers. Since you are from Nottingham I will assume RHD. Drain hole drains through firewall on RHS (I think) for your car, but I could be getting confused with the location of the E30 drain hole. - They may be the same though, but I can't actually remember.
But, if blocked, it fills up that cavity until it spills through the intake for the cabin ventilation, and consequently into your car.
But, if blocked, it fills up that cavity until it spills through the intake for the cabin ventilation, and consequently into your car.
I have this problem also, but I have a '93 e36. I haven't done the correction, but I think it's the windshield cowel - right where the windshield wipers attach. It's about $62 at the dealer. It has weather stripping and plastic to connect to the bulk head. On mine the weather stripping is gone on the passenger half of the car and water runs down when I use a drive-thru car wash. If I hand wash, it doesn't. Hope this helps.
I agree that your water drain may be plugged (this is the drain that allows water from a rain storm or car wash from overflowing into the ECU and other vitals).
This is a poor BMW design flaw (very well documented for the e36 series - there is a nice article at pelicanparts.com that details this issue) as the plug can easily be overwhelmed by large volumes of water and the water will leak into the passenger side footwell.
This happen to me right after a car wash on my 93 318is and my ECU got flooded (I was furious![[mad]](/images/smilies/mad.png "Mad [mad]")
as I was stuck in the middle of a car wash bay and had to wait 2 hours for a tow).
Luckily after drying out the ECU for two days the car started up and I luckily avoided a $600 hit for a new ECU.
You might want to avoid any car washes in the future and check to see if the drainage has a bunch of leaves or other crud built up.
This is a poor BMW design flaw (very well documented for the e36 series - there is a nice article at pelicanparts.com that details this issue) as the plug can easily be overwhelmed by large volumes of water and the water will leak into the passenger side footwell.
This happen to me right after a car wash on my 93 318is and my ECU got flooded (I was furious
as I was stuck in the middle of a car wash bay and had to wait 2 hours for a tow).Luckily after drying out the ECU for two days the car started up and I luckily avoided a $600 hit for a new ECU.
You might want to avoid any car washes in the future and check to see if the drainage has a bunch of leaves or other crud built up.
Last edited: