Weedeater line is great for clearing out sunroof drain lines. My daughter's 2007 Rabbit was flooding inside any time it rained. After running line through them so much silt came out of the drains it was crazy.
Weedeater line is great for clearing out sunroof drain lines. My daughter's 2007 Rabbit was flooding inside any time it rained. After running line through them so much silt came out of the drains it was crazy.
You definitely need to pour water on the sunroof tray to check, two front corners and two back corners. Usually the front corners are the problem ones.
I usually blow air from the bottom of the car and it clears them.
I will snap a picture of my wife's wagon rear drains. On the F31 they exit through the top of the hatch. If you open it, you should see two big round holes, hopefully yours is like that as well as those rarely get clogged up.
The rear drains are easily accesible on an F31, hopefully they are the same on your car:
The front drains might be covered by a plastic piece and are roughly where the arrow is, the second pic is what you are looking for (that easily opens to let water out and stays closed to keep dirt from going in)
In reply to Slippery :
The rear drains are easy to see on the e91. The front drains are obscured by underbody cladding. I poured water down the front drains & they drain fine. Unfortunately the drain holes aren't on the leading edge of the subroof tray. They're offset a 1/2 inch back. If I park facing nose-down my driveway & pour water in the tray it flows over the front of the tray & into the headliner, instead of down the drain holes. At a certain incline, the top of the front lip winds up being lower than the drains. I blew air into the rears & they sound clear.
As long as I'm not pointing straight down my driveway the sunroof drains should work. I know the rears aren't clogged, because it rained today & they were draining. I do like the weed-wacker string method...so I'll do that either way.
Bypassing the satellite module with a loop of optical cable is the most popular youtube fix. The cable was $10 and it worked. The cable needs to be modified/deconstructed a little, and plugged into the cable that goes to the satellite module. Because you have to remove the outer part of attachment, a zip-tie holds the loop to the cable. For a 10 minute investment, it's a win.
As a fellow N52 owner, I just stopped by to say that's a sweet E91! In a manual no less! Solid buy, brother!
I had the same issue with no sound on my 2006 E90--it was my trunk seal that leaked during a torrential rain storm and it killed the Logic7 (fiber optic) amp. I found a guy on the internet that offered to take it apart and replace any damaged electronic components in the amp but that didn't help--I didn't realize at the time that it needed to be coded to the car though, so maybe it was working fine and I just didn't install it right. Here's the link for him--https://www.bmwgm5.com/Logic7_6941681.htm
After that, I drove around with computer speakers on my passenger seat for 6 months while I procrastinated, and then paid the dealer $1200 for a new amp installed.
Nice. Yeah, perfect color. And with a stick? Score.
My parents had one of those wagons and then replaced it with a newer one. They like their BMW Tourings.
I really like driving the wagon. 100 mile round-trip commute is easy. Last weekend weekend I drove 5 hours on Friday night and 5 hours home on Saturday. Hands-down, most comfortable car I've owned. Driving through The Thunderdome (Tampa Metro) was simple. It's easy to keep up with traffic when you're driving a car built to go fast. Of course, I let the triple-digit wackos go by me...but it's so much easier and smoother to drive than my old minivan. My son also loves this thing.
I've averaged an indicated 27.6 MPG over the last thousand miles. I'll do the math next time I fill up, but the first few tanks were pretty accurate.
Unfortunately, the sunroof is leaking. The passenger side rear footwell was damp last time it rained hard. I put it on jackstands today and the front drains are clear. There was crap in the underbody front cladding, but it wasn't blocking the drains. Both of sides in the rear drain, but the driver side will leak from the headliner w/less water before the passenger side will. Pipe cleaner and leaf blower didn't change anything. I may start taking things apart tomorrow. The driver-side rear leak doesn't explain the passenger side footwell water. There's also a sunroof interior seal that's loose. I may need to remove the headliner to confirm the drain tubes aren't partially disconnected. I should plan to replace the headliner at the same time.
I did confirm the oil pan gasket is leaking. It's not an easy job, but it's not complicated.
A few other issues will need to be addressed...but I'll save that for another post.
Hoondavan said:Unfortunately, the sunroof is leaking. The passenger side rear footwell was damp last time it rained hard.
I bet that footwell water is coming from the door card and not the sunroof. Pulling the door card and resealing the vapor barrier with some butyl tape should not be difficult, I have never taken apart and e91 but it should be similar to e46/f31, which I have done.
To clean the sunroof drains, I go from the bottom of the car with the air compressor and one of these guns:
Just be careful and do not put 150 psig through the hose, start at 70 or so with some small burst and have someone on top to see if the see stuff coming up.
Wish I was closer to you, we could knock all those things in a day.
In reply to Slippery :
Ahh...door card. I never would have thought about that. I'll take off the door panel and investigate. Both the rubber weather mat and the carpet had water in them...so I assumed it was coming down from the headliner.
I'm thinking I may use a little silicon lube on all of the sunroof seals. That should help make them a little more pliable & seal up better. good idea? bad idea?
I'm going to have to pull the headliner & replace the fabric at some point. I'll also plan on replacing the sunroof seals at the same time. I'm leaving on an extended road trip to visit family up north on Sunday. I may order parts once I get to my parent's place.
If I pour water too fast down the rear drains it comes out of the headliner speaker opening. I did run weed trimmer-string w/a knot tied in it all the way through the rears and they're clear. Last time I drove it in heavy rain it was definitely leaking in the driver-side rear corner. My luggage was a little wet, but I was optimistically hoping that was because I had it outside while I was loading up. That's definitely the cause of the stereo issues...the components are in that corner. It's working perfectly now that it hasn't rained in 2 weeks.
In reply to Hoondavan :
Silicon lube is not a bad idea but it probably will not help with the water. The sunroof seals are more for wind noise than water intrusion. The drains get rid of the water.
I would see if you can remove the rear pillar covers and pull down slightly on the headliner at the rear. You might be able to see the drain hoses, disconnect and check there. That's what I had to do in my son's X3.
Not sure you can see the hose that goes to the sunroof tray, but its there at the end of the arrow. The other side of the hose is dangling pointing at the rear headrest. Disconnecting there gave me good access and was the only way I was able to clear the rear drains.
In reply to Slippery :
Thanks, this is great info! The rear drain is easier to reach this way than by removing the rear-most glass. On the driver side I did find a piece of a leaf that would float up and clog at high flow. On the passenger side I found some grit that was probably slowing things down as well. I'll check the fronts again with the same level of detail.
Glad that worked out. Hopefully removing that stuff helps.
I did more than just the sunroof drains today.
I noticed the shifter was a little hard to go into first sometimes and the shift to second was also a little notchy. I plan to do shift bushings ar some point, but new fluid usually helps. I drained the trans fluid & refilled with ordered Redline D6 ATF (per Redline instructions). I also replaced the diff fluid with Redline 75w90.
Pretty simple. There's no drain on the diff, so I used my oil extractor. A test drive confirmed the shifting is much smoother. Job done!
In reply to Hoondavan :
I have received same advice re. Changing trans oil. Will do that before winter. Thanks for the reminder!
Next up:
The car vibrates a bit at idle. It's tough to tell visually, but the motor mounts are probably collapsed. They're not too expensive...so I'll replace them next.
I've noticed a vibration/shutter just when starting in first gear from a dead stop. If you use just a little more gas it won't vibrate. This could be associated w/the failed motor mounts. It also feels a bit like my last civic si...which when the dealer installed a new clutch they didn't center it properly. It was barely noticeable for a Long time.
In reply to Hoondavan :
Inspect the guibo if the motor mounts dont fix it vibration. As a matter of fact, just go ahead and check it out.
Do you know if those motor mounts are liquid filled?
Slippery said:In reply to Hoondavan :
Inspect the guibo if the motor mounts dont fix it vibration. As a matter of fact, just go ahead and check it out.
Do you know if those motor mounts are liquid filled?
I think they are liquid filled. They have a rubber bumpstop when they collapse. I did find a few pictures of what that looks like tonight, so I'll confirm tomorrow. Guibo looked good.
It's probably worth noting, for anyone that's looking to clean their front sunroof drains...You don't have to remove the fender liner to reach them. They're actually hidden by the flat under-tray. Remove 2 or 3 plastic retainers (star pattern) and you can pull the tray down enough to reach them.
+800 miles covered solo yesterday. A few brief stops for gas, food, & to activate an EZ-Pass-compatible sunpass. W/the leg extension & the seat all the way back it feels like a Lay-Z-boy recliner. I had some difficulty calculating fuel economy, sometimes the pump shuts off before it's fully full. Computer says 29 mpg. My math after 2 tanks says I'm getting 27 mpg.
I'm ordering motor mounts so I can replace them when I get to my parent's house. OEM are $130 each. Corteco (OE, according to FCP Euro) are $55 each. Because of the FCP lifetime warranty I'm inclined to buy the Coretco at 1/2 the cost. FCP Euro does sell a kit w/ new hardware along with the mounts...not sure how likely I'll actually need new hardwere/ There's zero rust/corrosion on my car, so I'm inclined to say "no"...but definitely open to opinions.
[edit] Corteco should be fine.
ECS sells Lemforder motor mounts for $55 each, which is a brand I've seen used as OE as well.
I've used Corteco with good results, would buy again. I also ordered the hardware but did not end up using it and returned it.
Slippery said:I've used Corteco with good results, would buy again. I also ordered the hardware but did not end up using it and returned it.
Thanks for the recommendation, product ordered.
I'm spending a few weeks at my parents house, where I grew up. 15 years ago over thanksgiving holiday I helped one of my childhood neighbors raise trusses over his new garage. He is hands-down one of the best people in the world. Great family, great peolpe. Upon asking my dad about the state of his jackstands I found out my neighbor put a lift in his garage.
We swapped the motor mounts today on the lift. It was a pita getting to the driver-side bolt and getting them in/out...but it's done and would have been much more difficult w/out a lift and proper tools, which my dad doesn't have. The car drives 100x better. Roughly 2.5 hours all-in.
Passenger side mount was toast (that's the side by the exhaust. That's the easier one to swap & more prone to failure. It was collapsed.
Top tip: when jacking up the engine, palce a brace under the rear diff. I saw someone do it in a video and it was definitely good advice 
I may do the oil pan while I have lift access. Of course, my neighbor suggested I check the bolts on the pan...and some were pretty loose. I tightened some. I'm probably not lucky enough to have that be the case...but it's worth a shot. M
Two steps forward, one back.
I've done a bit of driving on rural backcountry roads in upstate NY where I grew up over the last few days. The wagon has just the right amount of power to be fun without being extra-legal. While the roads are way more fun than the typical arrow-straight flat roads of FL, the 18 wheels and lo-profile tires don't like the frost heaves. For anything other than autocross this car is better suited to 17 wheels with more sidewall. Depending on cash availability I might start looking for different wheels & tires.
While I had the car on the lift right before we lowered it my neighbor suggested I check the oil pan bolts to see if they're tight enough. A few bolts on the lower side, where it was leaking were only hand-tight. I gave a few 1/2 turn and a few a 1/4 turn. After an hour of driving I parked it over carboard & left it for the night. It's not leaking and the oil pan is dry. Amazing.
There were a few drops under the power steering pump. I need to raise the car to track the source. It coudl be a banjo bolt, high-pressure hose, etc. I don't think it's the rack, based on where the drip is...unless it's a hard-line. More to follow. The power steering pump reservoir has gunk around it, which leads me believe the cap or resevoir needs to be replaced...but it wasn't wet..so not likely the sources of the leak.
Last night it rained around 11 PM. I woke up and noticed all the windows of the BMW were open. The sunroof was open 1/2 an inch. I left the sunshade closed after my last drive...it was open. I went out to the car expecting to see an inch of water in the footwells. Luckily, the windows must have opened after the rain because nothing in the car was wet other then just a little dampness form the dew. I didn't find any moisture in the rear, so I'm guessing the front drains clogged and the water got into the sunroof control. The key was hanging up on a hook, so there's no way I could have sat on the "unlock" button. I'm going to clean the front sunroof drains again and possibly pull the interior apart to check more thoroughly. I'll also see if I can disconnect the switches in the headliner controls.
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