E36 M3 wet drivers side floor

Title says it. We had a rain, and I noticed it after driving 4 hours through the rain with the a/c on for defrosting.

-Blew out sunroof drains- seem clear.
-Don't know where a/c evap drain is- anyone?
-All floor pan plugs appear to be in place

Any ideas? Going to borrow a dehumidifier tonight and run it to keep the thing dry enough to not mold. Hopefully not screwed on that front, because the carpet is otherwise in great shape.

Another Q: How do you tell the date on the cooling system? Radiator says 10/95, which can't be true, given these things' reputation.

Mine leaks like a cheap, old boat.

You use dehumidifier or just garage?

The drain is on the right side of the HVAC box on the passenger side. It may be easier to clear the drain from underneath the car. I think you can get access to it from underneath. Don't work on too many e36s anymore.

Do you see puddles under the car when the A/C is on? If not, probably means it's clogged and overflowing on to your interior floor. My e46 doesn't drip, but I have to practically remove the transmission to get to the drain, so I haven't investigated very much yet.

Look for a little rubber flap, or Bob Costas looking thing, or sometimes just a hole. It will be in the firewall or trans tunnel somewhere, and quite likely full of dirt and decomposed leaves.

Look at the well under the wiper motor for meeses nests. the berkeleyers pack up the drains and overflow into the footwell behind and above the heater core.

Cone_Junky wrote: The drain is on the right side of the HVAC box on the passenger side. It may be easier to clear the drain from underneath the car. I think you can get access to it from underneath. Don't work on too many e36s anymore. Do you see puddles under the car when the A/C is on? If not, probably means it's clogged and overflowing on to your interior floor. My e46 doesn't drip, but I have to practically remove the transmission to get to the drain, so I haven't investigated very much yet.

That's the funny thing- the passenger side is bone dry. Drivers side was pretty wet. It's possible, now that I think about it, that it was from going to the boat show on Friday- pouring rain, and I was wearing jeans, which soaked up a fair amount of water. Maybe they just soaked the floor mat? That sounds like wishful thinking.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: Look at the well under the wiper motor for meeses nests. the berkeleyers pack up the drains and overflow into the footwell behind and above the heater core.

Will do that, thanks.

Streetwiseguy wrote: Look for a little rubber flap, or Bob Costas looking thing, or sometimes just a hole. It will be in the firewall or trans tunnel somewhere, and quite likely full of dirt and decomposed leaves.

I'm always on the lookout for the bob costas thing!

Sorry about the thread highjack, but I have a similar E46 question:

How do you clean the stupid sunroof drains without disassembling the ENTIRE BERKING INTERIOR?

I'm recognizing the signs of imminent pluggage in mine. Last time, once I figured out what it was, I had to remove practically the entire interior in order to get the headliner down enough that I could disconnect the tubes and rod them out. It was like a nightmare - you can't get the headliner down without removing the pillar trims, you can't remove the pillar trims without removing the lower post trims, you can't remove those without removing the seats and sill trims (at least not if you want to be able to reinstall them). I was appalled at how much disassembly it took, and I berking hate doing interior trim work.

Couldn't find jack. Borrowed a dehumidifier and plugged it in the car for a few hours. Got a couple cups of water out. Maybe it wasn't as wet as I thought.

Duke wrote: Sorry about the thread highjack, but I have a similar E46 question: How do you clean the stupid sunroof drains without disassembling the ENTIRE BERKING INTERIOR? I'm recognizing the signs of imminent pluggage in mine. Last time, once I figured out what it was, I had to remove practically the *entire* interior in order to get the headliner down enough that I could disconnect the tubes and rod them out. It was like a nightmare - you can't get the headliner down without removing the pillar trims, you can't remove the pillar trims without removing the lower post trims, you can't remove those without removing the seats and sill trims (at least not if you want to be able to reinstall them). I was appalled at how much disassembly it took, and I berking *hate* doing interior trim work.

And that was what I was worried about- I do not want to rip the whole interior apart to clean bloody sunroof drains.

Air nozzle. Can get to the front drains with sunroof open. Rear, probably not happening without a long extension on your blower nozzle. Be careful though, if they are really clogged it will blow the drain hoses off the sunroof cassette and your back to tearing out the headliner.

Can you rod them up from underneath? They seem to stop at the kink near the top. It might be easier to navigate from below, the long way.