[KRX5M50D]

This is for information to assist anyone who maybe experiencing these symptoms and you are out of warranty or if BMW don't carry out the repair. It's worth keeping in mind that there can be a umber of different root causes but the symptoms are the same.

A few weeks back I noticed my passenger footwell soaked with water. A couple of hours on the internet pointed to a number of different causes:

1) sunroof not correctly fitted
2) a kink in one of the 4 sunroof drain pipes
3) blocked drain pipe

My driveway is quite sloped and the front was facing down, I opened the sunroof and the corner of the driver side channel was dry.

the passenger side channel was a different story, you could see around 1cm of water being held back.

Whilst it was raining I decided to investigate where the water was coming in from. I opened the passenger door and straight away saw water seeping down from the side panel which sits on the left had side of the footwell.

Once the rain had stopped, I tried inserting an electrical cable from the top of the sunroof but as most people have confirmed I could only feed around 6/7 inches which didn't make a difference to the water.

After taking the wheel and the wheel arch off from the passenger side to try and locate the exit hole, I spent about an hour but could not locate the hole. I then poured water on the drivers side of the sunroof channel and saw it drip out from the side skirt, but luckily had the drivers door open and saw that the exit how has been moved on the G05.

The exit hole now sits beneath the door wiring connector, this is a flexible rubber tube with a grommet style fitting, the grommet style fitting can can be removed from the body by a small access hole behind the footwell panel.

I removed the rubber grommet style fitting and gently pulled the hose to the inside of the car. I pushed the electrical cable into the drain pipe and saw a load of gunk, debris come out. The water around the passenger side of the sunroof was no longer present. I poured more water into the channel and could see the water dripping out of the drain pipe.

I pushed the grommet style fitting back and pulled into place with a plier, tested again and it still allowed water to seep out.

I then opened the boot lid to find the rear drain pipes, these have also been moved, they are no longer on the top of roof.

If you remove the rear carpet panels, you should be able to locate a black flexible pipe which runs down the D pillar and follows a similar grommet style fitting which pushes out of the rear of the car.

I haven't fully taken the rears off but will do on a dry day. I have added photos for reference of the front passenger side. the drivers side should have a similar access point behind the side panel.
[ATTACH][ATTACH][/ATTACH][/ATTACH]

[bandersen]

Wow. Thanks. Saving the post.
Question - do you use/open the sunroof much? I’m just trying to figure out how so much gunk could get into the tubes. Park under ‘dirty’ trees?

Thx

[Marty in NY]

That's a strange "S" shape slot, where does the water actually flow/drain from? Is it inside that slot or around it?

.

[KRX5M50D]

I used the sunroof a lot in 2022 due to the good weather, I couldn’t see any tree related items in the channels just seemed like small/fine silt. I thing I did notice was the grease for the runners had found it’s way there.

The water seeps out of the s shape, come to think if it this could be a design fault, as there isn’t enough room for large pieces of debris to exit the pipe and they could be backing up on themselves causing the blockage. Past the s shape The pipe itself is around 10/12mm in diameter.

Hop this helps, I have dehumidifier running in the car which has already taken out about 2 pints of water.

I might see if I can constantly keep that open.

[Marty in NY]

Originally Posted by KRX5M50D

I used the sunroof a lot in 2022 due to the good weather, I couldn’t see any tree related items in the channels just seemed like small/fine silt. I thing I did notice was the grease for the runners had found it’s way there.

The water seeps out of the s shape, come to think if it this could be a design fault, as there isn’t enough room for large pieces of debris to exit the pipe and they could be backing up on themselves causing the blockage. Past the s shape The pipe itself is around 10/12mm in diameter.

Hop this helps, I have dehumidifier running in the car which has already taken out about 2 pints of water.

I might see if I can constantly keep that open.

I would think that the entire water drainage tube should be the same size as the opening at the sunroof so whatever gets in can get out. That S shape concerns me. I hardly ever use the sunroof so hopefully it's never an issue for me but from a design viewpoint, what you showed pix of just doesn't make sense to me.
Using a dehumidifier was a great move on your part. Hope all's well that ends well.

[KRX5M50D]

Well this all started with the battery power management message being displayed along with the SOS system failure error message on the dashboard, so I thought it might be the battery. Removed the rear D pillar panels and pulled down the rear roof liner. The side panels and the roof liner have the white door panel clips.

Took the TCM module out and replaced the battery, worked for a few days and the error came back. This was in dry season I think in late October.

Took it off again but I noticed a lot of condensation around the roof, pulled the TCM out and it had significant moisture built up on the housing and on the circuit board after I opened it.

My car is out of warranty by 6 months but I dud have it looked at either battery management message before it ran out of warranty. The BMW dealer said they updated the software and should be okay.

I think they tried addressing the symptom and not the root cause, I’ve got booked in for Friday (the 13th) and will put a case to if they try fobbing me off.

I’ve not heard much about this dealer going the extra mile for customers.

[Marty in NY]

Originally Posted by KRX5M50D

Well this all started with the battery power management message being displayed along with the SOS system failure error message on the dashboard, so I thought it might be the battery. Removed the rear D pillar panels and pulled down the rear roof liner. The side panels and the roof liner have the white door panel clips.

Took the TCM module out and replaced the battery, worked for a few days and the error came back. This was in dry season I think in late October.

Took it off again but I noticed a lot of condensation around the roof, pulled the TCM out and it had significant moisture built up on the housing and on the circuit board after I opened it.

My car is out of warranty by 6 months but I dud have it looked at either battery management message before it ran out of warranty. The BMW dealer said they updated the software and should be okay.

I think they tried addressing the symptom and not the root cause, I’ve got booked in for Friday (the 13th) and will put a case to if they try fobbing me off.

I’ve not heard much about this dealer going the extra mile for customers.

Your issue was a somewhat common one in the early release days of the G05. Thankfully I've not heard of those complaints on the late 2020 builds and later. You can search these forums and find owners posts about it and see pix of the shark fin area disassembled, as you did. As I recall, water was getting in around the shark fin seal. Once the water is in, even if the seal is replaced, any moisture left inside will condense and potentially cause issues.

[csm7djs]

This is a really useful post.

Mine were blocked as BMW explained it wasn't covered under my extended BMW warranty as it was a water leak.

Ended up with a 1.5m drain unblocker from amazon and worked my way down the drains from the top. I managed to get wire in slightly, then it gets stuck, but after some careful twisting, it does go all the way down tubes and I managed to clear out the blockage. All 1.5m of the drain unblocker went in (which is a bit like a curtain wire). Its worth noting that I couldn't use the end with the brushes on it, that wouldn't bend around the corners, so I went with the other end.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09TND58...roduct_details

[ThGraf]

Originally Posted by KRX5M50D

This is for information to assist anyone who maybe experiencing these symptoms and you are out of warranty or if BMW don't carry out the repair. It's worth keeping in mind that there can be a umber of different root causes but the symptoms are the same.

A few weeks back I noticed my passenger footwell soaked with water. A couple of hours on the internet pointed to a number of different causes:

1) sunroof not correctly fitted
2) a kink in one of the 4 sunroof drain pipes
3) blocked drain pipe

My driveway is quite sloped and the front was facing down, I opened the sunroof and the corner of the driver side channel was dry.

the passenger side channel was a different story, you could see around 1cm of water being held back.

Whilst it was raining I decided to investigate where the water was coming in from. I opened the passenger door and straight away saw water seeping down from the side panel which sits on the left had side of the footwell.

Once the rain had stopped, I tried inserting an electrical cable from the top of the sunroof but as most people have confirmed I could only feed around 6/7 inches which didn't make a difference to the water.

After taking the wheel and the wheel arch off from the passenger side to try and locate the exit hole, I spent about an hour but could not locate the hole. I then poured water on the drivers side of the sunroof channel and saw it drip out from the side skirt, but luckily had the drivers door open and saw that the exit how has been moved on the G05.

The exit hole now sits beneath the door wiring connector, this is a flexible rubber tube with a grommet style fitting, the grommet style fitting can can be removed from the body by a small access hole behind the footwell panel.

I removed the rubber grommet style fitting and gently pulled the hose to the inside of the car. I pushed the electrical cable into the drain pipe and saw a load of gunk, debris come out. The water around the passenger side of the sunroof was no longer present. I poured more water into the channel and could see the water dripping out of the drain pipe.

I pushed the grommet style fitting back and pulled into place with a plier, tested again and it still allowed water to seep out.

I then opened the boot lid to find the rear drain pipes, these have also been moved, they are no longer on the top of roof.

If you remove the rear carpet panels, you should be able to locate a black flexible pipe which runs down the D pillar and follows a similar grommet style fitting which pushes out of the rear of the car.

I haven't fully taken the rears off but will do on a dry day. I have added photos for reference of the front passenger side. the drivers side should have a similar access point behind the side panel.
[ATTACH][ATTACH]Attachment 3073479[/ATTACH][/ATTACH]

Mate, huge thanks to you.

I had the exact same thing happening last weekend.
Passager carpet was wet like if I put 20l of water. More than 3 hours to dry it.

And because of your very well discribed post, I was able to understand I had exact same issue, same passenger side...

I did pull the flexible to the outside of car. I inserted a flexible brush and after few centimeters, suddenly it drained. And top of sunroof was instantly dry. Problem fixed.

Because I did not managed to remove side panel, I wan't able to check if it's well inserted back like if I did bend it too much or... (which will result in failure even quicker as dirt will get stuck...) I tested with water, looks ok but still...

Can you give me a hand to understand how to remove side panel ?

Thank you again, you saved me huge amount of investigation time.

[MissVito]

A month after I got my '21 G05, it started leaking by the driver side headliner by the microphone. It was first noticed in heavy mist, not even rain. I took it to the dealer and they found a hairline crack in the cassette thing that the moonroof sits in. Manufacturing defect... it was during covid and there were none in the US to replace it with. It had to be made in Germany then slow-boated over to the US. My car sat at the dealer for 40 days until it was fixed. I didn't want to drive it and risk causing damage. After that, it never happened again. I remember seeing something about moonroof cassettes in some BMW TSBs.

[Roch M4]

Thanks a lot for your post. I have the same exact issue with the clogged drain. I never noticed the drain location near the door, I will inspect it more often now 😊. Looks like the grease residue from the sunroof rail are causing the drain blockage because I never let the sunroof open. But I’m still wondering how the water gets in🤫… the sunroof rubber seal is not that tight

[nZtiZia]

Originally Posted by Roch M4

Thanks a lot for your post. I have the same exact issue with the clogged drain. I never noticed the drain location near the door, I will inspect it more often now 😊. Looks like the grease residue from the sunroof rail are causing the drain blockage because I never let the sunroof open. But I’m still wondering how the water gets in🤫… the sunroof rubber seal is not that tight

the rubber seals are known to shrink (mine did above the front passenger area), or factory installed the wrong sized ones. it was replaced last month under warranty. they also ensure drains weren’t clogged

[starlights]

This is a post for XC90 but attributed to leaking sunroof seals and therefore may be of interest to some in this thread.


"my totaled XC90 - death by pollen"
https://www.swedespeed.com/threads/m...pollen.678832/

[MADBMWX5MC]

Originally Posted by starlights

This is a post for XC90 but attributed to leaking sunroof seals and therefore may be of interest to some in this thread.


"my totaled XC90 - death by pollen"
https://www.swedespeed.com/threads/m...pollen.678832/

The most strange post I have seen, frcking pollen made a real mess here....