I have a BMW E39 1998 with sunroof. I noticed the carpet in the drivers footwell area is wet. I noticed yesterday that the cover consealing the airbag on the A pillar internally was damp. Water appears to be entering at high level and travelling down the rear of the A pillar cover, behind the dash area and onto the floor.

Before I strip out the headliner has anybody experienced this before? I have tested the sunroof drains and they appear to be active.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks

http://www.bavarian-board.co.uk/forum_posts.asp?TID=40241&PN=3 - http://www.bavarian-board.co.uk/forum_posts.asp?TID=40241&am p;PN=3

Not sure what the outcome was for stevie.

Thanks for that link. Think i'm going to have to strip the headliner out and investigate further. I'll buy some talc powder and get the hose out this weekend! Nothing worse than smelly carpets right enough but when it affects the elecs thats a nightmare!

Dave

Has it had a windscreen fitted recently?

Only other probs I see on these is the gutters become clogged-open roof and check corners

Thanks for the advice.

Not sure of its windscreen history. I had the old haynes manual out tonight and it states the roof lining is a difficult and tedious task and should be left to the specialists??! I didnt think it could be that hard?

I suppose I could fork £70 out for windscreen XS as a process of trial and error. Dont really want to do that though.

I think I need to track all drainage channels internally and externally and check they are clear. I'll buy some cable and shove it down them to clear them.

Take off the 'A' pillar trim,sunvisor and gently pull head lining down a few mm-not too far or you will stess crease.Then with a hose wet the roof-you may need to rig it up so you can leave it for a while if its a slow water ingress-this should give an idea of where the waters coming from.

Headlinings are generally tricky to remove without creasing them.And a pain to put back up sometimes.

Okay, I'll give that a try this weekend. Thanks.

Okay, Ive cleared both front drains and water is flowing through them fine. I cannot locate the rear ones as I cannot see them?? I have a metal sunroof so I cannot slide it far enough back to reveal the rear drains. This also caused a problem whe trying to remove the inner headliner as I cannot access the headliner retaining screws - Any advice is appreciated-I have searched the net and had no luck

I thought I  identified the problem but water is still entering. I have photos so if someone would be kind enough to explain how to upload them I will - I am new to this!

I have bought a new sunroof gasket but Im not convinced it will sort it. I am sure I cant be the only person with a leaky sunroof? If you have an e39 with sunroof check the area where the a-pillar meets the roofliner with the back of your hand.....is it wet or damp?

Thanks, Dave

according to the TIS there are only two water drain channels

Blimey, what an outcome! I suppose even if you tried to get someone with a bit of knowlege to do a cheap fix, it's not going to be 100% and like you said it could damage your electrics. How much did you get and what car you thinking of going for?

Get an e34, you know you wanna!

Mike

The car is a 1998 528i se with all the toys and with 179,000 miles on the clock. It does have FSH and is immaculate, plus it had a replacement engine a few years ago due to nikasil engine fault. I got £3.5k from insurers, which was okay. Just as the insurers were thinking of collecting the car I decided to enquire into buying it back....so...I bought it back for £700! Bargain! I'm now in the process of stripping the headliner to see if I can do the repair myself. Alot of car for not much money! I can use the rest of the cash to keep it fuelled up!haha!

you just know its going to be something silly thats causing it