justalilbit

problem resolved

I've owned my E60 for ~6 weeks now... 2006 530i. During the first rain of the end of summer/beginning of autumn I found 3 inches of water in my driver's side front/rear footwells; roughly 4 weeks after buying it from the dealership. I took it back, they diagnosed it as a crack in the sunroof panel. The advisor gave me a resounding "maybe". The words "educated guess", "not sure", and "could be many other things" were muttered far too often for my liking. They conducted a water test and found that water poured on the sunroof was flowing down through the crack (the one they are "99% sure" exists), through the side pillar and into the footwell. Here is where the bullshit begins.

Not only did they neglect to clean up the damn water from the water test (I found my footwells SOAKED that evening, car was stored inside at home and it didn't rain once that day), they quoted me $1500 for parts and $700 for labor. Even though I'd driven it less than 1000 kms, they refused to do anything as it "wasn't covered" by the 90 day/5000km warranty. After giving them a piece of my mind, they offered to pay 15% and told me to "take it or leave it". I told them they'd have to fix the issue anyways if it had rained at all during their ownership of the car, and they had the nerve to tell me: "hypothetically". My concerns for the electronics below the carpet were brushed off with "Meh, the wires are insulated". Overall I'm stunned at how horribly I've been treated...

So TLDR, my sunroof is leaking water into the footwells, and the dealership essentially told me "good luck". It rains consistently during the winter here so I've been unable to even drive the car most of the week. Does anybody know what I can do? I'm shit out of ideas and I can't stomach the $2200 bill on a car I haven't even owned for 1000kms or 2 months yet. (A bill for a solution they aren't even confident will work!!) I'm so angry/depressed I want to walk into the ocean. I love this car so much, but I'm not opposed to parting ways with it... I've read $12,000 horror stories with replacing the electronics below the carpet. PS, sorry for all the "quotation marks"...

paulie

Feel sorry for all the problems of your BMW.

From what I understand the sunroof is leaking. What exactly is cracked? The glass or the rubber seals surrounding the glass?

There are no critical electronics in the front footwell, only some wires in the higher areas. The only thing is some wires would be wet probably, albeit also reason to give problems.

pcy

Check the sunroof drain channels and clean them if necessary.
Remove the cabin filter under the hood and check the drains for blockages; clear them if necessary.
Replace the seal around the sunroof. Part is around $40 and you can replace it in an hour. New seal will prevent excessive water from entering the sunroof cassette.

justalilbit

Hey, thanks. It isn't actually the glass, and I can't comment about the rubber seal. What they suspect is the actual frame everything sits on. I'll attach a picture. The red circle is the specific location on the track. Again, they're just guessing, nobody seems 100% confident. They were only willing to do 1 hour (less than that) of labor to diagnose it as it takes longer to remove the headliner/airbags etc. The whole situation feels like I'm being taken advantage of so I can't fork over $2200 + tax to these crooks, especially considering their ineptitude.

I thought of that this morning, to check the drain channels myself instead of trusting them. I tried checking the drains under the cabin filter/brake servo as per a thread I had found on a uk bimmer forum. The video I had to work off was a 2004 though, so I couldn't figure out how to remove the last piece of cover/frame that runs along the width of the hood below both filters. I had unlocked all the torx locks but it just wouldn't budge. I can give it a go again once it stops raining and I am able to take off the car cover, maybe snap a picture.

pcy

This DIY has instructions for removing the trim pieces under the cabin filters -
https://5series.net/forums/diy-do-yo...nge-diy-60186/

justalilbit

Awesome, thanks for your help. I'll open the hood in the morning when I have daylight to work. Unfortunately it hasn't stopped raining all day.

tonyb635

Also you can easily check the drains. Position the car so that the right front is just slightly lower to ensure you can control the water direction. Open the sun roof and you can see the sunroof tray. Pour about a cup of water slowly in the right corner on the tray. The water should move and go drown the drain and exit just be hind the right front wheel. Repeat the same fro the left front and rears drains. The rear drains are very hard to see. If the water does not exit then you have clogged drains. The process is quick if the drains are clear, otherwise cleaning works well with compressed air. I blow mine out a few times a year just to have something to do... You should also do the same for the other drains as PCY said. Just about any other can make a mess inside you car and lead to a smelly BMW.

justalilbit

Well in case anybody is curious for any reason, I'll resolve the story. Instead of replace the panel they had it repaired. What did they do? I've yet to receive documentation that states anything other than "repair". Was I informed or asked if this repair would be done, or if I wanted it done? Nope. They went ahead and did it, then billed me $1200. Fortunately for me they covered $800 as I've spoken with the GM numerous times and he seems a decent person. It rained a few times and my footwells are dry. However, still getting heavy condensation on the windows inside the car. The air smells humid inside as well. Apparently it didn't go through the proper detailing afterwards (cleaning, "baking", how appropriate for British Columbia), so they're going to do that over the weekend. I told the GM I'd rather they just buy it back. He spoke with the sales manager who essentially said "Fuck that, I'm only paying wholesale if it comes to that". So that isn't an option.

Overall they thoroughly made love to my barn door. The lesson here is if somebody is buying a used BMW, please water test the sunroof, have the drains checked and water test afterwards. Nobody does this for pre purchase inspections nor does any dealership test this when doing their ___ point inspections.