[BeastX3]

Hi all. I have a 2013 35D with a moonroof and thanks to this forum I have stopped the creaks with little rubber bumpers - brilliant. Recently however I have notices that water pools towards the front of the roof guttering resulting in a stale water smell for the first few miles when the roof panel is slid back and the "wet" fly screen pops up into the airflow. The smell goes as soon as the fly screen drys out. There appears to be two drain outlets at the front and two at the rear. The rear outlets drain well and the water pours out under the rear of the car. But the two front outlets don't drain (and I wonder now if they ever have). I have tried poking wire, strimmer cord, cable ties etc. into the outlets but after a few inches they stop, almost as if they have either hit an elbow or a dead end. Has anyone else experienced this and is there a simple solution? I have googled this until my fingers bleed without success. Even the Realoem parts list for the roof seems vague. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

[VikingOne]

The front drainage holes should drain underneath car near the rear of the front wheels. I had an issue where the drainage pipe had become disconnected to the down pipe in the 'A' Pillar and the water was coming into the car, making the carpet under the drivers feet damp or very wet on heavy rain. BMW removed the 'A' Pillar and reconnected the pipe.... although they did break the 'A' Pillar holding clip, and had to order a replacement.

[Scout10]

I've used compressed air many times, and made it a bi-annual event.
Start very LOW on the air pressure, and have a fitting small enough
to go into the drains.
If you find the outlet under the car try both ways from top and bottom.
(for air from bottom up, tape a plastic bag on topside to protect the interior)
good luck !

heard of some using a soft copper wire

[BeastX3]

Thanks for the info. Looks like they may be blocked then. I'll try copper wire from underneath the car (if I can find the outlet pipes) - failing that I'll have a go at the A pillar covers and roof lining (gulp)

[Scout10]

Originally Posted by BeastX3

Thanks for the info. Looks like they may be blocked then. I'll try copper wire from underneath the car (if I can find the outlet pipes) - failing that I'll have a go at the A pillar covers and roof lining (gulp)

no one around with a pancake compressor and hose?

[BeastX3]

So far - so unsuccessful!! Had the front r/h wheel off and removed the inner lining. No sign of any drain outlets. Mine's the MSport so it has the plastic styling sills but even levering these away revealed nothing but cobwebs and road grime. I do have a compressor so that's next.

[BeastX3]

Well after 2 hours of crawling under the car and removing wheels & body parts I decided to look under the bonnet (hood) and removed the two covers, one over the passenger air filter and the other over the brake fluid reservoir/servo - and there they were

Two 10mm silver coloured rubber/plastic tubes sticking out sideways about 10cm into the under bonnet drain boxes for the front screen/wiper area drainage. Both easily accessible once the top plastic covers were unclipped and after a few quick squeezes they discharged a cupful of sludge then ran clear - even gurgling as the water drained from the moon roof gulleys.

A simple two minute job to check once or twice a year.

Sooo happy now!

[PX3]

Originally Posted by BeastX3

Well after 2 hours of crawling under the car and removing wheels & body parts I decided to look under the bonnet (hood) and removed the two covers, one over the passenger air filter and the other over the brake fluid reservoir/servo - and there they were

Two 10mm silver coloured rubber/plastic tubes sticking out sideways about 10cm into the under bonnet drain boxes for the front screen/wiper area drainage. Both easily accessible once the top plastic covers were unclipped and after a few quick squeezes they discharged a cupful of sludge then ran clear - even gurgling as the water drained from the moon roof gulleys.

A simple two minute job to check once or twice a year.

Sooo happy now!

It's good you were able to find the root cause, even if you nearly ended up taking the whole car apart to find it :P
Thanks for posting the solution too, as it may help others out in the future (including me!). I will check out my sunroof over the weekend and make sure mines running clear.

Cheers

[BeastX3]

No probs - useful forum this.

[Lotus99]

well done in locating the exits. This was a perennial problem with the 535 wagon, but with the rear outlets, and when they clogged unfortunately, leaks would start developing in the trunk area, flooding the spare tire well, where guess what was located...

A whole bunch of electronic modules!

So I used to check mine twice a year as well and pour water in the channels to see if they would drain out quickly.

The front tubes though used to exit by the front door hinges. The black tubes used to be visible and stick out a few inches. Interesting they moved them under the hood.

[MikeG12]

Was helping a friend today and went through the same thing. Never found the drains. Wish I saw this before removing wheel etc. Will check this later this week.

[BeastX3]

Glad to have helped - a quick thought - my car is silver so my drain outlets were silver too. I guess they'll always match the car colour. Good luck!!

[MikeG12]

My friend bought the car over and we went at it again today. Removed the cover at the rear of the engine compartment on passenger side. The cabin air filter is under it so we removed that cover. Cabin air filter is 2 pcs, so we removed that too. Finally we could see the drain nipple sticking straight out of the side of the car. Ran a thin piece of plastic up into it a few inches then flushed from the top with water. Drain now works. Sent some compressed air up through it too just to be sure. Interestingly, the drain nipple is right over a wrapped wiring bundle so the water drains right over it. Not the best engineering I could think of.

[BeastX3]

Great news - glad it worked out for you. Let's hope that the rear drains keep working (mine do so far) as I haven't found the rear outlets and think the rear body panels will have to be removed for access as it's impossible to see them from the underside (and I got soaked trying to find them)!