[OLI77]

So my index finger is pointing to one of the 5 screws.

Raise roof so that the front most pilar that supports the front panel is not quite completely vertical (>90 degree).

Start removing the screws remove the seal and that is when you will see the butyl tape and the different areas you need to redo.

I will attempt this when it gets warmer and take pics.

[dpaul]

Originally Posted by OLI77

Well it has taken me 3 attempts to reconcile what I was seeing on my e93 in the garage, with this wonderful, albeit short and poorly annotated TIS that we have all looked at if we got here (and have a leak).

I realized the fourth picture (R54 1152), shows 5 screws that are hidden inside the large pretty stiff window seal. I will post a pick of those later. But it is all making sense now.

Unfortunately it is 37 degree F in my garage! and the annotation mentions heating the seal to 60 degrees C before doing this. Only once this seal is removed can you see where to put the new butyl rope to recreate a waterproof seal.

I am not sure the headliner needs to be removed. dpaul?

As I mentioned earlier, I do not know if you need to remove the headliner to renew the butyl caulk - I just know that if I hadn't removed it, I wouldn't have been able to determine exactly where the water ingress was occurring from

[OLI77]

Dpaul, I hope you don't mind if we continue this thread a bit more as this will likely help others in the future. So BMW dealership took a look at my car (leaking mostly like most users with issues, where the passenger A pillar meets the roof top).

They concluded that the thing to change was the main seal at the top of the windshield! Not, the one on the frontmost roof panel! So since I am not paying for this, I said OK, let's see if this does the trick!

This could become a new data point for us all.

I will know soon whether this is a viable approach since the seal will be replaced Friday...

[dpaul]

Originally Posted by OLI77

Dpaul, I hope you don't mind if we continue this thread a bit more as this will likely help others in the future. So BMW dealership took a look at my car (leaking mostly like most users with issues, where the passenger A pillar meets the roof top).

They concluded that the thing to change was the main seal at the top of the windshield! Not, the one on the frontmost roof panel! So since I am not paying for this, I said OK, let's see if this does the trick!

This could become a new data point for us all.

I will know soon whether this is a viable approach since the seal will be replaced Friday...

Great - let's hope this works for you. I believe I cautioned earlier that there are multiple root causes for A-pillar leaks and that correct diagnosis required painstaking effort.

Believe me, if I had any sort of warranty in effect I would not have bothered to try addressing the problem myself.

Please report back when you have a resolution.

[OLI77]

So dealer charged (not me) ~$700 to replace part number 51767119111
Sealing A-pillar.

Here.

Said they tested it and it doesn't leak. I will be the judge of that,....and report back.

I found the part for ~100 on line and they charged $450 for labor + 1 m of butyl rope.

[eugenecp]

Had the same issue on both driver and passenger side when it rained hard in DFW last Monday. Thanks for the fix.

[OLI77]

So it rained a good 4-5 hours today, from drizzle to "good and wet" and. . . some water got in the car. Not as much as before but the cloth I left on the seat was nice and damp. It got a bit worse over the next few minutes driving around, maybe ~20 big drops in all. It got worse as I drove around for the next few minutes when 4-5 drops would stream backwards onto the right bolster while accelerating, or would fly left or right in turns.

It is less water than before, but it seems that just changing the front seal, the one that goes around the windshield, is not sufficient to stop the leaks.

I had a suspicion that dpaul's fix was the way to go, because I could tell while investigating after a rain that water was inside the frontmost roof panel, on the sides or the front right at the Apillar corner.

Trusted the BMW dealer. Calling them in the morning.

[OLI77]

And BMW failed to fix their car, so the Carmax Leak Specialist took over. . .

From what I gather, he must have injected liquid butyl compound around the corner of the forward panel maybe 2 inches on either side of the corner. Looks like the compound was placed between the paint side and rubber gasket side. Hope it shows up in the pics as a thin, wet looking, shinny line.





He must have had a heated butyl delivery device perhaps like a needle, with back pressure, to deliver that in there so cleanly, that's my guess, and perhaps this will work.

[OLI77]

Had a solid 20 minutes of hard rain while driving in town and.....no leaks!

Need to stay out in the rain all day to be sure for so far so good!

[schriss]

Very useful. In my case, the only leak I was getting was the "S-bend" area which causes water to go down behind cloth right behind back seat. It's not even noticeable until you pull back seat up and find a pool of water. It's where the fuel pump is...
This was useful to me: checking roof shell seal for leaks
https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/e...g-roof/HVnhcBp
I fixed it by scraping old butyl with plastic prying tool, I did not remove entire seal, just lifted it with prying tool. Then alcohol to clean the area. I used flat butyl tape and plastic prying tools to maneuver butyl tape into place without touching it with fingers. Once done, pressed seal firmly onto the butyl and it seemed to do the trick. Time will tell.
For so long I was using silicone and other stuff trying to seal leaks, not realizing the water goes BEHIND seals

[OLI77]

Thanks for that link schriss. Never know when and where leaks can start.

[eugenecp]

Thanks for the link schriss

[azz3r1989]

Hello,
I think I have the same issue sorry if this has been covered. On an old post but I am new so please bear with me.

I noticed it leaks from drivers side top of the window close to where the front part of the roof meets the windscreen.

I have no idea how to fix this.?? Help help help.

Willing to give it a go myself
Although I have noticed what sounds like a roof rattle of some sort?
Could these two be related? And if possible would one fix ... fix the issues of both?

Hope for some help as it’s driving me up the wall
Many thanks
Aaron

[OLI77]

Aaron, you might want to post a pick to help figure the source but it is likely the seam on the roof panel itself.
With a rattle in the roof, you might want to that looked at first.
I know nothing about fixing a roof rattle.

[dpaul]

Originally Posted by OLI77

Aaron, you might want to post a pick to help figure the source but it is likely the seam on the roof panel itself.
With a rattle in the roof, you might want to that looked at first.
I know nothing about fixing a roof rattle.

RE: Rattles

I have scoured the net for information about roof rattles. I have a rattle from the rear that only happens when the top is up and the car is traversing rough road surfaces. It is not influenced by window position, nor by the position of the trunk partition. It has nothing whatsoever to do with the leaking that I reported in this thread post #1

There are many posts about similar sounding rattles. But none of them have been useful for me in terms of identifying the reason for the fault and a method of fixing it. Just a lot of "I took it to the dealer and they fixed it under warranty".

If your rattle is from up front, near the A-pillar, there may be an easy fix - adding a washer under the latch pin to reduce the play. There are a number of posts about it (sorry, don't have a link at the moment).

I am about to tackle the rear rattle based on close examination of the information available on newtis.net. I'll report back if I make any progress.

[Sandysinclair]

Re the A Pillar leak .
After many months of cursing and swearing time after time I had thought I had got to the bottom of the leak every time it rained , I would wait for the drips to appear , usually after I had gone back inside the house , anyhow , I checked the rubber seals a dozen times , all good and lubricated with the special aircraft grease , as I was closing the roof back down for the 100th time I looked in the area where the roof brackets are attached to each other by the metal hinge which slots into the middle roof section when it closes. There is a glued rubber seal there which degrades over time, water leaks underneath this and starts to drop onto the roof liner cardboard moulding . this then funnels down and then follows the A pillar and drips down on to the rubber seal and then the plastic moulding edge next to the seat back then drips down the back of rear seat and forms a pool of water underneath the rear seats hence why your car inexplicably has loads of condensation in it at night . The solution is to get black window sealer or caulk in America and liberally apply it to the seal edges vertical and horizontal ,making it water tight . I have done this on both sides and it has been 4 months ,horrendous winter rain over those 4 months and not a single drip . dried the seats out as they can contain a horrific amount of water and the nightmare is finally for me at least OVER. Hope that is helpful as it was never the normal rear window rubber seal that everyone thinks is the problem, it was one that's 3 ft away in the middle roof section edge seal . Bizarre but true .

[Pdxordts]

https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/e...-roof/Cr6Ky8zV



This link is broken. Does anyone have a valid link or can anyone provide this info? Thanks all !!

[dpaul]

Originally Posted by Pdxordts

https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/e...-roof/Cr6Ky8zV



This link is broken. Does anyone have a valid link or can anyone provide this info? Thanks all !!

BMW has closed this source of information. The alternatives are 1) pay for access to Newtis.info 2) Install ISTA+ (aka Rheingold) software on your laptop. All of the repair information available on Newtis is included in this dealer level software package.

[Pdxordts]

I took the side weatherstripping/trim off today and it was quite easy. I am now 100% certain that the leak I had, was because the butyl was worn out or missing the the area where the water penetration was occurring. I could actually see the corrosion on the back of the metal strip attached to the weather stripping. I was working on the drivers side.


First you have to remove the 5 screws that are located under the edge of the weather stripping with a torx. there is a photo above somewhere to show these screws. When I removed mine, I noticed each one of them had corrosion on them, so I cleaned the threads with a thread chaser and I also did the same to the locations in the top where they screw in.

I was then concerned with where to start. After looking closely, you have to start at the back/rear of the top edge. Remember I am working on the front section of the hardtop. There is a pretty big piece of weather stripping on the rear edge that kinda wraps around from the outside to the inside. There is also a rectangular piece of plastic located right next to this that looks like it has two pop rivets used to secure it in place,, you may think you need to remove this,, but you do not.. Just grab hold of the piece of weather stripping from the inside rear of the car and work it loose, starting underneath it. It is only held on by butyl rubber. Work it loose and move it from the inside of the car to the outside.

The whole piece of weatherstripping and chrome trim are one piece. Once you remove the 5 screws and loosen the weatherstripping that wraps around the back, carefully pry the weatherstripping / chrome piece away from the edge of the roof. Mine came off really easily, Its a warm day here. Once off you will see the mess of butyl rubber that is going to have to be removed. I had my piece loose up to the area where the weatherstripping curves around to the front edge of the top. I removed all the butyl on the painted metal side of the top and on the rear face of the weatherstripping. I used mineral spirits to lubricate and clean the butyl off of the surfaces. When I was ready to re attach the weatherstripping, I applied Window Weld Urethane in a method similar to how one would apply ATV to seal this.

It wasnt too difficult. The most difficult part is clean the old butyl off the parts. Go slow, have patience. Get it clean. This should fix it.... Good Luck,.

[Pdxordts]

Pics of the loose weather stripping

you dont have to remove that plastic piece with the two pop rivets.

Headliner removal is not necessary

[ludobmw]

Sorry if this topic has already been extensively covered , but being a newbe and wanting to try to address the problem myself I would like some advice.

My E93 (2013) started leaking last year on the passenger side, I believe same spot as it has happen to dpaul (attached picture of the linking). Leaks when parked and while moving, not terrible but quite annoying.The liner gets wet and starts slowly dripping. I have tested the water leaks and when I spray the car on the left hand corner (passenger side) where the roof meets the pillar the water sips through. The seals have no cracks an Krytox treatment had no effect. No trace of water on the sunvisor.

I brought the car to my indy mechanic who is a former BMW mechanic. He asked a friend of his who is a BMW technician specialized in the retractible roofs to have a look at my car. They have cleaned the drains and the BMW technician said that all the seals need to be replaced and that it cost $2400 and no guarantee it will work.

How can I know if it is the rubber seal the problem, what are the cue that can make me understand if the problem is the rubber seal? Will replacing the butyl help?

Thanks everyone for the feedback and patience
Ludovico

[schriss]

Originally Posted by Pdxordts

https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/e...-roof/Cr6Ky8zV



This link is broken. Does anyone have a valid link or can anyone provide this info? Thanks all !!

Attached.