Bavarian Cortina Fan

ok so she’s still taking in water like the titanic and im running out of ideas and patience I thought I had it nailed last month as she was staying dry in the rain when parked (hurrah), but my long commute in the rain had her pooling water again. Symptom is water is pooling in the front footwell marked in red (I pinched CPs pic👍), plus wet carpets in the rear - although no pooling spent some time trying to replicate the issue today with a hose pipe to no avail. Soaked the front screen and the under bonnet drain trims, and with the front carpet lifted, the yellow grommet and foam dash insulator remained bone dry. removed the rear seat and soaked the rear sceen and boot - no leaks hosed both front and rear doors, nothing. The rear door seals remain dry unlike the attached video still of a ‘problem’ car from question rear door seal - what does a faulty door seal look like? Are they always wet and have condensation?

Thanks for the input yes the car was in pieces getting the screen re-fitted - and after removal the fitters could not see any gap or failed seal. This was investigating where else water might enter - I do have both trim pieces in your pic I’m interested where the rain water goes after it is routed over those trim pieces. It follows the blue arrow, but the drain marked in red seems to dump it on the blower unit. I can’t see any thing underneath it in real OEM site but it’s sometimes hard to navigate mating parts in those diagrams

OK so I have: replaced the yellow grommet cleared the drain hole from the grommet to fender cleaned the drain grommet behind the wheel arch liner but the car is still leaking. Looking up from the carpet, you can see corrosion above the fuse box where the water has been entering the car, and the sound deadening foam above the grommet is dripping wet. So today I got the pros in the remove and reseal the windscreen. However they advised the seal was not degraded, so put that one down to experience and a process of elimination… As the water ingress is high up above the fuse box, it has to be entering from the blower area. The blower to bulkhead seal looks good, as does the blower top cover seal. Question Is there a drain point underneath the blower? It seems water is routed from the windscreen, over the wiper trim and dumped onto the blower case. Or am I missing a piece of trim?

Whilst searching for anything about F10 windscreen leaks this popped up: https://cars.newagain.co.uk/vlog.asp?topic=BMW-5-Series-Water-Leak-Repair&tag=&id=1139 at 1:40 there’s a demo of a rear screen leak 😳 That makes your F10 a water ingress disaster. The yellow grommet leaks, the door seals leak, the front screen can leak and the rear screen can leak too. Pretty much a full house 😁 This guy has spotted the yellow grommet but IMO repair and clean from the engine bay side seems easier and more thorough than keyhole from the cabin. I’m also not convinced about fitting the grommet back to front from the cabin… Anyway I guess the message here is ensure you pin point where a leak is coming from. Wet carpets don’t necessarily mean a failed yellow grommet!

OK so the car is not garaged and has been sitting dormant in the storm eye of Babet all week, but the carpets have not dried and the floor is full of significantly more water than before - despite the drain cleaning and yellow grommet sealing. I shower tested the front and rear doors - all dry on the inside Water ingress is coming down the front pillar - the bulkhead is dry. The foam sound deadening ringed in red is still dripping wet. Has to the windscreen seals IMO. Anyone else been here?

Well I removed the wheelarch liner (2 rotten rounded screw heads and 1 seized spire clip later…) and took out the drain grommet from the brake pipes. A bit of crud in there but no deluge of water or apparent blockage - and it was surprisingly dry in there. You can just see the yellow grommet from the brake pipe aperture in the 1st photo (arrow) I poked a mini drain snake through from the yellow grommet to the brake pipes, all clear, no blockage. It seems pretty level so I can imagine if water isn’t draining out the brake grommet, it will slosh back to the yellow peril then and then eventually into the cabin… I did wonder about throwing the ‘acoustic cover’ in the bin to solve the drainage issue once and for all, but it is part of the firewall, and given the N47 EGR fires I thought it prudent to refit it. So I’ve drilled a hole at the low point of the cover, just above the (modified) seal. I’ve hacked the sound deadening foam on the front as I don’t want that absorbing water and sitting damp forever. The yellow grommet looked fine as it was replaced last year, so I liberally applied silicone sealant over the mating surfaces. Fingers crossed this will keep her carpets dry over the winter…

Must be that time of year. I cleaned out detritus, replaced the grommet, and modified the cover last year. Driving all smug for a year. And then, wet carpets again... Not as much crap lurking as yours CP, but evidence of a high tide - which is clearly enough to flood the cabin 🤬 I might cover the yellow bugger in silicone before I put the cover back tomorrow. Carpets lifted to dry as we speak just proves this has to be annual event - including cleaning the grommet behind the NSF wheel by the brake pipes - as that’s root cause And note to self - do this job in the summer when it’s warm n dry 😁

*** BUMP *** Still getting slight Smokey smells in the cabin when stationary or slow moving traffic. Fine whilst moving. This is despite replacing the rocker cover gasket, oil breather hose & its O ring, plus the oil filler O ring - not even a year ago. Granted I do some mileage, but it’s disappointing when genuine parts don’t fit right… Seems that oil is getting passed the O ring under the (new) breather hose. Give the top of the hose a nudge and you can see oil seeping out, and the oily mess on the OSF of the engine. At least it’s not dripping on the exhaust, but enough that you can smell it. New O ring ordered, let’s see if that’s enough to cure it. .

X2 🙂 Another Achilles heel… you don’t notice this whilst in motion but it started as occasional very faint wisps of smoke from the drivers side of the bonnet when stationary and escalated to smoke and burnt oil smell coming through the vents. FYI it wasn’t using any oil, so it doesn’t take much. Some half witted previous owner/mechanic had already had a go with silicone sealant. I side stepped this job as it needs injectors out. No end of pain if they’ve welded themselves in place after 100k of motoring £300 fitted by my indie using genuine gasket.

Worth a call to the dealer and getting it done its free and they’ll do a vehicle health check which will warn of forthcoming issues No car manufacturer issues a recall unless they absolutely have to, as it’s expensive and bad PR, so I would get them done.

Wow this must be costing BMW a fortune. It’s pretty poor that they didn’t resolve this with the 1st recall, and quite worrying. Possibly they’re paranoid about USA litigation, but then again, I didn’t think they sold diesel BMWs in the USA? in my understanding the root cause of the EGR failure/fire was very high under bonnet temperature caused by very specific circumstances when the car is left idling for prolonged periods (eg a police incident where the engine is idling as all lights are on etc) and then driven really hard, (eg a police high speed chase) causing the EGR to fail, leak & combust. This resulted in the unfortunate police fatality, which lead to most police forces switch from bmw. I guess as long as that’s not your driving pattern, then it’s relatively low risk… We have to assume that the previous recalls have all offered some improvement to EGR coolers, as BMW must have tested the revised parts to ensure a new target is achieved.

Agree up to a point. But OEM parts are massively over engineered for my needs if I was on track days or thought I was Colin McRae, I would not touch budget parts…

Yup. I’ve worked in automotive development and manufacture for 30 years. All the big suppliers brands (Bosch, ATEetc) have aftermarket divisions. Three factors are at play here: 1) The new car & part has to pass very rigid tests which the OEM specifies. For service, those tests are NOT required. Standards can be relaxed. Different lower targets can be applied. They can tailor the compounds to whatever the manufacturer asks for, which allows for a cost saving 2) That cost saving is important because as each year passes, the volume of pad sales swings from higher for OEM for new cars to significantly higher for service. Think about the size of the ‘car park’ of registered F10s when the model is reaching the end of its life. Worldwide. All needing pads. These parts aren’t like a sun visor which has like zero service demand. And if the service pad has less durability, that gives you even more pad sales. This is a BIG earner for the OEMs 3) When you spank £50k on a shiny new car your expectations are higher than once the honeymoon is over. This is especially true when the car is out of production, like my F10. Pads are unique in that for OEM they are shipped pre fitted to the caliper. for service they come as a just a pad set. The OEM then decides what else comes in that kit (shims, instructions etc) and an OEM branded box. The same production line may be used to provide aftermarket parts branded by the supplier. The supplier then selects what compound they will use. It may - or may not - use the same compound as the OEM. All depends what is included in their supply contract with the OEM. I’ve never worked for BMW so I can’t say what BMW do. But the suppliers will have offered this way of working to BMW. It’s industry custom & practice which I’ve experienced working with several brake system suppliers. FYI the same happens with tyres. Your new car tyres are better than the same branded tyre you buy in service.

It all depends on how precious you are with your car, how you drive and how long you plan to keep it. I know I’m not aligned with a lot of you guys where your 5 is your pride n joy. Mine is just a bloody good commuting tool to me… Anyway here’s my 2 cents… Unless you are hooning round country lanes every day, budget parts will do the job fine. Obviously you don’t want to fit the cheapest chinese made junk you can find, this is a safety critical part after all. I did look at brembo and 1 piece vs 2 piece debate, but unless they’re on offer they were significantly more than budget parts. Fair enough when your 5 was worth 50k but now it’s worth like 5k, is it justifiable? I bought a set of 4 Ridex discs + pads + sensors as a kit from Autodoc. £230 All in. German made. No issues with judder, dust, or noise. And compared to the worn out parts that was on the car when I bought it, a definite step up. I’m sure they’re not the best for either performance or longevity, but for my motorway wafting they are more than adequate. No doubt genuine parts are the best, but be aware that the genuine Galfer pads you buy from a BMW dealer will have a different (cheaper) friction material than the ones fitted when new. That’s just one way car companies make profit. I let my Indy fit them as you need the fancy OBD diagnostic tool to wind back the electric handbrake for the rears. I’m sure there’s a workaround if you really want to DIY the job

Shell Helix LL04 for me, I used to audit OEM suppliers so I’ve seen what a bad supplier can do and stick to trusted brands. Life hack - I won’t be bargain hunting for fluids online anymore… Courier delivered this mess which dripped oil all up my path and covered the porch floor in oil. God knows what his van looked like. Retailer was fine with the refund, but it’s just admin tasks you don’t need and a delay on the oil change! Shop local!