A pillar water leaks
A pillar water leaks
I just stumbled across this insanely useful tip over at Bimmerfest. Hope its useful.
2001 M roadster S54 Laguna Seca Blue
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Mike Fishwick
- Joined: Fri 19 Jun, 2009 10:27
- Posts: 2093
- Location: Daglan, France
Re: A pillar water leaks
This seems to be a complex description of an improbably drainage system, but being on an american website people tend to believe it!
If this idea were true, then why could I see daylight between the rubber seals at the top of the screen frame and above the window - on a car which was two years old? Being still under the BMW guaranteee I took the car to my local dealer, who tried to correct it by adjusting (over-tightening) the latching hooks. Predictably, this did nothing except strain the latch mechanism.
The next step was to carefully measure the length of the seal above the window, which was the same as those on a new Z3. I then pointed out that there was a large amount of play in the latching hooks when the locking handles were in the 'locked' position, but far less in their 'free' position. This points to waer in the mechanism, which is a slot in a thin steel plate, through which a roller is pulled by the locking handle.
This steel plate is of insufficient strength to withstand the pressure applied to it by the roller, and is soon deformed into a triangular slot. This is why the hook has a lot of free play at its mid position, whic is maintained when the mechanism is in its 'locked' position. The old bodeg of tightening the hooks will not cure the problem, but will apply more pressure to the slot.
The BMW Zone manager for the SW examined the problem, and made the crass statement that 'It's a convertible sir - you must expect some water leaks!' The dealer and BMW GB were totally uninterested. Perhaps if I had bought the car new they might have given a damn, but I doubt it. That experience finished me with any idea of dealer service in case of 'Goodwill' claims, as it was clear that BMWGB had no goodwill whatever.
My answer - which works wekk - was to glue a shaped piece of thin rubber sheet over the end of the rubber seal above the window on each side, which cured the problem immediately. Of course, this did not stop the slot from continuing to expand, and at seventeen years old my car now has an additional piece of rubber on each side, a small price to pay for now being totally waterproof.
If this idea were true, then why could I see daylight between the rubber seals at the top of the screen frame and above the window - on a car which was two years old? Being still under the BMW guaranteee I took the car to my local dealer, who tried to correct it by adjusting (over-tightening) the latching hooks. Predictably, this did nothing except strain the latch mechanism.
The next step was to carefully measure the length of the seal above the window, which was the same as those on a new Z3. I then pointed out that there was a large amount of play in the latching hooks when the locking handles were in the 'locked' position, but far less in their 'free' position. This points to waer in the mechanism, which is a slot in a thin steel plate, through which a roller is pulled by the locking handle.
This steel plate is of insufficient strength to withstand the pressure applied to it by the roller, and is soon deformed into a triangular slot. This is why the hook has a lot of free play at its mid position, whic is maintained when the mechanism is in its 'locked' position. The old bodeg of tightening the hooks will not cure the problem, but will apply more pressure to the slot.
The BMW Zone manager for the SW examined the problem, and made the crass statement that 'It's a convertible sir - you must expect some water leaks!' The dealer and BMW GB were totally uninterested. Perhaps if I had bought the car new they might have given a damn, but I doubt it. That experience finished me with any idea of dealer service in case of 'Goodwill' claims, as it was clear that BMWGB had no goodwill whatever.
My answer - which works wekk - was to glue a shaped piece of thin rubber sheet over the end of the rubber seal above the window on each side, which cured the problem immediately. Of course, this did not stop the slot from continuing to expand, and at seventeen years old my car now has an additional piece of rubber on each side, a small price to pay for now being totally waterproof.
A Z3 is not just for Christmas - it's for life!
