Oh no. What a headache

[davidayeee]

Hey R3v,

My sister and I finally got around to getting our first E30. It's a brillantrot 318iS. It is mainly her car tho (yay female owned/driven E30s).

So when i went to go test drive / see the car, I noticed a strange smell when i was sitting inside. The PO told me that the car had just been detailed inside and out and that the smell was the leather cleaner that was used. He said the smell would go away in a couple of days.

Well two days later and I decide to clean up the interior/carpet of the car.

Started off by removing the bottom of the rear seats which came out surprisingly easily. They litterally just pulled straight out; I'm sure they must have to be bolted in or something because it was way to simple. Help me out I'm a noob :)

After removing the bottom of the seat, I noticed that it was damp underneath. You can see it in the pictures below. Please excuse the quick iPhone pics.





It surprised me but after cleaning it up I didn't think it was a big issue.

I then went on to removing the front seats and I lifted up the carpet & heard a watery noise. Let the headache begin.

Again, damp underneath. I squeezed the foam thats attached to the carpet underneath and brownish liquid came out. I decided to smell it cuz why not and ding ding ding, we have our mysterious smell.

Here are some more pictures, you can kinda see the liquid sliding down where my finger is pointed.





Yeah it's pretty gross. I highly doubt that it is coming from underneath the car and soaking into the carpet but who knows. Also the headliner and sides are clean and not wet so i don't think it leaked water from a recent wash or something; ill probably remove those just to see if anything's hiding behind.

So I'm guessing that the PO decided to explode two bottles of Pepsi in the back seats.

I guess the plan is to find out if there is any other explaination for this and then going on to replacing the carpet and cleaning up the rear seats.

If you guys have any clues or suggestions to check where this could be coming from please let me know.

It is much appreciated.

[meanEG]

I would run water in your sunroof drai s and verify that it is coming out of the rockers and rear wheel well. Search on sunroof drains.

[nrubenstein]

Pull the carpet out and power wash it, then hit it with some carpet cleaner and power wash it again. You will be stunned.

[nrubenstein]

But yes, you need to find that actual source of the water.

[davidayeee]

So i put water into the sunroof drains and everything looks good. Drains down to the floor.




(Pictures are rotated, sorry about that)

You can see that there is a lot of dry dirt inside the sunroof so I'm guessing that water hasn't been in there for a while. The water thats in the carpet seems somewhat fresh.

[davidayeee]

The PO also resprayed the car (not perfect) and i think that the window trim seems like it is not in correctly. It looks like it sticks out a bit to me but hopefully you guys can let me know if thats normal. Pictures aren't that great, ill send better ones later.





However i did put water into that area and all around the window/trim/sunroof and everything leak down to the floor. Looks like nothing went inside the car.

I'm starting to think that the PO really did drop a lot of soda or something inside the car. Overall I think that would be my best bet right? Better than it being the drains, holes, some oil, or bad body panels.



I'll probably wash the car tomorrow and find out if any water does go into the car.

Please let me know if I should check any other spots on the car.

Thanks guys

[goldenbb]

Under each passenger footwell is a round metal cover that covers a hole used when the car was on the assembly line. The covers rot out and open up and water can get in from under the car. You have to remove the carpet to see them, although you easily seem them from underneath the car and check if they are viable. There are smaller ones in the front as well. One of mine is loose and is letting some water in. I plan to just weld a new piece of sheetmetal over the holes when I get to rust remediation.

[AndrewBird]

The heater core or heater valve might have blown and leaked coolant in. Is it wet in the footwell?

[cgk_iii]

Don't power wash your carpet. That will just make it fragile and "limpy" take a good degreaser, put it into a spray bottle, get a couple brushes and start spraying/scrubbing the carpet. Let it dry over night. Pressure washing it is just going to make it worse.

For the rear seats, check your inline fuel pump to see if any gas is leaking from the hoses/lines.

[jd_e30]

Oh no. What a headache

Check the area above where your trunk lid hinges mate to the underside of the trunk. Mine had 2 little rust holes, which allowed water to drain into the trunk, up the sides along the water loom, and into the rear seat area. It would explain why you have water under your rear seats AND front seats.

Pics:












Anyways, at this point your best bet is to pull the carpet and let it dry out for a few days. Then have it professionally cleaned, sanitized and sealed.

Before


After

[Liquidity]

Bottom of the seat is not bolted in. Snaps into place. Back has two sheet metal screws with 10mm hex heads hidden behind the flaps of material on the lateral trim panels.

[davidayeee]

Jd did you remove the carpet on your own?

I'm currently working on it and still have to remove the door sills, petals, and I guess the heater core from what I've been reading so far.

Your carpet looks like it wasn't cut. If you did it on your own, would you happen to have any advice/ or DIY links

Also, how much was it for you to get it professional cleaned/sanitized.

Thanks

[jd_e30]

Yea carpet removal was straight forward. Remove seats. Slide off / unclip door sills. Remove e brake boot and center section (2 screws), remove kick panels, removed gas pedal c clip and pin to release gas pedal and remove screw from bottom seat belt bracket. From there should be fairly easy to remove. No cutting required! Text questions my way... 303 915 9648


I paid $80 for cleaning but think I overpaid a bit, plus they did 4 extra mats. Just the carpet should be 50-60 tops!

Good luck! Any luck finding the leak?

[jd_e30]

Also don't jump the gun on the heater core yet. Try to pinpoint the leak once you have all of the interior stripped out. Have someone run a hose on various parts of the car while you look around inside. You might need to remove trunk lining to help you spot a trunk leak if that's the case

[davidayeee]

I'm currently working on removing the carpet. Removing the door sills right now oh man those little things are in there tight. I already broke a small corner.

I did pull out the carpet underneath the door sills for now but of course I'm going to have to remove them to put the carpet back in.

Planning to completely remove the carpet and water the car tomorrow and see if anything leaks in.

I check around and inside the truck. No rust anywhere and no strange holes.