Firstfives.org

Hello! Acquired a great E12 last week. I have an intro thread in the "New to E12s" section, but can't figure out how to link it here.

I thought my first new tech thread would be more benign, but we had our first hard rain yesterday since I bought the car and there was standing water in the glove box this morning. The car is a slick top, so I don't have to worry about sunroof leaks. I searched the forums and found several leak threads mentioning the windshield gasket as a leak source. Is that most likely for a leak into the glove box? Any other potential right front leak areas on E12s?

Thanks,

Cory

One non-tech way to find the source of a leak is placing a towel in the glove box. That's to minimize any further damage from the errant water, that you introduce with a garden hose delicately on the suspect outside areas of the car.

One that you can't see would be behind the widescreen gasket.. The a-pillar tends to rust out in the lower corners. And it can be bad, without being visible from the outside.

lets just hope maybe just the gasket is cracked/torn and letting water though. That's a much cheaper fix.

Also the Ecm is above the glovebox, and the wiring harness passes through the firewall right there, but I can't really see the water getting into the glovebox unless you were driving it and hitting puddles. But you could check the grommet for large cracks.

I don't really think you'd have water in the glovebox from any other leak sources..

Windshield seal is the most likely source of the leak. Especially if you try to seal it in place, but really anytime, do not use one of those silicone sealants. Use the 3M glazing and bedding, it's non hardening, gooey and sticky and gets everwhere. But it works quite well.

Thanks for the responses! Unfortunately, there is a small amount of rust bubbling in the lower corner of the windshield surround, which I know means there is more that's not visible. Guess addressing that just went from the "to do" list to the "fix immediately" list.

I did drive the car in the rain, so I will also check the grommet in the firewall, just in case.

Cory

In the case of rust, pull the windshield, fix the rust with POR15 and put in a new seal, no goop. Or, at least non-hardening goop like Mike says. Gotta resign to do it correctly.

RonDwyer wrote:Gotta resign to do it correctly.

For sure! Nothing gets "rigged" on my Bimmers. Plan to take this to a body shop and get it fixed correctly.