Isn't it just really a bad / illconsidered 'design' - yes if life was spotlessly unrealistically clean and it was just water that got to the area the design would allow drainage. However, life isn't that clean, leaves and general crud, detritus are allowed by upstream 'design' to get in there and block up the 'clean' water drain as we can all evidence. BM could at least have put some easily accessible 'filter' arrangement ahead of the 'doomed' area, and or as we all know it's a bmw 'design' problem bmw could at least come out with a retrofit mods, if they were good and honest, but as the problems manifest after the warranty period, they're evidently not that caring? What rot down the line will manifest in years to come, bulkheads, floor pans?
My perspective... we'd like near perfect designs for all facets of a car's engineering. But.. in my experience over the years, we often only find the weaknesses once well into ownership and when the common failures develop. Virtually every model, from every manufacturer has its weak links. I could list many such weaknesses through the years. From parts of body structures that collected crud and rusted critical areas, to suspension joints which could fail in service, dropping a corner to the ground. To oil starvations which took out cam shafts. Water pumps which fail and break/spin a cam belt and total engine failure... How long a list do we want? Back to the 'F' series models with a grommet. It is the overload of crud, typically leaf matter and seeds, etc. Whether the design could eliminate the build up, I'm not sure. When you see the amount of leaves on my car in autumn, I suspect not, even with mesh grilles put around the bulkheads. A completely different design? Possible, but where would the next weakness be? A bit of preventative maintenance is really the answer with what we have in reality. As I mentioned before, I could likely have prevented my issue, if I'd been more proactive. Remember when it was essential to hose out under the wheel arches several times every year, on many older car designs. If you didn't, (and many users didn't), you could have rot and need repairs in the structures, in a few short years. Peter
Thanks Peter, My one certainly doesn't have that white drain pipe, I cleaned everything and haven't seen it there. Also, one or two screws were missing from the cover, so someone must have been messing around it prior to me having this car. I bought special pipe from B&Q and will attach it to the petrol station vacuum tap around for a second and clean as many leaves and dirt as I can, then when I'm in the garage will do the rest of what you send me. Many thanks again.
Touch wood I have not had the yellow grommet issue with either of my 640d's but when I bought my first one I noticed a huge amount of leaves accumulated the deep area either side at rear of the engine bay. I asked BMW to clear them out which they did a crap job of so I bought a flexible Dyson extension and hoover mine out once a year when the weather is dry. The first time I did it I filled the Dyson twice over with horrible wet crud (much to my wife's disgust!) but that sorted the drainage in mine before any issue occurred. As for a poor BMW design I am not sure any other manufacturer is any better and I agree with what @Peter says. Every time I open the bonnet of any cars I clean out the dried leaves below the windscreen. It still makes me wonder why no manufacturer appears to do that when you put a car in for a service? Would seem good practice to me rather than let some teenager wash the car with an oily rag..
Checked my grommet area on Saturday, by removing the cover. Hardly any crud behind it and drain tube completely free to the main bulkhead drain. Pleasantly surprised, as I did expect to find a bit more birch leaf/seed build up, considering the amount of leaves and seeds that have been on the car this year. Peter
Good to hear Peter - I guess the answer here is to make sure that regular cleaning takes place, lots of brands over the years have had similar issues with leaves etc. blocking drain holes and causing water to enter the car, I seem to remember that VW's had a big problem with the Passat at one point so not limited to BMW.
Always good to have a check, and even better if it is a clean bill of health. Back in my Saab days the 9-3s (2002-2010) were known for soaking the passenger side carpets due to the bulkhead drain channel blocking with debris. All the more annoying as that was where the amp for the stereo was kept, many a blown amp!
Hi I have an f10 with this issue. I'm getting yellow gommet fixed but my garage won't dry car out so im looking for details on how do i dry car out myself? from what i can tell from Peter's pictures I need to remove back seat and also unscrew passenger front seat? But i have no idea how to do this! Any advice?
