Leaks in 2000 323 after heavy rains

I have a 2000 323i with a sunroof. After heavy rains, the rear right and left footwell carpets get very very wet, even soaked. This is evident when the car is parked, like two nights ago when it really poured in Northern VA. There is no apparent water on the seats or interior doors or inside roof, which might imply a leak from the sunroof or windows. Does anyone have a possible explantion and solution for this?

Window slightly opened?
Drains clogged?

I once had a car with a mysterious leak like that in the roof. The only way I could figure it out (turned out to be a seal leak in the rear window) was to have soeone sit inside the car, close up the windows and spray the car with a hose, preferably with a high pressure sprayer, and just slowly go over the car, spending some time at each possible area (sunroof, side windows, rear glass) until the person inside sees the water coming in.

Good luck.

-Ernest

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Originally Posted by Ernest

I once had a car with a mysterious leak like that in the roof. The only way I could figure it out (turned out to be a seal leak in the rear window) was to have soeone sit inside the car, close up the windows and spray the car with a hose, preferably with a high pressure sprayer, and just slowly go over the car, spending some time at each possible area (sunroof, side windows, rear glass) until the person inside sees the water coming in.

Good luck.

-Ernest

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It's even more fun when the leak is in the trunk and you have to put someone in there with a flashlight to see where the water is coming in. :)

check for clogged sunroof drains or bad door gaskets

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Originally Posted by G1st

I have a 2000 323i with a sunroof. After heavy rains, the rear right and left footwell carpets get very very wet, even soaked. This is evident when the car is parked, like two nights ago when it really poured in Northern VA. There is no apparent water on the seats or interior doors or inside roof, which might imply a leak from the sunroof or windows. Does anyone have a possible explantion and solution for this?

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Also, have the door liners checked. There is a plastic seal that keeps rain water that hits the windows and drains down into the door from coming inside. On my 98 E39, the left and right rear liners became separated and the rain water drained into the rear footwell. You just have to pull the door panel and reseal the plastic liner. Also, make sure that the drain holes in the bottom of each door are open and draining freely. After rain or washing the car, if you open the doors, you should see some water drain out the bottom.

Reselking the liner and cleaning out the drain holes solved the problem for me.

Yes, check the door liners.
My 2000 328Ci wound up with WET carpet on the passenger side after heavy rain. It didn't leak when I washed the car. The dealer could not find the leak running it through the car wash, but they replaced the door seals. It still leaked in heavy rain.
During a heavy rain I could see water coming in about six inches to the rear of the front corner of the door.
On the second trip to the dealer, they reset the door liner and explained the problem.
I have had no problem since.

It's a known issue on these cars.

I also have a 2000 323, and my first experience with this problem was a small iceberg in the passenger side front floor of my car in the middle of winter. Each time my dealership has had to go into my doors, I had to bring it back a second time to get these barriers properly sealed.