Timm's BMW E63 and E64 Clearing the Water Drains
This problem affects all ages of BMW’s, everything is going fine until one day you start to smell a slight dampness which
you happily ignore. On cold mornings you also notice that the windscreen is foggy on the inside, you ignore that as well -
and then one day the carpet squelches when you get in - and that’s not a good feeling.
Unfortunately, the E63 and E64 are prone to flooding into the cabin, possibly due to the design of the drains, their position
and large shut-lines. In particular, these models have the habit of filling the cabin footwells with water via the front drains -
and filling the boot and rear footwells via the drains in the soft-top housing. So, we will attack the front drains first and then
move onto the drains in the back of the car. Here are where the drains are positioned:
So, no messing about, bonnet open, the filter housings can be seen just in front of the windscreen wiper housings which is
where we will start.
The housings are held on with a metal clip at one end a plastic latch at the other - you need a 13mm socket or spanner
for this, fortunately there is one in the boot toolkit (as long as it is still there). Turn the plastic nut until the notch faces
forwards as shown below (this is a darn sight easier using a 13mm socket):
Here is the wire clip - use your other hand to press down on the housing and the clip will come off a lot easier
Lift up the front end and then pull the housing forwards to remove it from the car:
Remove any leaves in the tray and then remove the drain cover (the thing I’m lifting up below), this usually has a few bits
and bobs in it:
This is the entrance to the side drains (right side shown), pull as much as you can on
both sides, next we need to remove the filter trays to get better access
Next, pull the rubber gasket in its entirety noting how it goes under the side trims
After removing the LHS tray you will find that the RHS tray has an additional Torx fixing (marked with an arrow below)
Here’s the parts that have been removed, the rubber gasket, two trays and two drain guards - not that the guards do
anything at all - absolutely useless
First, we need to clear the large drains that were connected to the microfilter trays. Although these may appear clear,
have a good look inside as all sorts of gunk ends up half-way down. Hook out as much as you can and then use the
garden hose to give it a good blasting (don’t use a pressure cleaner as this may damage the drains) - make sure that the
drains on each side run clear so that the water appears behind the front wheels:
There are two other drains under the trays, the RHS drain under the brake booster is easy to check - it is shown below. I
know some owners have completely removed the rubber drain, but I’m not sure that this is a good idea as it is shaped to
direct water away. Anyway, clear this drain as well as possible and then direct a stream of water from a hose into it and
ensure that water appears behind the RHS front wheel.
The picture below shows why the water gets into the cabin, the cavity that the drain sits in fills with water to a level that
breaches either the wiring-loom grommet or the shaft from the brake pedal:
There is the same system on the other side, under the E-Box - unfortunately you just can’t get to it without
removing the box - and that’s something I’m not prepared to do when there is no sign of standing water. It’s
highly unsatisfactory, especially as standing water isn’t going to do the electronics much good - I’ll have a
look at this again to see if this can be tackled from the other direction (from within the wheel well) and
report back.
With all the plastic parts out, give them a good clean to remove grime and re-assemble. Fit the (obviously inefficient) drain
covers back in place as shown below:
Well, that’s the front done - time to move onto the rear drains on the convertible E64. There are eight drains here, six are
easy enough to get to and can be cleared out effectively with a garden hose - two are hidden (somewhere). The view below
is of the RHS of the rear of the car - we are looking backwards towards the boot. At the lowest point you can see the first
drain. This is on my car and it is blocked which is probably why the boot got a bit wet a couple of weeks ago.
First - you need to get the soft-top into the service position so it will stay open.
•
Get in the car, start the engine (so as not to deplete the battery half-way through the roof movement)
•
Fully open the top so that the sequence is completed and you get the ‘soft top movement complete’ message
•
Start closing the roof and get ready to let go of the button
•
As the roof goes into the final stage let go of the button just before the compartment lid starts to close
This is the usual stuff I use to clear drains out on the previous models like the E31, E32 and E38 - but, it didn’t work on the
6-Series! The reason for this is that the drain is a pre-formed tube with sharp corners - the rear tube has three inlets and
one outlet with 90-degree bends. So, we will use an old fashioned method instead - it’s a bit messier but more fun.
It’s time to break out the garden hose - below I am giving the LHS rear drain a good blast. This didn’t do much except fill
the tray with more water - so I moved the hose sprayer until it was flat on the drain and gave it a quick blast and......
...water started coming out of the drain that is under the rear-window drain! Well, at least that proves that the parts
diagram is right and the three rear drains are joined together. After a couple more blasts the drains made a slurping noise
and the water disappeared and reappeared behind the rear wheel. This drain tube is hidden behind the carpet in the boot
space and is a bit tricky to get to, so don’t damage it with a high-pressure cleaner - that’s those done, well, apart from the
third rear drain that remains elusive - but that probably was cleared at the same time as the rest cleared.
......with water appearing in front of the rear wheel
So, the last pair to do are the drains where the hinge mechanism is, in front of the rear wheel. There’s nothing that is going
to get in there except a stream of water from the hose - so that’s what I did as shown below. And that worked fine...
So as long as you manage to get water appearing both in front and behind the rear wheels you are good to go.
All done, Time for a Cup Of Tea
Here's what things look like with both trays removed giving access to both the brake booster and the E-Box (where the
main computers live). Both these areas are prone to getting blocked up - unfortunately only one side is easy to clear!
The tray is held on by a bunch of 13mm half-turn fixings, I have put arrows on to show where they are - Start on the left-
hand trim (passenger side in the UK) as it goes over the trim in the centre. Both sides have the same fixing method so undo
all of them.
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Timm's BMW E63 and E64 Clearing the
Water Drains
This problem affects all ages of BMW’s, everything is going fine
until one day you start to smell a slight dampness which you
happily ignore. On cold mornings you also notice that the
windscreen is foggy on the inside, you ignore that as well - and
then one day the carpet squelches when you get in - and that’s
not a good feeling.
Unfortunately, the E63 and E64 are prone to flooding into the
cabin, possibly due to the design of the drains, their position and
large shut-lines. In particular, these models have the habit of
filling the cabin footwells with water via the front drains - and
filling the boot and rear footwells via the drains in the soft-top
housing. So, we will attack the front drains first and then move
onto the drains in the back of the car. Here are where the drains
are positioned:
So, no messing about, bonnet open, the filter housings can be
seen just in front of the windscreen wiper housings which is
where we will start.
The housings are held on with a metal clip at one end a plastic
latch at the other - you need a 13mm socket or spanner for this,
fortunately there is one in the boot toolkit (as long as it is still
there). Turn the plastic nut until the notch faces forwards as
shown below (this is a darn sight easier using a 13mm socket):
Here is the wire clip - use your other hand to press down on
the housing and the clip will come off a lot easier
Lift up the front end and then pull the housing forwards
to remove it from the car:
Remove any leaves in the tray and then remove the drain cover
(the thing I’m lifting up below), this usually has a few bits and
bobs in it:
This is the entrance to the side drains (right side shown), pull as
much as you can on both sides, next we need to remove the
filter trays to get better access
Next, pull the rubber gasket in its entirety noting how it goes
under the side trims
After removing the LHS tray you will find that the RHS tray has
an additional Torx fixing (marked with an arrow below)
Here’s the parts that have been removed, the rubber
gasket, two trays and two drain guards - not that the
guards do anything at all - absolutely useless
First, we need to clear the large drains that were connected
to the microfilter trays. Although these may appear clear,
have a good look inside as all sorts of gunk ends up half-way
down. Hook out as much as you can and then use the garden
hose to give it a good blasting (don’t use a pressure cleaner
as this may damage the drains) - make sure that the drains
on each side run clear so that the water appears behind the
front wheels:
There are two other drains under the trays, the RHS drain under
the brake booster is easy to check - it is shown below. I know
some owners have completely removed the rubber drain, but I’m
not sure that this is a good idea as it is shaped to direct water
away. Anyway, clear this drain as well as possible and then direct
a stream of water from a hose into it and ensure that water
appears behind the RHS front wheel.
The picture below shows why the water gets into the cabin, the
cavity that the drain sits in fills with water to a level that
breaches either the wiring-loom grommet or the shaft from the
brake pedal:
There is the same system on the other side, under the E-Box -
unfortunately you just can’t get to it without removing the box
- and that’s something I’m not prepared to do when there is no
sign of standing water. It’s highly unsatisfactory, especially as
standing water isn’t going to do the electronics much good - I’ll
have a look at this again to see if this can be tackled from the
other direction (from within the wheel well) and report back.
With all the plastic parts out, give them a good clean to remove
grime and re-assemble. Fit the (obviously inefficient) drain
covers back in place as shown below:
Well, that’s the front done - time to move onto the rear drains
on the convertible E64. There are eight drains here, six are easy
enough to get to and can be cleared out effectively with a
garden hose - two are hidden (somewhere). The view below is
of the RHS of the rear of the car - we are looking backwards
towards the boot. At the lowest point you can see the first
drain. This is on my car and it is blocked which is probably why
the boot got a bit wet a couple of weeks ago.
First - you need to get the soft-top into the service position so it
will stay open.
•
Get in the car, start the engine (so as not to deplete the
battery half-way through the roof movement)
•
Fully open the top so that the sequence is completed and
you get the ‘soft top movement complete’ message
•
Start closing the roof and get ready to let go of the button
•
As the roof goes into the final stage let go of the button just
before the compartment lid starts to close
This is the usual stuff I use to clear drains out on the previous
models like the E31, E32 and E38 - but, it didn’t work on the 6-
Series! The reason for this is that the drain is a pre-formed tube
with sharp corners - the rear tube has three inlets and one outlet
with 90-degree bends. So, we will use an old fashioned method
instead - it’s a bit messier but more fun.
It’s time to break out the garden hose - below I am giving the
LHS rear drain a good blast. This didn’t do much except fill the
tray with more water - so I moved the hose sprayer until it was
flat on the drain and gave it a quick blast and......
...water started coming out of the drain that is under the
rear-window drain! Well, at least that proves that the parts
diagram is right and the three rear drains are joined together.
After a couple more blasts the drains made a slurping noise
and the water disappeared and reappeared behind the rear
wheel. This drain tube is hidden behind the carpet in the boot
space and is a bit tricky to get to, so don’t damage it with a
high-pressure cleaner - that’s those done, well, apart from
the third rear drain that remains elusive - but that probably
was cleared at the same time as the rest cleared.
......with water appearing in front of the rear wheel
So, the last pair to do are the drains where the hinge
mechanism is, in front of the rear wheel. There’s nothing that
is going to get in there except a stream of water from the hose
- so that’s what I did as shown below. And that worked fine...
So as long as you manage to get water appearing both in front
and behind the rear wheels you are good to go.
All done, Time for a Cup Of Tea
Here's what things look like with both trays removed giving
access to both the brake booster and the E-Box (where the
main computers live). Both these areas are prone to getting
blocked up - unfortunately only one side is easy to clear!
The tray is held on by a bunch of 13mm half-turn fixings, I have
put arrows on to show where they are - Start on the left-hand
trim (passenger side in the UK) as it goes over the trim in the
centre. Both sides have the same fixing method so undo all of
them.
SEARCH MEEKNET
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