ARoosterinaRoadster

Hi Dave. Yes,at last and hopefully it will stay dry. I have just had the car washed and dryed at a local hand wash - car wash and hopefully that will produce a good result for my pension money investment towards keeping the car !! As they say "Watch this space"😁

Hi to you all out there. The E64 rides again after being at the BMW Specialist since Tuesday 8th October. The issue has been sorted out and the car is back-together. I am now £399.00 lighter for the work that has been carried out and hopefully it will not be an issue again during my ownership. It is coming to something when there has got to be a real problem with drains being blocked and the inside of the car becomes a paddling pool on tyres before attention is needed. The Mercedes SLK's that I have had in the past all had easily visible drains and were rather easily cleared using a suitable rod attached to a low-powered cordless drill. What is the expression - KISS. For the ones that are unfamiliar - Keep It Simple Stupid !

Hi Dave. Yes,I cannot agree more but the saving grace is that I have now seen the floor of my 635d and the amount of sound proofing that there is. Under the carpet and sound proofing there are cables that eventually would have given rise to electrical issues as the car appears to have been collecting water for some time - it was only because of the slightly "nose-up" way that my car is parked that the water eventually became obvious. Graham Martin Automotive (St Helens) has removed the driver's seat and the rear seat squab enabling the carpet etc to be partially removed and turned back so that it can be dried out properly otherwise the smell would become rather an issue - especially as we are now into Autumn and approaching Winter/Spring and very little hope of a warm car that would help in natural drying. I will see what the situation is when the car is back;Monday early PM is the day that I am due to collect and I have given it a fair few miles of reappraisal. What I am rather surprised about is that there is no part of any service schedule that includes early simple drain checks, especially with convertibles which I am sure are a great deal more likely to have drainage issues throughout their lives.

Hi to you all out there. Just a midstream update. The car went into the BMW Specialist and they have declared that the carpets and seats have got to come out of the car so that they can conduct a water test. Despite the fact that the water is only affecting the driver side (RH) of the car and collecting in the rear footwell !! I am perplexed - they have also determined that the front drainage points were not blocked,there are three of them plus one in each wing;this was confirmed on a very recent YouTube video that I looked at before the car went in. It is probably going to be a few days before I get the car back again as they are talking about drying out the carpets before putting it all back together.

Hi again to you all out there. Just a few thoughts before the E64 goes into the BMW Specialist on Tuesday next week. The car went into my local Halliwell Jones last week and they seemingly only cleared 6 drain points in the rear, although their own diagram shows there to be 8 !! Why so ? I watched a very interesting YouTube video yesterday which confirmed that there were indeed 8 drains in the rear. I will take this up with the main dealer tomorrow, (Thursday) and see what transpires !! The video also showed very interestingly the clearing of the drains in the front - what a palaver;especially the drainage points in the front wings. I really am at 6's and 7's whether to keep the car or move it on once the water issue is sorted - well I have until Spring 2025 because it is now not such a good time to sell privately and the trade want it for nothing ! as is their style of doing business. If sold privately,what would a very,very nice 2008 plate E64 635d Auto with 134,800 recorded miles and now me as the 8th owner fetch ?

Hi again Dave. The boot was totally dry, but in any event it is also a lot lower and with no obvious route for the passage of water into the rear footwell. The car is in with the painter at present and the visit to the specialist is scheduled/book-in for next Tuesday early AM.

Hi Jez. Yes, I really do hope that they will get to the bottom of the issue. The decision to take it to a specialist instead of the main dealer again was purely on cost - Main Dealer v a recommended Specialist. Having spoken with the receptionist at the specialist even before it went to the main dealer, she was fully familiar with the issue. The initial visit to the main dealer was simply on the distance from one to the other and the logistics of getting back home and returning again when the car was sorted.

Hi again Dave. The carpet on the driver's side does feel damp when you go right up into the pedal area but again there is no evidence of leaks from above;the backing on the carpet is seemingly quite water-resistant - that is going by the loose rear footwell mats that have the "Velcro" type circles attached to them. The car has not been showing any leaks from around the doors - keep in mind that the car is a convertible and only has two doors ! The local BMW Dealership suggested that the membrane could be compromised or the lower door seals were damaged but that has also been checked and there is no water present on the inside of the door sill or carpet. There is no evidence of roof seals leaking either and especially as there is only the one at the front and that closers down and the locking clamps are fully functional. There is no water on any part of the inside leather trim etc. I have booked the car into a BMW Specialist in St Helens but they can only look at it on Tuesday 9th October. Until then, I will just have to keep bailing the water out with a combination of a Turkey Baster and a giant car sponge. At least for the next few days it is indoors at the paint shop !

Hi again Dave. Thank you for the heads-up. I did what you suggested and the site search produced a series of sketches including one for bodywork but did not show any actual drain points. My local BMW dealership has suggested that the car goes back in and the ingress of water is investigated as it is most likely getting in through the bulkhead - that could be expensive and he was talking of around a thousand pounds because of removing the carpet on the driver's side and testing with water and seeing whether it is entering from the area of the bulkhead.

Well hello again and a good but very wet morning to you all out there !! I had the rear drains cleared last Wednesday - 25th Sept and the paddling pool has returned ! I am fairly convinced that there must be a blockage somewhere up-front. Has the forum got any other positive ideas as to where ? The car has gone in for some minor cosmetic paintwork to be attended to and I am not expecting it back until Wednesday/Thursday.

Well hello again. I have just collected my E64 635d Convertible Auto from my local Halliwell Jones after having had the unwanted and involuntary paddling pool investigated. Despite the print off of the drainage points showing that there are 8 in total - it turned out that there were actually only 6. It was reported that there was very little that came out leaving them all running freely. It was discovered that the water would appear to have been coming in at the front !! and possibly from around the brake servo mounting. The next few days will/should bring a further opportunity for a re-examination of the situation - we are forested to have heavy rain in my local area !! I will keep you posted. PS. I was very pleasantly surprised when I was presented with a considerably reduced bill from what was originally quoted. The car also was washed and a mini valet was done leaving the car looking like it had just come out of the showroom.

Hi Dave. Well spotted ! Thank you. Yes, it is a wonky number plate and I hadn't noticed it since I bought the car, largely because I do not wash my own cars any more. I will correct it in the next few days. With screaming arthritis, wonky knees and hips I cannot cope with doing it myself. LCI (Life Cycle Impulse) why the hell did they not just call it a mild facelift model ? Just another example of motoring BS.

Hi to you all out here. I came across this site whilst looking specifically for a forum that covered the E63/E64 range of BMW's I am a member of the E46 Fanatics Forum which I joined some 6/7 years ago when I bought my first E46 325Ci Convertible Auto. I had wanted a 6 series car for some time and came across my current one whilst searching through AutoTrader for one. The one that I located is an 08 plate 635d Convertible Auto, which I am reliably informed is an E64.

Hi Paul. I have sent you a message on the system messaging service.

Hi Paul. Why should/would your 650i be different to my 635d if they are both convertibles and presumably the same body with the only difference being the engine size and type ? Can I assume by your post that your car is actually a 650i convertible ? I am intrigued and will look forward to you posting some images !!

Hi Dave. To my mind, the issue of the water getting in is like looking for a needle in a haystack and must logically be linked to a drain or drains being blocked. Hopefully the main dealer technician will locate an entry point or points and deal with it/them and clear the 8 drain points that are identified on the diagram.

Hi jenksy. I have it on reliable grounds indeed from the main dealer here in Southport that there are 8 drainage points as stated in the third sentence of my post !! I have a print-out from the main dealer showing the location of the drains. Perhaps I have misunderstood the diagram, albeit I have had the hood in the partial open/closed position several times and cannot see any drain points.

Hi to you all out there. The other day while about to vacuum out the car I discovered a considerable amount of water in the rear behind the driver's seat. After an hour of attempting to clear it using a turkey baster and a giant car sponge, I managed to clear most of the water. My local BMW Dealership printed me off a diagram showing the 8 drainage point locations but the apparent amount of carpet etc that I have to shift for access is a little difficult for me ! Have I misunderstood, and the drainage points are actually beneath the little black button-tops that are visible when the boot lid is raised ? My local BMW dealership has quoted me £162.00 incl VAT to clear them and reckons that it is a one-hour work. Thank you in anticipation.

Hi again Dave. I suspect that if I keep the car that I might have the seat height increased by visiting a motor trimmer and getting a 1" pad of high density (reconstituted foam) inserted beneath the existing fillings and the seat cover replaced so that there is no obvious difference in the construction.

Hi Dave. I did exactly that using my last seven digits (B705166) There was also a second box - PART NR APPLICATION SEARCH which was a bit strange because that was what I was researching ! In my previous reply I pointed out that item 4 actually came up as three - two on the outer rail and one only on the inner rail at the rear in both cases. Item 4&5 repeat on both rails at the front - they are the ones that there is a short length of stud that would be left in the floor-pan if the hex nut was removed ! I do not wish to remove the nut because I no idea how the stud is secured in place - CAPTIVE but how ? - surely the two single hex nuts cannot be what is preventing the rails from raising a mere half inch it the very back so that the spacers can be positioned and then the bolts can then be reinserted !

Hi Conmil. Try Jack at Royal Steering Wheels - albeit they normally will only re-trim and perform cosmetic alterations on customers wheels. I am not sure about the paddles bit though ! worth a search and an E'mail inquiry. he did an amazing job on a 1st Generation Mercedes SLK 230 Auto for me a few years back - flattening the bottom and putting thumb grips above the spokes on the wheel. I had a 2004 registered Face-lift and did not like the huge central boss - the swap was easily carried out and it totally transformed the car. The steering wheel came from a 1st Generation SLK 230 - the end result is pictured below.

Hi again Dave. I have identified that there are Five fixings that secure the drivers seat to the floor-pan. Three are 10mm bolts (two in the outer rail and one in the inner rail) and the two at the front are studs with hexagonal nuts leaving a very short amount of thread above each nut. The link that you sent me cannot identify the parts nor the locations without a factory correct description of the items. I cannot adjust the seat any higher than I have so I will cease trying and just accept that this is the best that I am going to get.

Hi again Dave. I have looked at the two front rail fastenings and they are not bolts that I can partially undue - they are actually short lengths of stud with a hexagon nut on each ! - something that I have never ever seen before. I will leave well alone until I have researched the issue a little further.

Hi Dave. Thanks for coming back on this one. As I quoted in my opening post there are very clearly only three bolt-heads visible - with the seat adjusted forward to the max. When viewed from behind the seat the right-hand rail has two bolts and the left-hand rail has one only ! Upon closer investigation - yes there appear to be two other bolts - one in each rail at the front of each rail with black plastic caps covering the heads ! I would not have suspected that the two front bolts would have had such an amount of holding-down power I will try loosening them and see if that gives the rails enough clearance so that I can slide the spacers under the back edge of each rail. The seat height is adjusted to its maximum but the aim is to gain a further half inch or so at the rear only. I stand at 4'10" but with a 23" inside leg measurement and a slightly short torso. I have an hereditary condition that leaves me 8"/9" shorter than I should be - very good in the days of my competition judo activity.

Hi to you all out there. I am wanting to raise the back-edge of the drivers seat so that I can put a couple of 12mm spacers under the rails. I have removed the bolts- two in the outer rail and one in the inner rail but the rails will not lift much at all. apart from at the very front of both rails is there anything else that is would prevent the rails from allowing the sliding in of the spacers ? I have achieved this very same operation on at-least the last six cars that I have had - BMW's,Mercedes SLK's and a Mercedes C220 CDI. I am puzzled.