Those Wonderful Drain Tubes

[granit_silber]

Hey Guys,

Could one of you shoot me a picture of where the rear drain tubes exit the frame?

Today I was working on a leak and I think that some former body work has plugged the opening for the rear-pass side tube.

Good news is: I have three working drains!
-ashley

p.s. the dealer told me that the seal around the sunroof is to block wind noise, not water. Any thoughts on that?

[shogun]

That's correct. The drain holes are for the water.

[Paul in NZ]

all you have to do is wash your car and watch the water run into the sunroof..the roof around the sunrof seals drain quickly,thats why you have to keep those drains clear.Carefully push some nylon fishing type line through you may find the end that way,dont force it though otherwise you will jave an interior drain.

[shogun]

It ends up under the door,

at least on my E32. When you remove the speaker in the legroom of the passenger side, you can see a plastic hose somewhere there. Usually it is blocked at the end.
Under the car there are on each side 4 drain slots under the area of the doors. If these slots are plugged with dirt or paint, water enters the passenger room.
This is from my experience with E32, but E34 should be same or similar design.
You can also easily test it by pouring a cup of water into the inlet drain holes at the sunroof. Water should discharge immy under the car. If not, clean the hoses.

[granit_silber]

I know that they end up underneath the car; and I have three of the holes that drain properly. However, I suspect that the rear pass-side hole was "fixed" after a fender bender the car was in years before I bought it.
I dissassembled the rear interior (including where the rear light is and the headliner) found the tube (and the leak) my leak is from the sunroof sill.
I know asking for a picture seems stupid, but the corresponding drain hole on the driver's side doesn't look like a drain hole. More like three metal sheets being pinched together with a void in the center. I just want to make sure that I'm in the right place before i go poking holes in the bottom of my bimmer.
-ashley