Leaky door seal?

[930chef]

hi all. i just picked up 2002 540. love the torque that v8 makes plus it sound great. i am having a problem with water entering the car somewhere through the rear passenger side door. i noticed the carpet was sopping wet after last rain. is this problem common for this year or model? also passenger seat doesn't adjust on both sides. is there more than one motor under the seat ? and once again, is it a common occurrence. i am not great at the diagnosis, but if i am lead in the right direction, i may be able to fix. thanks in advance for any and all advice on my new(old) car, kevin

[P3 Automotive]

you need to look closely at the sunroof drains, the sunroof tray, the cowl drains, and the evaporator drain. any of these can be clogged with leaves, dirt and other crap and cause water to come into the floor. I deal with these problems all the time at my shop. it is not unusual for any one of these drains to get clogged and cause water to enter the floor, and a lot of times the water will settle in the rear floor because it might be slightly lower than the front. In almost every case i can think of the problem is one of those drains, although i did have this problem with an audi allroad recently were the front windshield had been replaced with an aftermarket one which lacked the proper provision for the cowl cover to snap into the glass as it should. this resulted in water pouring directly into the cabin filter opening(because it was passing under the cowl cover) which allowed the water to get into the floor of the vehicle inside. most of the water ended up in the rear passenger side floor.

This can be a really big problem if there are electronics in the floor of the car as there often are. In the audi i referenced above the transmission control module was mounted on the floor and was ruined from the water.

I mentioned the sunroof tray above because I own a 99 540t and it's sunroof tray was cracked at the front corners by the drain tubes. this resulted in water coming down inside the A pillar trim and getting into the passenger side floor. i repaired this with some rtv sealant and it has been fine for over a year now.

I don't think i've ever seen a door seal result in water in the floor though. that is however the thing that most people suspect first.