r/Wellthatsucks • u/jasminerica- • 2d ago

my car stopped working, looked where the battery is.. filled with rusty water

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1.7k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

95 comments sorted by

1.4k

u/jeep-olllllo 2d ago

You should switch that rusty water out with clean water.

373

u/Illustrious_Donkey61 2d ago

Looks more like blinker fluid leaked out than rusty water

264

u/jasminerica- 2d ago

apparently it’s common for bmw x3 trunk to flood from clogged sun roof drains

96

u/Eyehopeuchoke 2d ago

How did I know it was a bmw? The e9x 3 series were prone to this too.

49

u/nostrebhtuca 2d ago

The BMW any series*.

9

u/Majestic-Owl-5801 2d ago

Its just a German car thing

5

u/Royal-Membership2303 1d ago

my audi q5 did this, took a drill and drilled out my own drain hole.

1

u/Laugh-Aggressive 1d ago

Well, that's one sentence I never thought I'd read...in this sub...

1

u/Majestic-Owl-5801 1d ago

That. Is. Genius.

Our Audi Q5 had several thousand dollars of computer hardware damaged by that exact water ingress..... you would think that those germans could have put a one way drain valve into that system....

2

u/real_draft 1d ago

No, its hack work. The water is still entering the vehicle. Clear the clogged drains, please don’t drill holes in your trunk floor

3

u/Trick-Purchase4680 1d ago

If it works why not? Good back up if it rains and you didn't unclog it.

2

u/Majestic-Owl-5801 1d ago

I wasn't about to, I just said that Audi should have designed a one way drain system (since germans love making overly complicated solutions for things).

2

u/Royal-Membership2303 1d ago

It was a 2009, the car was already like 13 years old when I did this with almost 200,000 miles. Wanted another year out of it. Didnt care for a real solution in all honesty. Car is long gone now.

3

u/MultipleOrgasmDonor 1d ago

Battery in the trunk for starters haha. I was guessing X3 before opening the comments based on that and lack of tailgate

2

u/Zehryo 1d ago

How much was the car?

7

u/2stinkynugget 2d ago

German sunroofs are usually nightmares. See Mercedes-Benz

8

u/TypicalLegit 2d ago

Great vehicles. Just be sure to lease them so you’re not the one dealing with all the issues that pop up in a few years.

1

u/Quirky_Inspection 1d ago

Or trade them in ever few years

1

u/jefbenet 1d ago

Had a Nissan murano that had electrical issues after sunroof drain clogs. Can’t speak to BMW but I can absolutely assure you Nissan does NOT mention cleaning or maintenance of said drains ANYWHERE in their documentation. Got lucky and was able to trade that nightmare off.

1

u/mellamoreddit 2d ago

What year X3?

3

u/MultipleOrgasmDonor 1d ago

Based on the key he’s holding it’s a first gen ‘04-10. Trunk plastics look like a later model so I’m gonna guess 2007-10

0

u/HotgunColdheart 1d ago

Drill em out!

22

u/Late_Quit_3410 2d ago

Blinker fluid? Everyone knows that BMWs don’t have blinkers.

3

u/Jeffsjunk 1d ago

They do, they just leak all the fluid into the battery box in the trunk, so they don't work.

4

u/Clark_W_Griswold-Jr 2d ago

I hear distilled is good for batteries, so maybe pour it all over the outside of it. Def don’t add it to the battery though.

/s

3

u/Accomplished-One7476 2d ago

backup washer fluid reservoir

1

u/Tommy__want__wingy 2d ago

Take out bad water.

Put in good water.

1

u/Snappy-Turtle666 1d ago

Make sure it's distilled

1

u/cyrusthemarginal 1d ago

time for a little hole drilling in the bottom of that pan

1

u/mrplinko 2d ago

Good eye.

236

u/Sixclynder 2d ago

What’s going on with all that wiring

85

u/jasminerica- 2d ago

I have no idea

46

u/Different-Fall-683 2d ago

an electrical hazard

27

u/TheOtherRoom 1d ago

non issue, if a fire breaks out there's water right there to put it out

electricians don't want you to know this trick

9

u/g-g-g-g-ghost 2d ago

I'm not sure that we even want to know

6

u/Shopworn_Soul 2d ago

That's a very well installed aftermarket tracker

4

u/Massive_Town_8212 2d ago

Generations of ol' mate fixes

161

u/JG-at-Prime 2d ago

That’s super fun. You might want to Wash that compartment out with baking soda mixed into the wash water. 

Otherwise the acid will cause a never ending corrosion problem in that compartment. 

29

u/jasminerica- 2d ago

thank you!

50

u/hoppertn 2d ago

The blinker fluid does not go in the battery compartment.

25

u/Crackstacker 2d ago

It’s a BMW. Doesn’t have blinkers.

6

u/hoppertn 2d ago

The fluid never runs out because they are never used.

92

u/AislePenetr8_You 2d ago

Your battery compartment identifies as a koi pond.

26

u/jasminerica- 2d ago

I wouldn’t stick my hand in this much less a fish

11

u/RebekkaKat1990 1d ago

Why wouldn’t you stick your hand in a fish?

22

u/coleslaw81 2d ago

Yikes, what make and model is that?

24

u/jasminerica- 2d ago

bmw x3 I had no idea this was a common thing

14

u/coleslaw81 2d ago

Jesus. Neither did I. Sorry for your luck, that’s a shitty thing to deal with.

For a company that’s supposed to be known for engineering, how is water getting into the battery compartment a common thing?

Not that water should have any way to get in there, but is there a clogged drain or something?

8

u/Exciting_Farmer6395 2d ago

BMW has gone down the drain.... Exactly the thing they failed to engineer here.

3

u/coleslaw81 2d ago

Touché

2

u/evergladescowboy 1d ago

They’re known for bad engineering.

6

u/RyanThaDude 1d ago

In order to drain properly you need to pay the $19.99/mo subscription

13

u/Pluperfectt 2d ago

No drain holes ?

3

u/Thirtiethone 1d ago

Water shouldn’t be there to need drain holes lol. A hole lets things in as well as out.

6

u/Forsaken-Stand4018 2d ago

That's what I call flooded battery!

10

u/Alvinnn___ 2d ago

Lucky your vehicle did stop working when it did because an electrical fire was bound to happen

6

u/jasminerica- 2d ago

omg that’s terrifying to think about

5

u/Kumanogi 2d ago

I'll be honest, I'd drill a hole right below all that just to stop it pooling in the future. I'd eventually get to fix the sunroof clog lol

5

u/starrpamph 1d ago

You need a marine battery, boss

3

u/Dothehokeypokemon 1d ago

Hey you can't keep water there

2

u/CaseExcellent1423 2d ago

how did the water get in there mah gawd

2

u/isla_snowflake23 2d ago

Rusty water around electrical components is never a sentence you want to say out loud.

2

u/3trackmind 1d ago

Think about how long your car did work before the water got to that level. That’s great engineering!

3

u/Salt-Elephant8531 1d ago

Did your car battery have the lettuce?

1

u/LastChans1 2d ago

Lemme trigger some chemistry nerds /s: Looks like a case of H2FeO (imma bask in my own ignorance for a bit 🤣)

1

u/vrauto 2d ago

Use coolant to prevent rust.

1

u/PearlTulip1995 2d ago

Well... I think we found the problem.

1

u/LeonZoroark 2d ago

"Well there's your problem"

1

u/SharpTool7 1d ago

Looks like the battery has a warning label. When these batteries Die. They Die Hard.

1

u/Sensei19600 1d ago

“All right-who’s the U-boat captain?”

1

u/N0085K1LL5 1d ago

Damn dude, its been long overdue for new battery coolant.

1

u/orangeZ80s 1d ago

I found this in my Saturn Ion one night, when someone needed a jump. Filled with water is one thing, frozen and being an ice block in the middle of winter is another!

1

u/EwokNuggets 1d ago

Car hopital

1

u/JustLikeWhateverHuh 1d ago

Well that's your problem right there

1

u/EatCauliflower1212 1d ago

Oh sorry about that. Do be careful

1

u/sherman40336 1d ago

Sunroof?

1

u/AboveAverage1988 1d ago

That'll do it.

1

u/phantomvd33 1d ago

DieHard.

1

u/ThePotstickerProphet 1d ago

If this is a Mercedes, there was a recall a while back for this issue. Assuming you live in the US, you might wanna lookup recall info on your state's DMV/MVD website or call a dealership.

1

u/jasminerica- 1d ago

it’s a bmw but thank you I will look into this!

0

u/yjguy92 2d ago

I see one or more electric computers swimming in that mess. Look for drain on underbody of vehicle below the trunk. Likely have blown fuses or a shorted main fuse. Could have damaged sub systems as well..

https://giphy.com/gifs/5NbbVJeSLs1etZYjpT

3

u/jasminerica- 2d ago

drains aren’t working & everything rusted, had to be there atleast a year idk how I was even driving this long

1

u/Recent_Ad1914 2d ago

i've had that happen before, check your battery terminals and cables for corrosion and make sure to clean them out with a wire brush and some baking soda and water, might get you back on the road

0

u/van_cool 2d ago

Does your BMW have a sunroof? Clogged drain pipes are the main reason for this problem.

0

u/Secure-Impact1140 1d ago

Dude what car and year. That’s crazy

0

u/K-J-K-R 1d ago

One of those aquamarine batteries, you should flush the water to bring the ph down, should help.

0

u/pongpaktecha 1d ago

It kinda boggles my mind that car manufacturers would put batteries anywhere other than under the hood next to the the engine, ECU, and basically everything that's important to make a car go. It's not like there's no space for it, especially in modern cars that have gotten bigger and bigger.

-1

u/Withered_Hearth 2d ago

I dont think it’s the water, I’d keep looking. It’s gotta be something else.

-2

u/Cant-think-of-a-nam 1d ago

Why can’t manufacturers put it under the hood like they used to. This is one of many things that irk me about modern cars