Sunroof left open in rain - electrical madness ensues...

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C

cgardnerma

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Hey folks,

I left the sunroof open in my 2014 200 and a surprise heavy but short shower hit. When I went out to the car later, the center console was soaked, the radio was blaring and the Nav/Multidisplay was on. Keyless entry not working. Fob not working. Car starts, drives and runs fine, but when I shut it down, the nav blinks a few times and comes back on. Sometimes it blinks on and off at weird intervals and then comes on. Once on it works fine. Clearly shorted to power somehow. When I leave the car, I get a "key not recognized" dash warning and three beeps. I had to disconnect the battery overnight to keep it from draining, but I still have a car I can't shut down. LOL.

The center console got pretty wet and I'm thinking I have a wiring harness sitting in a puddle under there. Any other ideas? Does anyone have access to the service manual that would show me how to take apart the center console?

Thanks in advance for any ideas.
 
in the short term, may want to just pull the fuses for the radio/climate control/cool box

probably a good idea to pull the fuses anyway, so that you aren't working on live electrical circuits that may or may not be shorting/sitting in water.

once you get everything apart, I'd hit it with some compressed air to get the water out.

you can also try electrical contact cleaner, but make sure not to get it on the dash or leather.

may cause discoloration of plastics/leather trim.
 
indycole said:
This may help.
Click to expand...
Wow indycole. Thanks so much. It'a actually the center console where the brake lever and cup holders are that I want to get into. The dash, surpsingly was bone dry, but the center piece with the gear shifter was soaked. Any chance you could pull those pages? I owe you one!

Tex, once I am in there, I will do just that. Thank you.
 
Good luck! The fuse boxes are in the engine bay, under the dash trim panel on the driver side, and under the dash trim panel on the passenger side. Not sure where the appropriate fuses are, but agree with @TexAZ that pulling them in advance would be a good idea.
 

Attachments

OK. Another mudder suggested running the AC for a few hours in the drivewy. Boom. After 2 hours, the nav would shut off but keyless entry was still weird. Another couple hours with the AC on high and all is good. Good tip and easier than ripping everything apart and breaking something. Thanks all!
 
Glad it seems to be working out, not sure using compressed air would have been a good idea as it may have forced water into an area that needed to stay dry. Using the air conditioner was a great solution!!
 
Had the same thing happened with my 100 series but not because the sunroof was open but because I went through lotta flooded streets in Denver Colorado driving down to New Mexico really was a Lotta rain stopped overnight in New Mexico and the next morning the air conditioner quit working in the front but worked in the rear so I just used the rear. Drove for a few hours everything dried out and work fine and for four years after that everything worked until I sold the vehicle. I think lC’s and LX’s are self healing vehicles
 
Well I can confirm all is good. AC really did the trick. Just had to burn a 1/4 tank of gas. 82cruiser saved the day. Thanks Randy!
 
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