Rain Causing Electrical Issues

[kevman65]

Independent specialty shop would probably be cheaper and more productive.

Sponsored

 

[SuddenBraking]

Update and new facts (or facts I forgot to include). There's been a slow leak on the passenger side for a bit now, nothing big but enough where after a heavy rain the passenger carpet under the mud mats was wet. I forgot to mention in the original writeup, but then had the thought that it could be the cause of some of these issues (depending on where the water is getting in) so I took it to my bodywork guy. He found the leak where the frame meets the weatherstripping, and based on that I think that can be safely ruled out (it just runs down the door to the floor).

Anyhow, he's got the Jeep at his diagnostic guy who says everything's throwing codes and is going to start with replacing the PCM and go from there. My bodywork guy asked if I wanted him to do that thinking that if the slow leak is causing the issues that it wouldn't be fixed. My thinking is that I don't see how that leak would get to the PCM AND the issues started IMMEDIATELY after I left the roof open one night and only since then. Given that, I'm inclined to believe it's a one time fluke event where water got into a naughty place from overhead rain and not related to the slow and relatively minimal leak.

FWIW, the water you see on the door in the video I've never seen before after or during a rainstorm (so it's from him applying pressure to the loose weatherstripping), and the water just naturally runs down the door to the bottom where it then enters the passenger floor.

 

[Hootbro]

I think they are shotgunning parts with the PCM and guessing. Unless they scoped the can bus signal and started isolating the system, they are guessing.

 

[Charles 236]

Years ago, I left the windows down about an inch on my car. A sudden, brief storm pushed enough water into the cabin to have water about three inches deep. I dried it by using a wet/dry vacuum cleaner to pull out most of the water. I then started it and closed the windows and doors, turned on the A/C on high, with the temperature set on high, and the recirculation control set to recirculation (no fresh air entering the cabin). In a little over an hour, it had completely dried the interior. The A/C pulls a lot of moisture out, and the heat helped dry it.

 

[SuddenBraking]

Welp, mechanic has had it for a couple of weeks now, and replaced a wire leading up to the ABS module that he thought it might've been, but that didn't do it. He's now replacing the ABS module...........unsure of what next steps will be if (hopefully not when) that doesn't fix it.

 

[Hootbro]

Your money spends well with them. There is thinking and there is knowing. They are doing a lot of thinking on your dime.

 

[SuddenBraking]

Your money spends well with them. There is thinking and there is knowing. They are doing a lot of thinking on your dime.

Yup, no pushback from my end.I haven’t specifically decided when I’m going to cut bait from him and let the dealership figure it out, but it’s coming in the next week or two.

Benefit is I work from home and have motorcycles, so I’m in no rush to get the truck back (although waiting at Enterprise for a rental car right now for a work trip is kinda annoying).

But knowing how little I’d get from a trade in makes me think there’s almost no ceiling on what I should spend to get this fixed.

 

[SuddenBraking]

Update - got the vehicle back a few days ago, and the mechanic didn't sound too confident in the fix but it's been flawless since I've had it back.

Replaced the ABS module, and it seems to be as good as new. The working theory is the water from leaving the top down would've caused a short which smoked the ABS module (which is under the hood and wouldn't have been affected by the rain from the top down). It's really either that, or the most coincidental coincidence of all time that the morning after leaving my top down is when the ABS module decided to give up the ghost (which I consider to be fairly unlikely).

Total cost was $1,500 for the work and new module, and I didn't have my truck for a little over a month. Now to get a new set of tires and possibly a new windshield (not sure if mine will pass inspection with its newest crack), and hopefully get another trouble free 60K miles out of it.

 

[SuddenBraking]

Just updating this - truck has performed flawlessly since and had no issues for the last year (mostly; got a P0456 code a couple of days after replacing the auxiliary battery, but that seems to be a common bug and hasn't returned since I cleared the code).

Sponsored