Technical Earthing strap?!

[John202020]

I know how you feel it can get pretty depressing took 3 months to sort my old Mazda a year or so ago I just couldn't work out what was wrong and gave up, then the battery was flat and mot nearing etc last resort went to main dealer (or scrap it) 4 days and £370 later and fixed you can get quite low at the time

 

[Ralf S.]

I'd give the part-time mobile mechanic a go. It needs someone who half knows what they're doing and is interested enough to spend an hour or two going through all the wiring.. I'm not sure much can go wrong, other than he might not get anywhere.. but that's not much worse than where you are now.

I found one "amateur" random Polish bloke geezer once who helped me diagnose a faulty BCM and was then invested enough that he undertook to swap my car's chips to a new BCM... never had any problems with it since. He obviously knew his stuff... but it was obviously a risk... but I was in the same boat as you where any help is better than no help.


Ralf S.

 

[Susie170911]

OK so one of the others just got back to me and said he was passing through and would come and have a quick look for me.

He cane round within 15 minutes. This is what we found...

Looks like the problem is not at the rear of the car but at the front. After checking all the back, he went to inspect all the wires, fusebox etc in the engine and front passenger footwell to find that after moving my mat away the carpet was a bit damp. Took off the trim and pulled back the carpet from the top of the footwell to find the underlay was soaked through from the top and especially the base - feels like water has been trickling down from above. Also found this was rusting and should be - he wasnt 100% on what the box is? Any ideas? Or if you now have other ideas on how to fix?? Think this may now be a spare or repair job on ebay!!!

 

[John202020]

The water, either leaking heater matrix or more likely blocked scuttle drains(in engine bay simple to fix just pull out and clean)
Not sure but that might be the body computer others will advise

 

[Baglady1990]

OK so one of the others just got back to me and said he was passing through and would come and have a quick look for me.

He cane round within 15 minutes. This is what we found...

Looks like the problem is not at the rear of the car but at the front. After checking all the back, he went to inspect all the wires, fusebox etc in the engine and front passenger footwell to find that after moving my mat away the carpet was a bit damp. Took off the trim and pulled back the carpet from the top of the footwell to find the underlay was soaked through from the top and especially the base - feels like water has been trickling down from above. Also found this was rusting and should be - he wasnt 100% on what the box is? Any ideas? Or if you now have other ideas on how to fix?? Think this may now be a spare or repair job on ebay!!!

body control module I think .. if your scuttle drains are full of crap then water would just collect and eventually find it’s way down inside the car .. a lot of us have seen this Ingres before

First you need to get everything dry take windscreen wipers and the complete scuttle off
It’s not hard I do it every spring to clean n check

Then inside the car dry everything out … obviously at this point the battery should be DISCONNECTED the BCM needs to be unplugged and checked as too do the plugs for any rust ect god knows how long this has been like this but hopefully not long

Others will recommend other ideas that’s what this site is all about but don’t despair.. a lot of us have been in a similar situation… trust me I know!!

 

[John202020]

I would guess the connection to the BCM is corroded
Scuttle drains just pull out and can be cleaned and pushed back in
I did wonder about the BCM further back in this topic #31
I think some TLC to the connector and the port to the BCM could prove very effective unless its been cooked

 

[Susie170911]

body control module I think .. if your scuttle drains are full of crap then water would just collect and eventually find it’s way down inside the car .. a lot of us have seen this Ingres before

First you need to get everything dry take windscreen wipers and the complete scuttle off
It’s not hard I do it every spring to clean n check

Then inside the car dry everything out … obviously at this point the battery should be DISCONNECTED the BCM needs to be unplugged and checked as too do the plugs for any rust ect god knows how long this has been like this but hopefully not long

Others will recommend other ideas that’s what this site is all about but don’t despair.. a lot of us have been in a similar situation… trust me I know!!

The scuttles are fine as checked them straight away when found the water! They are clean and have no leaves etc in them. God knows how long it's been like this as don't normally stick my head up inside the footwell!! We dis have a crazy amount of water with the storms 2 weeks ago just before it went and the car wasn't being driven for a few days then so it was sitting there collecting the water I'm guessing!

The battery is absolutely disconnected at the negative terminal at the moment and carpets pulled back to allow to dry. How would you suggest drying it all out and how easy is it to get in to that bcm to check for rust etc? - I can potentially get the car to an electrical specialist next week which isn't going to be cheap - would it be worth holding off and getting everything dry first or too late for that and need the specialist? Thanks.

 

[Baglady1990]

The scuttles are fine as checked them straight away when found the water! They are clean and have no leaves etc in them. God knows how long it's been like this as don't normally stick my head up inside the footwell!! We dis have a crazy amount of water with the storms 2 weeks ago just before it went and the car wasn't being driven for a few days then so it was sitting there collecting the water I'm guessing!

The battery is absolutely disconnected at the negative terminal at the moment and carpets pulled back to allow to dry. How would you suggest drying it all out and how easy is it to get in to that bcm to check for rust etc? - I can potentially get the car to an electrical specialist next week which isn't going to be cheap - would it be worth holding off and getting everything dry first or too late for that and need the specialist?

The scuttles are fine as checked them straight away when found the water! They are clean and have no leaves etc in them. God knows how long it's been like this as don't normally stick my head up inside the footwell!! We dis have a crazy amount of water with the storms 2 weeks ago just before it went and the car wasn't being driven for a few days then so it was sitting there collecting the water I'm guessing!

The battery is absolutely disconnected at the negative terminal at the moment and carpets pulled back to allow to dry. How would you suggest drying it all out and how easy is it to get in to that bcm to check for rust etc? - I can potentially get the car to an electrical specialist next week which isn't going to be cheap - would it be worth holding off and getting everything dry first or too late for that and need the

The scuttles are fine as checked them straight away when found the water! They are clean and have no leaves etc in them. God knows how long it's been like this as don't normally stick my head up inside the footwell!! We dis have a crazy amount of water with the storms 2 weeks ago just before it went and the car wasn't being driven for a few days then so it was sitting there collecting the water I'm guessing!

The battery is absolutely disconnected at the negative terminal at the moment and carpets pulled back to allow to dry. How would you suggest drying it all out and how easy is it to get in to that bcm to check for rust etc? - I can potentially get the car to an electrical specialist next week which isn't going to be cheap - would it be worth holding off and getting everything dry first or too late for that and need the specialist? Thanks.

Use towels to soak up water from the underlay/carpet …try kitchen roll also note the colour if it’s pinkish (I doubt) it’s coolant from the heater otherwise it’s just water seeing how it’s reached the bcm I doubt it’s the heater

Nevertheless the water has come in somehow and that needs thoroughly investigating or it may happen again
As for the bcm I’m not sure but I believe it’s riveted or the cage is you may have to remove the glove tray and that’s not difficult you seem resourceful
Once your in you can investigate… try a hairdryer or a heat gun that will dry things out but obviously be careful not to melt anything

If it were my car … I’d dry everything out first and once your SURE no more damp especially in anything electrical then I’d be giving the car some power and seeing what happens

 

[Baglady1990]

The scuttles are fine as checked them straight away when found the water! They are clean and have no leaves etc in them. God knows how long it's been like this as don't normally stick my head up inside the footwell!! We dis have a crazy amount of water with the storms 2 weeks ago just before it went and the car wasn't being driven for a few days then so it was sitting there collecting the water I'm guessing!

The battery is absolutely disconnected at the negative terminal at the moment and carpets pulled back to allow to dry. How would you suggest drying it all out and how easy is it to get in to that bcm to check for rust etc? - I can potentially get the car to an electrical specialist next week which isn't going to be cheap - would it be worth holding off and getting everything dry first or too late for that and need the specialist? Thanks.

I don’t mean to sound patronising at all but when you say scuttles did you mean the drains? There are two buried way down behind the scuttle panel
This is the only reason I’ve seen myself as why water would get behind the firewall and down into the front of the car!

 

[Ralf S.]

The best way to dry the car out is to lift up the carpets as far as possible, leave the car in the sun (if you see any) with the windows slightly open and depending on where the most dampness is, place some rice (uncooked) on a thin tea-towel of kitchen towel over the area of fabric or carpet affected.

The rice will draw out the moisture... and if you use a tea-towel, it'll still be clean so you can use it for a chilli-con-carne afterwards and nobody will know..

The BCM is a cassette, so it will unbolt or unclip from its cage. You will also have to disconnect all the connector plugs but that's necessary anyway, to clean and dry them up. Take a photo of what plug goes where and how the wiring is arranged. The plugs will likely only fit to the BCM in one place, so you won't get confused where to plug it back in.. but it helps to see how the cabling is arranged.

The BCM may or may not be damaged internally.. It's basically a PCB inside a plastic box... so the tracks may have been corroded or damaged. If you can open the case, then that will help it dry out. Spray a bit of WD40 over it, and if you have a soft brush (an old make-up brush is perfect) then give it a "dust" to lift off the excess WD40 and any grit/dust .. but be gentle with it.

Then let it "air".. kitchen table overnight will do... and then refit it. Hopefully it'll be good and work.

I used to have a leaking windscreen on my old Alfa 155 that handily collected water and dripped it onto my fuse box... which reminds me; If you can't locate the leak for sure (does you car have a sunroof, fixed or opening?) then put a plastic carrier bag over the BCM to protect it from drips. Also make sure that no water can run downwards along the connector plugs... tie a piece of plastic around the cable so that any drips run down the plastic, rather than into the connector block. Lastly, don't wrap the BCM up too tight.. it gets warm so needs some ventilation to stop it overheating. If you definitely locate the leak, now or later... then you don't need to shield the BCM... that's what the plastic cassette is supposed to do.


Ralf S.

 

[John202020]

The BCM may or may not be damaged internally.. It's basically a PCB inside a plastic box... so the tracks may have been corroded or damaged. If you can open the case, then that will help it dry out. Spray a bit of WD40 over it, and if you have a soft brush (an old make-up brush is perfect) then give it a "dust" to lift off the excess WD40 and any grit/dust .. but be gentle with it.

Then let it "air".. kitchen table overnight will do... and then refit it. Hopefully it'll be good and work.

If you can't locate the leak for sure (does you car have a sunroof, fixed or opening?)


Ralf S.

Personally I would resist the use of WD40 better to dry it out slowly with a bit of heat? If no sunroof has the car had a new windscreen?

post some pics of the bcm and connections?

 

[Susie170911]

Personally I would resist the use of WD40 better to dry it out slowly with a bit of heat? If no sunroof has the car had a new windscreen?

post some pics of the bcm and connections?

It doesn't have a sunroof it has a panoramic glass roof and neither that or the windscreen have had any damage or been replaced. Will try and investigate where its come from. We did have stupid amounts of rain 2 weeks ago and the car was just sat on thr drive.

Probably a daft question but before I take out the bcm - currently the battery is disconnected just from the quick release on the negative terminal. Do I need to completely remove the negative terminal or is the quick release pin enough and do I need to disconnect the positive cable? Just don't want to accidentally fry the bcm if it isn't already and just needs drying out or me for that matter!!!

Just trying to dry out the carpets at the min before even looking at removing the glove compartment and bcm.

Will definitely post pics when done.

 

[Ralf S.]

The connector blocks are "female" , so you it's very difficult to accidentally short anything out just by removing them from the BCM. When I had the BCM out of my Stilo I left the battery connected and there was no hint of shorting or arcing.

If you're actually cutting/fixing wiring then you don't want the battery connected, since you might accidentally earth something live while you're working on the wiring with metal tools... but the blocks just pull out and push in... so they're fairly fool-proof.

If you have the quick release doodah off and all you're doing is pulling the connectors off, then it's fine.


Ralf S.

 

[jackwhoo]

It doesn't have a sunroof it has a panoramic glass roof and neither that or the windscreen have had any damage or been replaced. Will try and investigate where its come from. We did have stupid amounts of rain 2 weeks ago and the car was just sat on thr drive.

Probably a daft question but before I take out the bcm - currently the battery is disconnected just from the quick release on the negative terminal. Do I need to completely remove the negative terminal or is the quick release pin enough and do I need to disconnect the positive cable? Just don't want to accidentally fry the bcm if it isn't already and just needs drying out or me for that matter!!!

Just trying to dry out the carpets at the min before even looking at removing the glove compartment and bcm.

Will definitely post pics when done.

Just to be safe please post picture of your battery quick release as it is now.

 

[Susie170911]

Just to be safe please post picture of your battery quick release as it is now.

Don't worry I'm safe, negative release is nowhere near battery and thr glove compartment is off and bcm out without any problems!

Will post pics a bit later but on first inspection everything looks fine and dry. Not given it all a full inspection yet as got to start work now so that will have to wait until tomorrow!

 

[John202020]

.We did have stupid amounts of rain 2 weeks ago and the car was just sat on the drive.

Does the drive slope steeply and was the car nose up?

 

[Susie170911]

Does the drive slope steeply and was the car nose up?

Completely flat drive but no shelter above at all - not even a single tree!

 

[John202020]

Completely flat drive but no shelter above at all - not even a single tree!

Then I suspect "volume of water" over loading the capacity to drain the water away quickly enough and drains not totally clear?

 

[Susie170911]

OK so here's the pics... also can anyone tell me what the thing in the black plastic is (last pic) and the cylinder thing is (2nd last pic) - just to clarify I haven't touched these just noticed they were also rusty. Thanks.

Still not had full inspection of bcm and fuses will do that tomorrow.

 

[A3jeroen]

Is that the curious brakelightswitch on a RHD?