General Water ingress please help

[waynem]

hi all, i have a 58 plate ducato recovery truck, every time it rains it plays up, basically the abs and handbreak lights flicker on and off, also the rev counter and temp gauge does the same and drops to zero, also the mileometer drops to zero, it only lasts for a few seconds then comes back, goes \, back etc, ive siliconed the windscreen along the bottom, has anyone else experienced this and could point me in the right direction as to where the water is coming in, i have to cover the whole cab everynight now just incase it rains. thanks in advance to any info you may have,,

 

[rolopolo]

Remove and either replace the earth strap gearbox to lh chassis, clean up the bolts/fixings and area it sits on, I had a local auto electrical place make a heavy duty ampage cable up,

If not that, your probably looking at wiring loom problems,

Check out my x250 money saving tip thread about the loom near the ecu,

Also as it's an 8 yr old, the waters been getting into everything for years most probably, so checking connections all over the engine bay for corrosion,
I had to have a new loom made up as water had got into loom from ecu to turbo over 4 yrs on a 62 plate, a whole wire had corroded all the way along, over time resistance builds up until things start failing or throwing up bogus as well as genuine faults

 

[rayc]

Have you checked the drain hole in the passenger end of the scuttle? Early ones like your 08 had no drain tube fitted and the water drained onto the ECU area.
Water ingress via the scuttle was a well debated phenomena when the X250 was introduced in 2007 and motorhome forums were full of reports and much agnst.

 

[waynem]

Thanks for your replies, i will have the earth cable checked, i have also added a drain hose from the scuttle panel on both sides, i forgot to mention that aswell as the problems ive stated sometimes the immobilizer cuts in and sometimes takes quite a few times before it starts .

 

[Rigormortis]

I suspect you may have damp ECU connections due to water dripping onto the ECU. Like you I've siliconed the scuttle to the wind screen but water was still getting in via the wiper cut-outs. I dried out the ECU and fabricated a hood for the ECU. No more problems since - not from that area anyway.....

 

[rayc]

a lot of the problem is that water goes behind the scuttle rather than into it. I have successfully sorted three by fitting P trim between the screen and scuttle with a thin trace of sealant on the top. Make sure the clips that hold the scuttle to the bodywork are secure before you start. i have seen some where you can get your fingers up between the screen and scuttle. new clips should be used if the windscreen is replaced but sometimes are not.

 

[corcai]

Don't forget to seal the join in the middle of the scuttle:
Nice pictures here on rolopolo's efforts to solve it:

https://www.fiatforum.com/ducato/354030-ducato-water-ingress-hopefully-fixed.html

another take:
https://www.fiatforum.com/ducato/112468-multijet-130-water-ingress-3.html?p=1263324

If you've had water related electrical problems then you'll almost certainly have have corrosion or you will in the long run. So after solving the leak I would take out the headlamp, remove ecu cover and inspect the loom, connectors and ecu for corrosion and clean out the connectors with a water displacing cleaner like ambersil 40+ or deoxit or wurth contacl ol if there a wurth store near you.

http://ie.farnell.com/ambersil/6130007000/40-lubricant-400ml/dp/1676597

http://www.shopwurthusa.com/wurthst...e/Electronics/Contact-Cleaner-OL/p/0890101101