alkemist

I don't wash my car often.
Yesterday night I went to a very thorough wash, fully automated, took like 10 minutes just inside the brushes. I always liked it because it is very long and thorough.

Now I park outside for the night, today in the morning when I drive off, first I see airmatic warning in blue, then esp, then BAS, and the gears do not show on instrument cluster. So this is what it is telling me right now:

CHECK ENGINE LIGHT IS ON

ESP VISIT WORKSHOP

BAS VISIT WORKSHOP

AIRMATIC ^ VISIT WORKSHOP

ABS LIGHT IS ON

THE GEARS ARE NOT SHOWING UP

VEHICLE IS STUCK IN FIRST GEAR

GEARS/SUMMER/WINTER SETTINGS ARE NOT DISPLAYED ON INSTRUMENT CLUSTER, JUST THE CLOCK


So basically the car is a wreck. Not drivable, I cannot upshift or downshift, only between neutral, park, reverse and drive. Drive is stuck in 1st.



Solutions?

Did I flood my car? Is there a water collector maybe overfilled?
Water in the electrical?
Disconnect the battery?
Limp mode?

I will be checking the silver boxes under the hood for water damage. ekBenz posted that one is responsible for BAS, ESP, APS, the other for AIRMATIC. I tried disconnecting the battery and doing a reset with steering wheel turning, but this did not help.

I hope this can be resolved.


Thank you for youR help everybody,

Alex.

alkemist

I have checked three fuse boxes- 2 under the hood left and right, and one under rear passenger seat - all appear to be completely dry

No visible overflow of meshed drain under the hood. The hole is clean and compartment is empty.

cameraman123

Moral of the story. dont use automatic car washes.

that being said, do a search, youll be amazed at all the similar stories on this forum.

Frank_S500

Hi Alex.

Most likely is that the air intake for the AC is clogged and as result you have flooded the passenger room footwell with water, which created shortcuts to diverse control units.

Dry the car, clean the air collector and pray thats not getting too expensive.

Cheers, Frank

alkemist

Thanks guys, unfortunately I was unable to find a manual car wash in queens.

The check engine light went out so far.
No change in gears.

Frank_S500:

Thank you for the tip.
I want to find the air collector for the AC.
I've been looking through the EPC net diagrams and I cannot locate it.
Would you please point me in the right direction?

Thank you.

Skylaw

Its the area under the hood and just outside the windshield that I gave you the links to. Frank's thought is the same as mine.

hcetzneb

Wait... did you say you were in the brushes for like 10 min.. Wow i think everyones car screamed at once

alkemist

Hello gentlemen,

Yes, the car wash recently opened on Yellowstone and Metropolitan is kind of long. Longer than any other Ive seen before. Just to pass through the brushes probably takes like 7-8 minutes, maybe even more.

Skylaw and Frank,

Are we talking about the water reservour covered with meshed plastic? (Looks like it collects the water which accumulates on the hood)
That is the one I cheched, there was no water there and the drain hole seems clean. I took the meshed plastic cover to make sure.

I thought Frank is talking about something else, sorry.

alkemist

--------------------
UPDATE / FOLLOW UP
---------------------

The car was taken to a shop for a scan, which turned up 2 problems so far:

1) Water damaged electronic transmission control module ( A 030 545 20 32 "EGS52" SIEMENS # 5WP2 0000AR)

2) Communication error between Ignition switch and the computer responsible for all those functions which are giving me errors mentioned above (do not recall its name, but it sits in left engine bay fuse box, all the way to the left, silver box)


So to get it out of limp mode, I have to get and program new transmission computer, then I will work on all other errors.

Transmission control module has obvious signs of water damage on the circuit board (probably there from last owner). I will try to clean it up and see if I can get it to work, but if some capacitor or other is fried, I am doomed.

New one at dealer is over 900 bucks. I need used one fast. Any assistance as to where I should look is really appreciated.

In addition, the mechanic is telling me the new computer will have to be programmed. Can I avoid this somehow? His rates are 75/hr and he is saying programming will cost me around $150. Also, are some part numbers for this module interchangeable. I've seen a couple on Ebay, but none match my part number specifically.

Thanks everyone.

raymond g-

took my brother's 00 E320 for detailing couple of months ago. he was
returning from Kabul and I thought it would be nice to have it clean etc.

when i went to pick up the car, it was in limp mode, and similarly, with
multiple codes. in addition, the display showing gear (123DRP) would
either be R, P or nothing.

aware of the trans control board issues etc....i just stopped driving it
once I got home. I opened all i could to expose the board. hair dryer
pulled out, fan etc. left the air flowing all night.

following day, the codes automatically extinguished, but the gear display
was still erratic. left the panels open and more air time. no longer in
limp mode.

day 2, all returned to normal.

i was lucky

alkemist

Good news guys,

I dried tranny circuit board over night; heated it a bit with my 300w light bulb, removed corrosion due to oxidation with a toothbrush, cleaned the circuits with rubbing alcohol, reinstalled. First think I noticed gear info came back on instrument cluster, once I was driving all Other errors went away naturally. I hope it stays this way :-)

vipercc68

Is the car still working? Did you get a new TCU or a used one?
I have a 2000 S430 in limp mode. Changed the tranny. Same problem. Changed the TCU still same problem. Just trying to gain insight. Thanks!

spaceengineer

Do you got any error messages?

vipercc68

the traction control computer was disconnected