seant7326

Sorry for the length of this, but I have some crazy stuff going on...

It's been raining a lot where I live lately, and the other day I noticed water pouring in from somewhere up under the glove box/above the front passenger foot area. I don't know how or why water is getting in through there, but it has been enough to pool up, run under the passenger seat and soak through the rear passenger carpeting that's just in front of the fuse box under the right rear seat. I dried as much up with a towel as I could and thought it would be fine. On the way home I started getting 7-8 error light malfunctions; L/R brake lights, L/R turn signals, L/R license plate lights, center brake light, then all of my interior lights all came on at once and I got a red "trunk open" message with beeping (which the trunk was not open), and then every light on the back of the car started flickering - like strobe lights - and I heard a really fast clicking noise from the backseat area. The gas gauge also quit working - the needle just dropped down below "E" and the "Miles Remaining" readout just read "_ _ _ _". When I got home I locked the car as usual, but the center brake light and one of the reverse lights wouldn't shut off. About 90 minutes later the alarm started going off, so I looked up the alarm system fuse numbers on my chart (f-51 and f-77 I believe). I pulled f-51 out (there was no fuse in the f-77 slot). I did notice that the area in and around the right rear pass. seat fuse box had gotten wet from all the water, so I'm assuming this is the cause of all the lighting chaos. I thought pulling this fuse would fix the alarm problem, but 30-45 minutes later it went off again. I read somewhere else that under the front passenger floorboard is the main alarm control, so I removed the false panel and disconnected whatever black box thing was attached to the back of that panel. The site I got that info from said there would be 2 units on that panel, but mine only had one. Not sure if it was the alarm or something else - but I disconnected it and the car still drove, and as of right now (30 minutes later) the alarm hasn't gone off.....yet.

So here are my questions;

1. What would cause my passenger side to flood from underneath/behind the glove box?

2. If the water getting into the fuse area is what caused all the crazy lighting problems, will I just need a new fuse box for under the right rear seat, and what kind of replacement cost would that range in? Or would my whole wiring system be FUBAR?

3. Is what I disconnected under the passenger floorboard the main alarm disconnect?

Thanks for any help with this mess.

Skylaw

Ohhhh, Boy! This one is a classic, and it is discussed thoroughly at http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w220...tart-here.html in post #4, the section under "Leaks," titled "Water in Car." The cause is a plugged drain hole/valve in the air intake plenum for the heater/air conditioner, in front of the passenger side windshield.

There is a possibility that the rear SAM (it's not just a fuse box) is fried and needs to be replaced - around $800. With LUCK, perhaps you can dry it out. DON"T TRY TO USE IT. There was a class action settlement - but you may be past the deadline to file a "future claim." There is a link to the terms of the class action settlement.

I don't know what you disconnected - the best thing to do is dry things out and reconnect.

This is a nasty problem. Good luck with it.

vmystikilv

im in Atlanta too, the rain has been crazy here. I just put S500 in the garage and took the ML out cause im terrified of that happening to me.

seant7326

Thanks for the response, I've been working on this all day. Took everything out and dried the SAM and it's compartment as best I could, but the carpet and I'm sure many crevices under the carpet are still waterlogged so I'm not optimistic, but I have AAA coming out to give me a jump and see what happens...

seant7326

Well none of that fixed anything, in fact it revealed more problems... When the AAA guy accessed the battery compartment it was half-filled with water as well. I don't believe this water was from the passenger side flood because I looked under the back seat and there doesn't appear to be any openings for it to flow any further back. I couldn't find any info on a flooded battery compartment, so does anyone have a possible source of the water? Not long ago the amplifier compartment in the trunk (opposite the battery compartment) flooded and burned out the amp, and that was due to one of the rubber plugs along the trunk lining being out, but I checked the plugs on the battery side and they are all intact, so it must be from somewhere else.

At this point I'm almost ready to cut my losses and get rid of this money pit - after just replacing the entire air suspension with the Arnott system, fixing the dead instrument cluster, replacing the flooded amplifier, rebuilding the transmission, and there's still other things going wrong that I'm not sure of the cause of yet.

seant7326

I wouldn't worry, for such a nightmare result, the preventative measure is mind-numbingly simple - just open the hood and pull off the plastic grate under the passenger's windshield wiper, and if there's anything in the bottom of the gallon or so reservoir just push it out through the bottom or pull it out. 30 measly seconds would've saved me and seemingly countless others from a disastrous and expensive problem.

tusabes

If you have comprehensive coverage on your auto insurance file a claim . And stop removing the waters so they can see its water damage , which is covered under comprehensive

This can be a $5,000+ repair job depending how many electronics are damaged
At a minimum the carpets and seats need to come out

ibeforreal

Sorry to hear about all of your problems Seant. One more thing, after you clean out the grate under the windshield, just pour some water in it and if it is clear you should see the water come out on the ground.

seant7326

Thanks, I did that as soon as I found out about the blockage issue. I had about 2 inches of leaves and junk plugging up the drain, as soon as I pushed it through all the water poured right out. Now I just need to find a competent reasonable repair shop...until then it's a compact Kia from Hertz for the bargain price of $1000/month for me.

corkshoppe

if you are a diy'er you can find good parts and sams and try doing it youe self. there are a lot of good used parts places in atl.

tusabes

No comprehensive auto insurance ??

Frankslastbenz

I had the same problem with my car. It turned out to be the drain line under the hood, passenger side near the windshield. There is a large screened are for the cabin air filter that is cloged with debris. Once it over fills with water it drains inside the car.


It's been raining a lot where I live lately, and the other day I noticed water pouring in from somewhere up under the glove box/above the front passenger foot area. I don't know how or why water is getting in through there, but it has been enough to pool up, run under the passenger seat and soak through the rear passenger carpeting that's just in front of the fuse box under the right rear seat. I dried as much up with a towel as I could and thought it would be fine. On the way home I started getting 7-8 error light malfunctions; L/R brake lights, L/R turn signals, L/R license plate lights, center brake light, then all of my interior lights all came on at once and I got a red "trunk open" message with beeping (which the trunk was not open), and then every light on the back of the car started flickering - like strobe lights - and I heard a really fast clicking noise from the backseat area. The gas gauge also quit working - the needle just dropped down below "E" and the "Miles Remaining" readout just read "_ _ _ _". When I got home I locked the car as usual, but the center brake light and one of the reverse lights wouldn't shut off. About 90 minutes later the alarm started going off, so I looked up the alarm system fuse numbers on my chart (f-51 and f-77 I believe). I pulled f-51 out (there was no fuse in the f-77 slot). I did notice that the area in and around the right rear pass. seat fuse box had gotten wet from all the water, so I'm assuming this is the cause of all the lighting chaos. I thought pulling this fuse would fix the alarm problem, but 30-45 minutes later it went off again. I read somewhere else that under the front passenger floorboard is the main alarm control, so I removed the false panel and disconnected whatever black box thing was attached to the back of that panel. The site I got that info from said there would be 2 units on that panel, but mine only had one. Not sure if it was the alarm or something else - but I disconnected it and the car still drove, and as of right now (30 minutes later) the alarm hasn't gone off.....yet.

So here are my questions;

1. What would cause my passenger side to flood from underneath/behind the glove box?

2. If the water getting into the fuse area is what caused all the crazy lighting problems, will I just need a new fuse box for under the right rear seat, and what kind of replacement cost would that range in? Or would my whole wiring system be FUBAR?

3. Is what I disconnected under the passenger floorboard the main alarm disconnect?

Thanks for any help with this mess.[/QUOTE]

ibeforreal

First, it might be too late now but if you have comprehensive insurance on your car it might be covered. Take lots of pictures if possible. I would even take pictures of the malfunction lights on the dash.

To answer your other questions:

1) Your reed valve got clogged (the grate looking thing near the front of the passenger side windshield) and the water had no other place to go. Terrible design but it is what it is.

2) Most likely water got into your rear Signal Evaluation and Actuation Module (SAM) unit. Once the electronics got wet things went haywire. You will need to pull the carpet all the way up to get down to the bare metal. It is most likely still wet under there. Get a hair dryer and try to dry it as much as you can. You might need to replace the unit because eventually the parts will rust.

3)Not sure exactly what you disconnected. Pictures might help.