Sunroof leaked and caused water damage
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Newbie
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 3
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2009 C350
Sunroof leaked and caused water damage
Hi Folks.. i had not driven my car for a couple of weeks and today when i opened the car i noticed 4-5 inches of standing water on the foot well area behind the driver seat and also in the driver foot well area. The passenger side and behind it looked dry. The car is now at my local Indy garage.. they are going to vacuum out the water, remove the seats, center console etc so that all the carpeting and insulation can be removed and dried. When i drove the car to the garage (5 mins away) i started getting ABS warnings, side airbag warnings and some other warnings... i assume it was all because of the water.
1.Can someone advise what electronic components are located on the floor of the driver side ? I hope once everything dries up the electronics start to function but would like to know modules may be at risk of damage or future corrosion that i have to start worrying about. Any suggestions on how to prevent future corrosion on the electrical/electronic component would be appreciated.
2. Any tips for dealing with insurance. My local insurance agents feels that this could be covered under my "comprehensive" portion of the auto insurance. An inspector is expected to look at the car in the next few weeks. If he says it is covered i would like to try and have them to replace all the electronic modules that were beneath the seat and got wet, even if they seem to work after drying. I read that these may start to show problems later once corrosion starts to set in them.
3. If the electronic components do get replaced .. would you recommend getting rid of the car to avoid future headache ? Its a 2009 C350 with 101k miles. The car runs fine. Cosmetically not in very good shape though. Had the coils and spark plugs replaced last year. Due for a transmission fluid service as well. Not sure if i will get more than $6000 for it so would love to hear if its worth keeping the car after getting it back or should i get rid of it if its likely to have more problems in the future due to this water damage.
Thanks for your advise.
*** update 07/01
got a call from the garage today. They advised that there was no mold and they were able to complete the cleaning and drying. They said the only electronic component that needed to be replaced is the Yaw sensor. They have dried all the other electronics and put dielectric grease on all the contact points. They also cleaned out the sunroof drains that were clogged and caused this mess to begin with. The total cost for all this is around $2700. The Insurance customer service rep advised that the agent cannot cannot do an inspection till likely end of the week by which time the repairs will be complete.. so she advised that i should go ahead submit the invoices, pictures etc so inspector can review for reimbursementment.
the garage advised that while the car doesnt show any other electronic problems now, it could start showing other problems at anytime in the future due to the water damage and these will likely be tricky to diagnose. So they think it might not be a bad idea to sell off the car while its functioning now. would love to get opinions on this.... thanks !
1.Can someone advise what electronic components are located on the floor of the driver side ? I hope once everything dries up the electronics start to function but would like to know modules may be at risk of damage or future corrosion that i have to start worrying about. Any suggestions on how to prevent future corrosion on the electrical/electronic component would be appreciated.
2. Any tips for dealing with insurance. My local insurance agents feels that this could be covered under my "comprehensive" portion of the auto insurance. An inspector is expected to look at the car in the next few weeks. If he says it is covered i would like to try and have them to replace all the electronic modules that were beneath the seat and got wet, even if they seem to work after drying. I read that these may start to show problems later once corrosion starts to set in them.
3. If the electronic components do get replaced .. would you recommend getting rid of the car to avoid future headache ? Its a 2009 C350 with 101k miles. The car runs fine. Cosmetically not in very good shape though. Had the coils and spark plugs replaced last year. Due for a transmission fluid service as well. Not sure if i will get more than $6000 for it so would love to hear if its worth keeping the car after getting it back or should i get rid of it if its likely to have more problems in the future due to this water damage.
Thanks for your advise.
*** update 07/01
got a call from the garage today. They advised that there was no mold and they were able to complete the cleaning and drying. They said the only electronic component that needed to be replaced is the Yaw sensor. They have dried all the other electronics and put dielectric grease on all the contact points. They also cleaned out the sunroof drains that were clogged and caused this mess to begin with. The total cost for all this is around $2700. The Insurance customer service rep advised that the agent cannot cannot do an inspection till likely end of the week by which time the repairs will be complete.. so she advised that i should go ahead submit the invoices, pictures etc so inspector can review for reimbursementment.
the garage advised that while the car doesnt show any other electronic problems now, it could start showing other problems at anytime in the future due to the water damage and these will likely be tricky to diagnose. So they think it might not be a bad idea to sell off the car while its functioning now. would love to get opinions on this.... thanks !
Last edited by Rb7; Jul 1, 2019 at 07:14 PM.
Thread Starter
Newbie
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
2009 C350
Thanks.. i updated original post with additional information on the damage report. It seems i got a bit lucky.. only Yaw sensor damaged so far. Guess the risk is that other things may start to fail in time due to corrosion etc.
