[V8] Electrical Problems....and Water Leaks

[urq]

... let me begin by saying ... Gunter, I know your pain!  My story is a
little different, but very similar, and started when the windshield
effectively came loose from the body of the car.  I too had a whole bunch of
water on the passenger's side footwell, right where most of the relays sit.
I used to think that locating the relay box under the passenger's footwell
was clever ... not so sure right now!  I suppose there is no perfectly safe
location for this sort of thing in a motor vehicle!

You will probably find that the critical functions work ... that is because
they are deliberately designed to require the minimum of functionality ...
i.e. they tend not to be powered by load reduction relays and such.  I still
haven't had time to fully sort out my car's ills, but I've got enough
working so that I don't worry about driving the car.  The one key component
that got my car to the usable state it is now in was restoring the load
reduction relay ... I don't remember which position it is in, but it has a
grey cover and is mounted in the fuse/relay panel behind the front
passenger's footwell.  This may be the source for some of the peripherals
acting poorly in your car, as this circuit provides power for most auxiliary
circuits in the car.  For example, my turn signals and headlights were not
working reliably before fixing the relay.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you're probably going to have to go
through the electrical system fairly thoroughly to get all the gremlins out.
The water has probably caused a good bit of oxidation, even in areas that
were not subjected to liquid water.  Get a copy of the wiring diagram and
find out where all the grounds are ... this will likely give good results.
I know that this will be something I will need to do ... the illumination
for the console switches goes out when the headlights are turned on ... a
classic symptom of ground problems.  When you have the wiring diagram, find
the areas that are and aren't working right and look for common threads ...
this is likely to be the next place you will make the biggest gains.  The
wiring diagram will be a big help in figuring out what circuits may be
related.  In the end you will probably have to trace down each remaining
fault individually ...

Hey, if you find any other big hitters in your investigation, please pass
them along ... I still need to get my car working too.  I am hoping to have
some time to do this tomorrow.  Here are the failures I can think of in my
car off the top of my head ...

o climate control ... works, but always resets to "NORM" mode when the key
is turned off and back on ... and the display blanks when the headlights
turned on.
o diagnostic connectors ... ProDiag can't connect to the ECU ... haven't
tried flash codes for the ECU and IC ...
o trip computer/diagnostic display in instrument cluster non-functional
o interior lights never come on
o stereo does not power on

... now that I'm thinking about it I think I'll curl up with the diagram now
and put a game plan together ...

Good luck Gunter!
Steve B
San Jose, Kaleefohnia (USA)

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Electrical Gremlins.............and water leaks..........