We were subject to about 2 straight days of steady rain here in San Antonio last week and about a day after it stopped I had reason to open the hatch to notice a severly wet cargo bed. It was basically sopping wet where the rear end of the deck meets the back of the spare tire compartment (fairly uniform on the entire deck from left to right about 6" from back forward). The vehicle was sitting on a incline facing uphill for most of the rain event, so clearly water was sheding front to back.
After pulling out the deck cover I noticed the tire was wet. After pulling out the tire, I could see a decent level of standing water around the battery. After disassembling the entire battery compartment and removing the battery (not disconnect, just remove from well) I shop-vac-ed about a gallon of water from the battery well. There were several electrical components and unused connecters in this well that were definitely wet.
There is a plastic housing the surrounds the battery that several components could snap into. Specifically, there is this approx. 3"x3"x1" black box that was semi-submerged. Any idea what this is? If it was wet, am I f**ked? (first photo shows its position in the housing, with the empty compartment above it unused on my '01 4.4i, the second is the component itself removed from the housing)
About the same time as the rain was ending, I started getting a "Selfleveling Susp. Inact" warning with blinking red arrows. Not sure if there is a relation. After a long weekend, this warning light still comes on immediately after starting the vehicle. However, I sense no difference in the ride and it seems that the suspension is operating normally
I have a Peake OBD code reader (R5/FCX-3) and attempted to both find the code and hopefully reset this error code. Unfortunately, there is no code to read ("--" received trying to read codes) and I'm not sure that I can reset this error with the meter. I attempted several rememdies from this site including checking fuses, etc. to no avail. I did notice that when I removed fuse 79 there was some noise from the air canisters located behind the spare when I plugged it back in (which I assumed as normal).
First, I need to find out what might have been damaged by this water, and second, what might be the issue with the Suspension message (if there is a connection) and how (if there is a trick) to reset it without going to the stealer.
Lastly, I need to figure out how the water might have gotten in. I think it was long enough between when the damage was being done and me noticing the water that I could not tell from the tailgate or surrounding area from where the water might have infiltrated. I read the posts about sunroof drains being clogged /dislodged and it doesn't seem consistant with that as I had no water in the wells behind the wheels. Can anyone tell me where these drains exit the car and what path they take as it pertains to the rear of the vehicle?
Any other suggestions for the susp. message or what else I should be cautious of from this water?
Thanks in advance.
01-17-2010, 07:21 PM
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