Damn french electrics...

Scouse Monkey · 03-29-2005, 08:28 PM

damn damn damn damn damn!

Just got back from my friends flat after driving home int he ****ing rain and i stop for milk at the 24hr petrol station and look at my car and think "oh **** i really should put my rhs wheel arch liner back in" (removed when i was rebuilding the car). Anyway, I get back home and take my key out of the ignition and the engine stays running for a few seconds and then dies out along witht he lights on the dash. "hmmm thats odd" i think.

Next thing I notice the oil pressure, handbrake and low fuel lights (am very low on petrol) are on very dim and are getting brighter. Then the imobiliser keypad lights up light a Xmas tree and then goes out and then keeps lighting up and going off. So ip put the key in and the engine starts. Turn it off and it does the same dying out after a few seconds.

So i sit there for a few minutes and watch the imobiliser going on and off and eventually get out and have a look in the bonnet for wet patches. Nothing there. Then i look at the back of the wheel arch and see the cable loom passes through the firewall to the dash fromt he engine bay in my wheelarch were the liner is missing - damn! Hopefully my electrics whill have dried out tomorrow and my battery wont have gone flat.

Next job - get the bloody arch liner back in and hopefully i won't have any more problems!

Anyone know how robust car electrics are to a bit of water???? french electrics are flakey at the best of times so i just hope they recover ok.

lgbr · 03-29-2005, 09:12 PM

why dont you disconnect your battery? I wouldn't leave it connected, as this could damage some stuff. Automotive electronics are very very water resistant (key word, resistant). They should work ok once everything is dried, but then again we don't have French engineering here, and probably for a reason.

Gobby · 03-30-2005, 02:12 AM

Well water wrecked my wiper motor wiring and motor - stupid french design. The motor was sat where the water washed away for the windscreen, loads of leaves had collected and it eventually became a little lake inside the engine bay with the motor fully submerged. the wiper motor stopped working, now fixed though :-) but only a visit to the local scrap yard.

Scouse Monkey · 03-30-2005, 05:32 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by lgbr

why dont you disconnect your battery? I wouldn't leave it connected, as this could damage some stuff. Automotive electronics are very very water resistant (key word, resistant). They should work ok once everything is dried, but then again we don't have French engineering here, and probably for a reason.

Well that was my initial thoughtas but at 3am i really couldnt be bothered! Just off to see if the damn car works.....

Scouse Monkey · 03-30-2005, 06:41 AM

now the latest....So i go out and the dahs is lit up like the key is in. Try to start the engine - wont fire. type in the code - engine works - so at least the immobiliser has activated int he night.

Take the key out - engine still runs. Disconnect the battery - engine still runs.

Turn on the lights - engine stutters then carries on. Fuill beam - stutters again, fog lights - fianlly engine stalls.

So now the battery is disconnected and the i am waiting for it to dry out - fingers crossed!

2Fast · 03-31-2005, 01:20 PM

I know exactly what you are going through, it's called British weather.
I had a problem with my car cutting out in the rain, turned out to be a split seal on the fuel pump relay connection.
My last car was a Mondeo, it would kill batteries when it got too wet.
I also had a Capri with aftermarket electric windows, that was the funniest one, it was OK in the rain but every time I washed it, the drivers window would wind down.
Your best bet is to blast the wiring with a hairdrier and spray any connector blocks with WD40.

Scouse Monkey · 03-31-2005, 01:59 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by 2FastMR2

I know exactly what you are going through, it's called British weather.
I had a problem with my car cutting out in the rain, turned out to be a split seal on the fuel pump relay connection.
My last car was a Mondeo, it would kill batteries when it got too wet.
I also had a Capri with aftermarket electric windows, that was the funniest one, it was OK in the rain but every time I washed it, the drivers window would wind down.
Your best bet is to blast the wiring with a hairdrier and spray any connector blocks with WD40.

yeah i just can't be arsed with the damn thing anymore!!! been looking for a new car on autotrader but cant really find anything i like

2Fast · 03-31-2005, 02:36 PM

You want to get yourself a something like a Civic, reliable little motors that have the boy racers oohhing and ahhhing.

Scouse Monkey · 03-31-2005, 02:43 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by 2FastMR2

You want to get yourself a something like a Civic, reliable little motors that have the boy racers oohhing and ahhhing.

Boy racers oohhing and ahhhing is exactly what i dont want.

For performance i am thinking Scooby WRX (possibly estate for when i get a dog) or for soemthing cheaper a GTI-6 (i know another Pug but they look nice)

Luxury i was thinking old merc C-class with a kompressor. I would get a Golf but they are just so damn common and i dont like the mk4 now the new one is out.

unfortunately a house comes before a car and as i am not sure if i am going to be renting for a long i have to wait until i know. I am tempted to buy a place outside bristol and drive in everyday but parking around uni is a knightmare!

2Fast · 03-31-2005, 02:49 PM

I'm not sure what a 306 modded dash will look like in any of those motors,

i hope youv'e got a replacement for when you sell it.

Scouse Monkey · 03-31-2005, 02:52 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by 2FastMR2

I'm not sure what a 306 modded dash will look like in any of those motors,

i hope youv'e got a replacement for when you sell it.

Oh god yeah. I have so many pug spares. List so far...
Whole centre dash including aircon control electronics and switches
Catalytic converter
Centre exhaust
Pug backbox
set of wheels
2 spare wishbones
spare antirollbar
spare balljoints
spare RHS macpherson strut
Spare electric wing mirrors (i live in bristol)

jcdillin · 03-31-2005, 03:26 PM

dumb question, what is uni?

lgbr · 03-31-2005, 03:31 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by jcdillin

dumb question, what is uni?

Short for university. In German and similar languages it's an actual word.

Caitlin · 03-31-2005, 03:54 PM

that's true, but it really means "singular" like uni-cycle - one wheel
universe means everything really - i guess a university is supposed to contain all the knowledge or something. americans call it "college", right?

scouse - if you get shot of the car - dibs on some of that spare crap!

Scouse Monkey · 03-31-2005, 04:01 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Caitlin

t
scouse - if you get shot of the car - dibs on some of that spare crap!

you're on!

But i was thinking about mounting the spare exahust on the RHS! hehe only joshin! i saw a stoopid honda civic up in Ellesmere Port with a 5" pipe on each side - only one had any fumes coming out of it! what a loser!

but not as bad as the mini cooper going around on Vals Day - as well as the twin centre exit it had an extra pipe on each side about a foot either side of the centre exit, it had big chome alloys and tribal style graphics all over it - and it was being driven by a 30 odd year old guy who was alsmost bald. He was ragging it round and i have never seen him again - must have been looking for a Girlfriend around Clifton (the posh part of bristol)

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