Member Since: 03 Jun 2014
Location: Prudhoe
Posts: 847
Flooding
Has anyone had any experience of faults after leaving the sunroof open overnight when there just happened to be a storm that night?
24th Jun 2023 7:30 pm
loanrangie
Member Since: 18 Jun 2017
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 612
not faults as such but gear shifter had D illuminated regardless of gear selected and command shift didn't work.
25th Jun 2023 10:26 am
KPTV8
Member Since: 05 Feb 2012
Location: Itinerant !! (Scotland/Donegal)
Posts: 142
Hi )
Sorry to say this is likely to be beginning of LONG BAD troubles.
Wish I had time to write more - but having suffered BADLY from long-term effects of water ingress I'd strongly recommend this :-
1. Disconnect the battery now.
2. Get the front (and ideally rear) carpets and THICK underfelt up, at least at the edges beside the sills/rockers.
3. If there is water in the low-spots on the steel floor then either soak it up, or drill little (3mm ?) holes in the steel floorpan to drain. BE VERY CAREFUL not to let the drill touch anything BELOW those holes, only let it pierce into the gap directly below the floorpan.
4. Leave the car to air and dry out, might take days. If you can get into a garage then open all windows provided the roof doesn't leak. This being summer then you have a much better chance of salvaging the car's electronics than in winter.
5. Leave the battery disconnected until the floor pans are completely dry. When you THINK they are dry then reconnect and drive the car offside wheels up onto a kerb so any unseen water will become visible on LHS of passenger footwell. If any water remains then repeat above. Then do same with nearside wheels and driver's footwell.
6. Basically, if water remains in the footwells and power remains active in the car, then several electrical items down there will undergo electrolysis which (a) grows corroded and conducting crystals (b) drains the battery and (c) leads to long-term malfunction of a WIDE RANGE of electronic systems which depend on the eroded items behaving as-built and kept dry. The DIVERSITY, PERSISTENCE and LONGEVITY of side-effects of wet footwells is extaordinary !!
As you'll guess I've had these hassles BIGTIME and it's one of the key weaknesses of these Discos - the design decisions to place vulnerable electronic and electrical items in footwells, smothered in foam soundproofing which retains moisture perfectly.
I'll add that I had a loom fire in a Vauxhall Cavalier which had a vulnerable connecting-block in the driver's footwell, this had been soaked following a defective windscreen replacement, the conductive corroded buildup shorted part of the loom which then melted and the car was only saved from 100% conflagration 'cos a fellow engineer spotted smoke and pulled the battery clamps. It was an insurance write-off (fleet car), I bought the salvage for £3k (66k miles), rewired the damaged runs and it ran for years !!!
P.S. - If you HAVE to drive the car, then disconnect the battery as often and as long as you can when stationary.
P.P.S. - Having drilled the floorpan you'll have lost SOME wading capability - you can plug those holes later using STEEL or PLASTIC screws and some mastic-type sealant. I'm tempted to pre-drill floorpans on my latest D4 to pre-empt water buildup ........
P.P.P.S. - When I drove Series LRs you could HOSE THEM DOWN INSIDE and nothing would fail - Aaahhhhh !!!!
25th Jun 2023 11:28 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 72824
Sounds like a job for WBAC.
25th Jun 2023 11:32 am
darrind
Member Since: 04 Jul 2008
Location: In A World of My Own!
Posts: 2863
Did the rain pour into the car or did the sunroof drains do their job? If they are lead and the roof was only tilted up it shouldn’t be an issue. Is there water inside the car?Must stop buying shiny toys....
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 72824
Might be I’m getting a little lazy in my old age.
25th Jun 2023 6:32 pm
G7jtk
Member Since: 03 Jun 2014
Location: Prudhoe
Posts: 847
darrind wrote:
Did the rain pour into the car or did the sunroof drains do their job? If they are lead and the roof was only tilted up it shouldn’t be an issue. Is there water inside the car?
The sunroof was left open
25th Jun 2023 7:00 pm
KPTV8
Member Since: 05 Feb 2012
Location: Itinerant !! (Scotland/Donegal)
Posts: 142
Aye, so an open sunroof leaves you vulnerable to wet footwells, and the risk is then DOUBLED in the case of the MANY D3s which were built with defective sunroof drain hose lower elbow joints. Over time, these would disintegrate and dump water (invisibly and regardless of sunroof open or closed) into the footwells instead of out into the wheel arches and under the B pillars.
The only REAL protection is to buy a Disco with NO sunroof !! Or you can pull the sunroof fuse and seal the glass perimeter with some form of mastic I guess.
The whole thing is a design mess, and has blighted two of my three otherwise excellent D3s.
Guess I should go scan the handbook - I recall mention of a remote locking option which will trigger windows to close, and maybe this includes sunroof ?
Cheers ))
25th Jun 2023 7:55 pm
G7jtk
Member Since: 03 Jun 2014
Location: Prudhoe
Posts: 847
Really. That would be a useful feature. Bit late now though.
25th Jun 2023 8:35 pm
G7jtk
Member Since: 03 Jun 2014
Location: Prudhoe
Posts: 847
I had a phone call this evening. Apparently it’s fixed.
The special programs switch was replaced and gear lever plug was wet and corroded. This must have been a problem coming as it can’t have corroded that quickly.
I’ll pick it up tomorrow.
27th Jun 2023 7:50 pm
BradC
Member Since: 29 Apr 2019
Location: Perth
Posts: 118
Electrolysis can cause catastrophic corrosion in a matter of minutes.
28th Jun 2023 12:20 pm
Motolab
Member Since: 18 Oct 2019
Location: Sleen
Posts: 1820
Re: Flooding
G7jtk wrote:
Has anyone had any experience of faults after leaving the sunroof open overnight when there just happened to be a storm that night?
I am sorry for you to read this…
As we all know, such a incident will happen, someday, sometime, the first product i buy when a new to me motor arrives at our home is : sika 291 (and close it "for ever")
Click image to enlarge
Always the best money spent (in time) on a modern motor..with all those electrics in the floor..
Good luck!
edit: imageBest regards
Harold
Always looking for Pre '55's & Pre war British Motorcycles! knowing or having one for sale? PM please. I visit the UK 6 times a year
Ps. I edit my texts quite often, english is not my native language, so I will edit My “typo’s” etc.
Last edited by Motolab on 29th Jun 2023 9:15 am. Edited 1 time in total
28th Jun 2023 2:16 pm
G7jtk
Member Since: 03 Jun 2014
Location: Prudhoe
Posts: 847
To finish off heart are a couple of pictures of the damaged parts. Note the corrosion in the gear selector connector. That didn’t appear in a week. Bullet dodged I think.
28th Jun 2023 9:17 pm
G7jtk
Member Since: 03 Jun 2014
Location: Prudhoe
Posts: 847
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