Water in ECU

[FarmyardPants]

Hi folks

I’ve had to park the cerb on the driveway for the last few months and we’ve had biblical rainstorms. Long story short both footwells are flooded and I’ve just poured about 50ml of water out of the ECU.

Prior to investigating, the car did start but it was lumpy and rich, cleared the fault codes and AFRa reappeared as a fault.

The ECU is now drying out in my airing cupboard but just wondering whether anyone else has had this and what the outcome was. Do you think my ECU will recover?

[camel_landy]

Once out of the airing cupboard, give it a good clean and see how it goes.

IMO - If it got to the point of starting and being able to read codes, etc... I think you're in with a chance.

M

[FarmyardPants]

Thanks, yes it doesn’t seem completely FUBAR. Wonder if it’s worth a squirt of wd40.

Needless to say I’ll be remounting it higher up.

[camel_landy]

FarmyardPants said:

Needless to say I’ll be remounting it higher up.

...or make a hole for the water to drain out.

M

[Transit08]

Even better try and find where the water is getting in,easier said than done I know,hope alls well when you get it dried out 👍

[FarmyardPants]

Thanks yes will try and seal it up. Almost certainly the door seals. But not normally an issue as it’s tucked up in the garage. Priority is to get it dried out and running again. Will keep you posted!

[phillpot]

Isn't there something about if your phone gets wet you put it in a bag with rice grains? They absorb humidity or something

[QBee]

I have found that when your phone gets wet you buy a new one.....

[CerbWill]

Chances are it'll be fine. When I was new to Cerb ownership we went to visit some friends for a weekend and on the Sunday morning it started but ran like crap absolute crap. Wouldn't idle at all which made junctions and braking interesting. I drove it home from Gloucestershire to Lincolnshire before discovering that Cerbs can leak and the ECU was indeed a bit wet. It worked for another 5 or six years before getting sold on when I upgraded to an Emerald.

[FarmyardPants]

CerbWill said:

Chances are it'll be fine. When I was new to Cerb ownership we went to visit some friends for a weekend and on the Sunday morning it started but ran like crap absolute crap. Wouldn't idle at all which made junctions and braking interesting. I drove it home from Gloucestershire to Lincolnshire before discovering that Cerbs can leak and the ECU was indeed a bit wet. It worked for another 5 or six years before getting sold on when I upgraded to an Emerald.

That’s the kind of anecdote I was hoping for

[Byker28i]

A list of water ingress points on the front offside on the Cerb.

1. The grommets which the throttle cable, water temperature capillary tube brake servo hose pass through
2. Clutch master cylinder cover (on the inner front wing)
3. Pedal box securing bolts
4. Brake master cylinder reservoir bolts
5. Bolts securing bonnet stay rod bracket
6. Oil pipe union
7. Scuttle panel securing riv-nut
8. Brake block mounted on toe board
9. Grommets in floor pan
10. Bonnet release shaft
11. Windscreen
12. Bolts securing bonnet lock bracket
13. Door seals
14. Steering column bearing
15. Indicator side repeater

And the nearside footwell........

1. Wiring loom grommet or multiplug connector on early cars.
2. Grommet for wiper motor wiring
3. Wiper motor securing bolts
4. Expansion tank bracket securing bolts
5. Heater pipes
6. Battery tray securing bolts
7. MAP sensor pipe (barometric pressure pipe from rear l/h airbox)
8. Rivnut for scuttle panel
9. Windscreen
10. Door seals
11. Grommets in floorpan
12. Indicator side repeater

Source
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=97...

[Jimm218]

Early on in my ownership I discovered that clumsy filling of the coolant would run down into my ECU. It ran like crap for a bit but dried out and recovered fine. I made sure the ECU was positioned so the cables looped beneath it so that any liquid flowing down the cable dripped on the floor not in the ECU.

Fingers crossed for you!

[FarmyardPants]

Well I dried it out and refitted. I velcro'd some little wooden stilts for it to stand on so it wouldn't slip down (I don't think it was resting on the floor last time I was in there). Anyway still getting lambda errors. no.1 started oscillating but #2 reads zero. Probably the ECU has learnt some bad adaptives from the erratic inputs so will reset them. Might wd40 the lambda connector plugs but they are a bugger to get at.
Might also rotate the ECU to be connector side down as suggested, cheers. The car does drive but it's obviously not happy..

[DuncanM]

I have my ecu on the shelf at the top of the footwell cover. I say shelf, it's just the flat bit at the top, and keeps it off the floor nicely.

[FarmyardPants]

Took the car out today and it seems a lot happier and is idling better. Tablet was dead so haven't looked at the readings, but looking good!

[Gazzab]

Thats good news..... Was making me think that there must be a neat solution to hold the ECU in place.....maybe some form of foam with a cut out...?

[Byker28i]

Mines velcroed to the carpet on the wall a few inches up, with some strong plastic type (original) velco. This was how it was when I got it and it's now moved up using all space above

I've not had any water ingress but after everyones comments 15 or so years ago, I moved them all upwards