Disaster strikes

I can only imagine the engineers at Ford figuring out what to do to keep water from entering the cowl vent...

Ernie: "We have a problem Bert. There's water running into the cowl vent!"

Bert: "Put a lip around the vent opening, that'll take care of it."

Later, after a few road tests...

Ernie: "Didn't work Bert. But we made a chimney and sealed it around the vent. Should be good."

Several road tests later, Bert and Ernie happen to meet at a local pub...

Ernie: "So much for that cowl vent idea Bert, water just careens off the windshield, across the lower cowl, right into the top of the vent!"

Bert: "The car's in production! We can't change the design now!!"

Ernie (hastily scribbling his idea on a napkin): "You guys got any of that foam strip with the sticky stuff on one side?"

Bert: "Brilliant!!!!" :D :D :D​

GuinnessBrilliant.jpg
 
Had the same issue with the cowl last spring. I reapplied the foam strip under the cover and took a piece of hd/water res. black duct tape and cleanly covered the forward part of the air intake so the water would be redirected to the sides.

I to was leaking a little water at times. Once it started to leak/effect the fan plug thus making it not work in 30 degree temps is when I had to investigate further.. Thats when I figured out that it was indeed the opening and not the "base" seal that i had resealed years back. It's been leak free since.
 
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I'm glad we got to the bottom of this because my Evergreen has a drippy blower motor. ;)
 
It's the weirdest feeling to see the car and think, hmmm, the kids must've brought my car back. ;)
 
A little update...

The car's been at Jeremi's for the last week and besides some MAJOR work on the rear of the car, Jeremi got the passenger seat track swapped out and working. For the drivers side, the harnesses were salvageable except for the two broken wires on the plug. Those two wires/pins were spliced in from a donor harness, but unfortunately the seat was still dead. Saturday I drove it over to Bill Cuddy's for some fiddly work that Bill is well known for. Pulled the module and this was its condition:

img_0208a.jpg


Ya think that could be the problem? :eek: It's amazing that that kind of corrosion could happen in such a short amount of time.

We installed a good module, put it back in the car and everything worked except for the rear seat bottom tilt. Pulled it back out and Bill took the motors apart and found that the motor for that function was seized up from rust on the inside. Knocked it loose and reinstalled it and everything is now working again.

The only glitch is that the forward/back motor will only run for about a second and then stop. Let go of the control and click it again and it will travel for a second and stop again. What's really weird is that it's very consistent, almost like it's on a timer. Anyone ever run across this? Oh well, I can deal with it for now. I'm just happy to have working seats again!

The carpet didn't come out as well as I'd hoped. The area under the pedals is still stained with that brown stuff which I can only assume is tar. At least it's dry and deodorized. I'll probably just buy an aftermarket carpet, but for now it's fine.

Just have to reinstalled the carpet (hopefully tomorrow) and all should be back to normal. A BIG thanks to Jeremi and Bill for helping get the last of the water damage fixed!
 
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I know we talked. It is not necessarily corrosion. Consider it contamination.That module may be salvageable by thoroughly cleaning it with alcohol and/or contact cleaner. Bill would want to get the good IPA at an electronics store. Of course then you have ot take the time to reinstall it. Good to see the car is getting back in gear.

BTW.....that is alott of water damage.
 
Makes You wonder about what's in your water. :p. Where is THAT seat module located?
 
Glad to hear you've gotten everything pretty much back in order! :) I almost hydrolocked the Buick I'm driving in torrential rains a couple weeks ago. Good reflexes and brakes saved me there. Water can be such a good thing for the human frame, but very EVIL when it intrudes a car!
 
Sorry Mark, that motor sounded and ran fine, otherwise I would have taken it apart too. I'm still not sure it's the motor though. I've seen slow motors not do that switching off thing.

If it still does it after a couple weeks, we can take it apart and check it out at the meet, I do have some more spare parts if we need them.

Those Gen 2 seats are much more fiddly than the gen 1 seats. You have to lift the seat bottom cushion just to get to the module screws.:eek:
 
driller said:
Conductivity.
Click to expand...


Yup. That stuff is totaly conductive and just shorts everything out. That contamination will even "grow" as electricity is pumped through the module. As long as no components get electrically overstressed it may still be OK. We see this all the time at work on customer returned radios. Sometimes you can fix them just by cleaning it.
 
I thought that stuff was just copper oxide?

Can I save it and throw it in my fire?:D
 
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