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        General >> Problems >> Water in the main fuse/relay box
        
(Message started by: tipierre on Mar 8^th, 2006, 10:01am)

Title: Water in the main fuse/relay box
Post by tipierre on Mar 8^th, 2006, 10:01am

Hello,

As the rain come came back, I had strange behaviour with the car. The alarm went ON...the are some telltale switch on on the dashborad. I check my fuse bax and there is water inside. The cover has a hole 2cm wide...I protected the fuse box this morning just by putting a plastic bag above the hole but I like to know what should I remove the humidity of the fuse box. Should I dry it with an hair dryer ?
I think it is what what cause the failure with the locking system this time the car started and ran ok.

Title: Re: Water in the main fuse/relay box
Post by mr._floppy on Mar 8^th, 2006, 10:45am

Chances are that damage has been done, copper and water don't mix , you must replace or repair the fuse box cover, do you have the important rainwater cover on the passenger side too ?

Title: Re: Water in the main fuse/relay box
Post by tipierre on Mar 8^th, 2006, 11:00am

No problem with my battery it is covered

Title: Re: Water in the main fuse/relay box
Post by Octavian_P on Mar 9^th, 2006, 5:46pm

When i bought my scorp, the main fusebox had something like half of inch full of dry mud.....wasn't nice to see, took a full day to clean without getting water inside...drain holes where full of dirt also. So check thoes also, because water could also ingress from the down side of the box (beside the hole in in you case).

Cheers

Title: Re: Water in the main fuse/relay box
Post by shaun on Mar 9^th, 2006, 9:38pm

water is a pain for scorpios ive rebuilt 2 fuse boxes for frends water allways sits on leavel 5 in the fuse box . have a go at rebuilding one its not that bad 5 hours the last one took me .no more probs after,,, :P

Title: Re: Water in the main fuse/relay box
Post by Octavian_P on Mar 9^th, 2006, 9:44pm

As a countermeasure i have added something like 20 tea-size bags of silica gel in each fuse box. Now they are nice and dry ;)

Title: Re: Water in the main fuse/relay box
Post by Malcolm B on Mar 10^th, 2006, 7:21pm

I read this as I was wondering why my 24v is doing strange electrical things - like discharging the battery overnight and the dash warning lights and fuel indicator etc staying on when I turn the ignition off. is this a fuse box symptom ? My boxes look very dry - always keep them clear of leaves etc. Which box woudl have the problem ?

Any advice welcomed

Title: Re: Water in the main fuse/relay box
Post by locky on Mar 10^th, 2006, 7:40pm

Sounds like classic symptoms. Is the battery cover fitted. Usually the main fuse box that goes, next to the wiper motor.

The boxes may look dry from the top, but it's underneath that corroded.

Plenty of posts about this topic on here, use "search"

hth

Title: Re: Water in the main fuse/relay box
Post by solarpanel on Mar 10^th, 2006, 8:20pm

malcolm b my 24v did that turned out to be the wireing harness that runs down by the servo and along the chassis leg,the covering on the wires had fell to bits,plus the harness was warm to touch,check it asap
solarpanel

Title: Re: Water in the main fuse/relay box
Post by Malcolm B on Mar 10^th, 2006, 8:41pm

Thanks for the advice. I know I have the "bad" wiring harness. I repaired the front part in front of the radiator 3 years ago and all has been well since - 'till now ! actually having found it - that was not a great expense.

Hopefully this is repairable also.

I do squirt WD40 under the fuse boxes and keep their drain holes clear. the cover has always been in place. Is there a test for fuse boxes ?

Title: Re: Water in the main fuse/relay box
Post by Kenboy on Mar 11^th, 2006, 9:21am

Hi Malcolm if you have time I have a spare fuse box that you could, try pm me.

Regards Kenboy

Title: Re: Water in the main fuse/relay box
Post by fordcos on Mar 13^th, 2006, 3:35pm

how do you get the main fuse box off the car???

Title: Re: Water in the main fuse/relay box
Post by sector-9 on Mar 19^th, 2006, 5:41pm

REPLY TO: MALCOLM B

Before you go messing with the main fusebox try pulling out a few relays or fuses to help isolate the fault.

Until yesterday my diesel exec had an intermittent fault where the handbrake and oil pressure lights would glow dimly when the ignition was turned off. Also the glowplugs wouldn't work. It didn't happen all the time but was disconcerting! More worryingly, the cooling fans never worked, no matter how hot the engine, and even with the air-con running.

Earlier in the week I found that removing either the fuse or the relay for the cooling fans cured the fault. Yesterday I was gently pulling the loom where it passes in front of the radiator (to get some more slack in the engine bay) and it sparked and smoked!!! :o Needless to say I quickly disconnected the battery and then cut back the insulation on the loom. The main feed to the fan relay had cracked in several places and some of the smaller cables were just a molten mess.

Still, at least it's an easy job to strip back enough insulation until you find undamaged cables and then cut out the damaged section and replace, and at last I've gotten to the bottom of the intermittent fault - cooling fan now runs ok (the other is broken) and no more problems with dash lights and glowplugs. :)

Incidentally, I've removed and dismantled my battery fuse box (called the aux. fuse box in the owner's manual) - can't see how it would get wet inside (with or without the battery cover fitted) as it has foam rubber seals between the bottom, middle and top - should only be a problem if the lid isn't clipped down tightly following removal ???

Darren

Title: Re: Water in the main fuse/relay box
Post by Malcolm B on Mar 24^th, 2006, 10:33pm

reply to Sector 9.

Many thanks for that. Your message struck a chord as I had replaced the permanent +ve feed for the fans a year ago. i was away this week so a friendly auto elec has replaced the fuse box kindly supplied by Kenboy but I also asked him to look at that loom area and sure enough, close by where it was repaired 3 years ago ( gear box jumping / OD light etc) - yet more dodgy looking stuff. So he was replacing the whole front section.
Because of the previous repair I always glance at this when the bonnet is open - but always looks dry. How does the water get in there ? ( drivers side )
many thanks
Malcolm