Flash flooding, water inside - car won't start

Check the 12V auxiliary battery in the back, as many members have reported leaks and standing water in that area.

Nexus 4 ?

 

i think you need to do a more thorough investigation of what might have gotten wet. o/m says not to drive thru standing water, so there might be some critical components that need drying or replacing. hopefully, it didn't reach the battery box, i don't know how well it's protected from water below.

 

since the keyless and dash work, the 12v is probably okay. water that seeped in probably soaked something overnight and finally killed it.

 

If the car was closed up with water inside condensation could be the problem. This will wet areas above where the water is actually standing.
The best advise I can give at this stage is to disconnect the 12 volt battery and dry the car out with a dehumidifier after mopping up as much water as possible.
Leaving the battery connected can and does eat away the printed circuits of ECU's if they have water on them it will also corrode connectors in the wiring.
I have bought several water damaged cars as insurance salvage in the UK and these are the real problem areas. Other problems relate mostly "sometimes months down the line" to wheel bearing problems if water gets through the seals when they are immersed.

John (Britprius)

 

Have you called your insurance? The car should be a total write off.

Sorry for the whole thing. I just heard Pensacola got 2' of water and saw the footage on the news. I live west of you and we got 1'. I thought it was insane. However, I live next to a creek and nothing bad happened.

 

The HV battery is in the rear and I'm afraid it's not waterproof.

You don't want to jump start it in this condition, as it's not safe and can cause more damage.

 

That's totally weird, so it's probably something funky electrically. See if you can retrieve any OBD codes, but it will probably be intermittent until everything dries out.

Nexus 4 ?

 

Did you make sure the battery negative connection to the body is tight and clean? That bolt gets loose, and a bit of water will make for surface rust. Given your description of the door open light going out, it looks like a loose connection got corroded a bit more.

 

1. Check the tightness of the battery cables, especially the negative cable where it bolts to the body.
2. If you don't find a problem there, replace the 12V battery. It might have low capacity due to age, so although it quickly will charge, it won't produce much power and will quickly discharge.

 

Easy and quick way to test Pats hypothesis is to turn on the headlights and while watching the headlight's have someone make the car READY. This after I guess you get another jump or charge. With headlights on see how much they dim down when the car attempts ready. If they dim completely upon READY boot the 12 volt battery is shot.

 

There was a tsb out for the JBL amp under the seat where the turn on circuit would always be on.

 

The unit under the front passenger seat is the JBL audio amplifier. This is not a transmitter. Contact autobeyours.com to see if you can buy a used unit. That probably will be a lot less costly than trying to have a local stereo shop repair the audio amplifier.

 

Sure its repairable unless the output circuit got fried and that's repairable too just would be around $150 plus pull and re-install. Other than it always on did the radio sound ok? if no sound I wouldn't put any money in that 9 year old amp especially since it went swimming.

Most folks abandoned that crappy JBL amp and upgraded the radio to a better head unit. Amps and head units are really cheap now. Spend some time in the electronics/mod thread and see what people have done as far as radio upgrade.

Can't afford that then take it to your local stereo joint and they can throw a replacement amp that will sound better in there for around $400 otd.

 

You may want to check your oil right away and see if there are any beads (of water) on the dipstick. If the water was high enough and got into the ICE somehow the engine may run fine for a while and someday just destroy itself. I had this happen with a Passat. It was a nightmare. I flushed out everything after the flash flood and thought I was in the clear. The car was worth 6300 and the insurance co put 6000 into it to repair it. I was stunned they did not total it. It was never the same again.