Originally Posted by fastfunfor2
I just caught up on the details of this repair, and it sounds as though you have come along well. I just want to add my two cents regarding your upcoming steps.
As you give your central locking pump a good drying out, take a few minutes and clean up the contacts inside the unit that are opened and closed by the vaccuum diaphram. (See the pictures in the headlight headaches thread referred to earlier) They are so small I used an exacto knife to scratch at them because nothing else would fit. These contacts switch off the electric vaccuum pump at the end of the locking sequence. If they are dirty, the electric motor will run on needlessly and overheat. It is not ventilated, so the heat builds up fast. In our situation the problem did not exist until after the other repairs were done, so I had to go back into the module and sort it out. Thats a lot of extra effort you can avoid if you will just give them a good preventative cleaning while you have it apart.
As to the question of one or two modules, there are definitely two in the trunk. The central locking pump is seems most prone to water intrusion, as it sits lower in the puddle. The small silver box screwed to the rear frame rail is the alarm control module. Ours had water damage to the pins but no damage to the inside.
I understand that the 5 body control modules need to communicate with each other to work properly, so I think disconnecting any one of them is not going to be a solution.
Thanks MMZ for the pictures of your wing panel gasket. I wonder what the failure rate of this gasket is. Yours and mine both look like a manufacturing flaw.
Jeff,
It was a real great pleasure speaking to you on the phone the other day. Withouth a doubt, you certainly have great insight!
So its been about a week, the foam casing has completely tried, and its given enough time for me to take the info you had given me about cleaning the pin contacts, I used a pin, some sandpaper, vinegar and a good brush along with a soft cloth to clean everything, it did wonders, so much that you cannot even tell there were ever burned marks.
Then inside the vehicle, I cleaned the white connector where the burn marks were for the module with a little bit of vinegar and a light brush, cleaned right up and looks great. I hooked up the locking control module and then pressed the lock button on the remote, the locks did lock perfectly, however, this time I didn't notice the alarm light blink by the tow button in the cabin, and I also noticed that the interior light would stay on. However, on a good note I didn't notice the fog lights or tail lights staying on like the last time I did take it into the dealer.
After I notated that, I just disconnected the Locking Control Module again...
I didn't even leave it on long enough to see if the alarm would go bonkers again or not.
So my question here is, should I have left it on longer to see if it would eventually shut the interior light off, or possibly activate the alarm? or shouldn't it have been more "instant", once everything was cleaned up, shouldn't the interior lights shut off and alarm activation light blink once I activated the system? the locks did unlock and lock perfect, no problems there.
Right now I'm deciding if I should hook up the module again for like 15 minutes and just arm the system and see how things operate, if the alarm starts to go nutty again or the fog lights start turning on, I'll then disconnect and start looking to buy a new Locking Central Module.
On a good note: After leak proofing everything, I've taken my car out for a drive a few times on the highway with a hard rain ( its been raining like crazy over here in Florida lately ) and each and every time I checked the back and everything looks great!!! no more leaky trunk area. That has been taken care of nicely.