Water in the trunk, RDC, Keyless entry module, Amplifier fried?

[CrisCrossAppleSauce]

Long story short, took my vehicle in to get the rear bumper retouched as its paint was cracking due to small chips on the paint. I get the car back after it fixed and it looks great, but my battery started acting up, I checked and there was water in the battery tray. I dried the tray cleaned it, and charged the battery the car was all good, and running! Now my car wont start the lights go on but its as if it had no charge, auto zone told me the battery was goos. So after digging through the forums, it clicked the water in my battery tray may have gone other places as well.

Surely enough i check and the RDC module, and the Keyless entry system were drenched in 6inches of water. My speakers weren't working so i checked the other side, and yup... who would of guessed it Water all over the amplifier.

What now? Im clearly gonna hold the shop who painted my rear bumper responsible, as there was sanding dust in there with the water!

The water went in through the rear tail lights as they were removed ( i have pics of the process) and you can see clear dried water marks coming from there.


How do i approach this?
Should I replace the modules and amplifier as well as speakers, or what else has to be replaced besides just that, the connectors too?

Im gonna hold the shop responsible as I've recorded videos and taken pictures of everything, I just contacted the owner of the shop and I'm waiting to see how this plays out.

Thanks guys, I know I'm fairly knew on the forum and all but i appreciate the help.

[1traitor]

Originally Posted by CrisCrossAppleSauce

Long story short, took my vehicle in to get the rear bumper retouched as its paint was cracking due to small chips on the paint. I get the car back after it fixed and it looks great, but my battery started acting up, I checked and there was water in the battery tray. I dried the tray cleaned it, and charged the battery the car was all good, and running! Now my car wont start the lights go on but its as if it had no charge, auto zone told me the battery was goos. So after digging through the forums, it clicked the water in my battery tray may have gone other places as well.

Surely enough i check and the RDC module, and the Keyless entry system were drenched in 6inches of water. My speakers weren't working so i checked the other side, and yup... who would of guessed it Water all over the amplifier.

What now? Im clearly gonna hold the shop who painted my rear bumper responsible, as there was sanding dust in there with the water!

The water went in through the rear tail lights as they were removed ( i have pics of the process) and you can see clear dried water marks coming from there.


How do i approach this?
Should I replace the modules and amplifier as well as speakers, or what else has to be replaced besides just that, the connectors too?

Im gonna hold the shop responsible as I've recorded videos and taken pictures of everything, I just contacted the owner of the shop and I'm waiting to see how this plays out.

Thanks guys, I know I'm fairly knew on the forum and all but i appreciate the help.

Jesus Christ I hope the shop steps up to their mistake though it's not likely, good luck dude

[CrisCrossAppleSauce]

Originally Posted by 1traitor

Jesus Christ I hope the shop steps up to their mistake though it's not likely, good luck dude

Yup, I'm hoping they do too!

[zx10guy]

I had the exact same thing happen to me when I had my rear bumper cover repainted about 3 years ago. So apparently whatever the body shops are doing is causing water infiltration. The water penetration I had was much less than yours but it was enough to fry my junction box. The fried junction box caused all sorts of weird behaviors with my car but at least it was driveable.

All the work was done at the dealer including the body work as they had a BMW certified body shop. The service department couldn't figure out where the water would have come in from before I told them about their body shop doing work prior to the issues. I don't know if they ended up going after the body shop department for compensation or they were able to just push it through under warranty. Not my problem.

[CrisCrossAppleSauce]

Originally Posted by zx10guy

I had the exact same thing happen to me when I had my rear bumper cover repainted about 3 years ago. So apparently whatever the body shops are doing is causing water infiltration. The water penetration I had was much less than yours but it was enough to fry my junction box. The fried junction box caused all sorts of weird behaviors with my car but at least it was driveable.

All the work was done at the dealer including the body work as they had a BMW certified body shop. The service department couldn't figure out where the water would have come in from before I told them about their body shop doing work prior to the issues. I don't know if they ended up going after the body shop department for compensation or they were able to just push it through under warranty. Not my problem.

That's the thing my car is druveable and it works fine I just get the TPMS malfunction and my Comfort Access not working, meaning the keyless features. Since both were drenched in water.
I'm replacing both modules by the end of the week, but how would I check my junction box if it's damaged or not? As I've read on here that people gone through the same issue and simply replace the modules and the car is fine after that? My car seems fine besides those two modules not working and my ODBII scanner gives me the codes for my TPMS malfunction

[zx10guy]

I'm not an expert with this car as I'm still learning my way around it. But I would check each module in the trunk physically and pull the harness off of the modules and check for moisture there too.

My junction box issue manifested itself with my entire gauge cluster lighting up like a Christmas tree, warning symbols with the icon showing a car up on a lift, an error message on the nav screen, and my gauge cluster going completely dead along with the nav screen. With all this going, the engine still ran and I could still drive the car.

[Gizmo135i]

That's a crappy situation... I doubt they're going to want to pay for it. Those modules aren't cheap, especially the amplifier. Every module and connector should be thoroughly checked for corrosion If the connectors and pins have any green or white corrosion on them then the entire connector and pins should be replaced, and the wires should be cut/spliced back far enough to eliminate the corrosion. If not, it could cause some big issues in the future. Also those modules need to be programmed.

If I were you I would bring the car to the dealer, pay the $150 or so to have them diagnose everything and give you a quote for repairs. This way you have everything documented and can go after them if need be.. that amp alone is probably $1200 new

[rocksarntpeople]

The same thing happened to me when I bought my 135i...the dealer had the same thing done before putting it up for sale and I found out the hard way within 12 hours of purchase...I was basically given the FU, however they did replace all the modules, but I had to have BMW program it and check it all over which was over $1000 by itself...sorry for the bad news

[Mach1er]

I had the same issue after having my car at the body shop (tail lights removed while a big rain storm swept through, I had pictures of the car without tail lights or bumper). It only fried my CA module which they didn't notice before they tried to give me back the car.

Long story short, it was a BMW Certified Collision Center which was owned by Penske, same as the dealer. Took it to the dealer and they warranty replaced the CA module, no other repairs needed for wiring etc. I told them that it was probably due to the body shop and they didn't care since it was all under the Penske umbrella.

Either way, your repair shop is responsible. You can absolutely hold them liable.

[Stabbing]

I've had this same thing happen to me, RDC fried from being submerged in water. i have a feeling it might be a 135i thing... i've never had the tail lights removed. but when this happened i resealed the housing gaskets that prevent water from coming in and never had water go in ever since.

[CrisCrossAppleSauce]

Originally Posted by Mach1er

I had the same issue after having my car at the body shop (tail lights removed while a big rain storm swept through, I had pictures of the car without tail lights or bumper). It only fried my CA module which they didn't notice before they tried to give me back the car.

Long story short, it was a BMW Certified Collision Center which was owned by Penske, same as the dealer. Took it to the dealer and they warranty replaced the CA module, no other repairs needed for wiring etc. I told them that it was probably due to the body shop and they didn't care since it was all under the Penske umbrella.

Either way, your repair shop is responsible. You can absolutely hold them liable.

Thanks, I am I haven't had time to go to the body shop, since Im a full time student and work part time, but im going tomorrow to see what they tell me. Hopefully it all plays out well.

[CrisCrossAppleSauce]

Originally Posted by Stabbing

I've had this same thing happen to me, RDC fried from being submerged in water. i have a feeling it might be a 135i thing... i've never had the tail lights removed. but when this happened i resealed the housing gaskets that prevent water from coming in and never had water go in ever since.

When this happened did you simply replace the RDC module and had it wokring again?

[CrisCrossAppleSauce]

So I recently received a new Comfort acces module and it is the right part number and everything matches, I replaced my batter as well as it was still the original one and all.
But quick. Question my comfort acces keyless entry and everything isn't working still not even my key fob, I checked the fuses and no fuses are blown, any idea as to why ?

[Mach1er]

I think you need to code the CA module to the car/fob. It needs to know that the key you're using is the right key.

[CrisCrossAppleSauce]

Originally Posted by Mach1er

I think you need to code the CA module to the car/fob. It needs to know that the key you're using is the right key.

Ca one do that with the carly coding app, or do we have to go to bmw for that?

[Mach1er]

Originally Posted by CrisCrossAppleSauce

Ca one do that with the carly coding app, or do we have to go to bmw for that?

I have no clue, sorry.