CAS Module Exploded, Melted, Harness connector corroded

[ghost135i]

EDIT: This is the CA Module (also known as Passive Go Module), not CAS. It was a typo

Holy crap guys... Honestly a first for me. A few electronics in my car have been failing on me periodically in the past 6 months. First, driver side seat heater. Second, driver side seat controls. Then a few days ago my comfort access stopped working. Decided to take a look at the module and oh my GOD! It melted and fused itself to the styrofoam casing and I had to cut it out of it.... Also the harness connector is corroded... I can buy a new module, but does anyone have any advice for what to do with the harness connector?? Any help will be much appreciated.

[ghost135i]

pictures

[dtla1]

With that many electronics failing, plus soo much corrosion, the car must've either been in a flood or there's a lot of leaks.

Crazy. I guess you can either take all of the connector apart by removing the connecting pins and cleaning it out, or just cut all the wires and re-wire into a new connector.

[zx10guy]

I concur that it seems to be water related. I had water take out the junction box in the trunk that caused the gauges/dash/iDrive to go crazy and dead. After the dealer fixed the junction box, the found out my CAS module was shot too. Probably taken out by the junction box when it shorted out.

[asbrr]

Concur on the water leakage - this has happened a few times to people with a bad tail-light seal or water getting in during a rear bumper repaint (my case). The design of the styrofoam container and the module placement means that water drips down the inside of the body, hits the styrofoam, and then leaks directly onto the module. I bought a replacement CAS module off EBAY and put it into a ziploc bag, along with creating separation of the module from the styrofoam wall so water can't drip directly onto the CAS module.

My connector looked the same, I got lucky however as I cleaned it carefully from the outside without having to disassemble is, and all worked just fine.

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by asbrr

Concur on the water leakage - this has happened a few times to people with a bad tail-light seal or water getting in during a rear bumper repaint (my case). The design of the styrofoam container and the module placement means that water drips down the inside of the body, hits the styrofoam, and then leaks directly onto the module. I bought a replacement CAS module off EBAY and put it into a ziploc bag, along with creating separation of the module from the styrofoam wall so water can't drip directly onto the CAS module.

My connector looked the same, I got lucky however as I cleaned it carefully from the outside without having to disassemble is, and all worked just fine.

That's exactly how mine occurred. Had my rear bumper cover repainted and then bam....

[ghost135i]

Originally Posted by asbrr

Concur on the water leakage - this has happened a few times to people with a bad tail-light seal or water getting in during a rear bumper repaint (my case). The design of the styrofoam container and the module placement means that water drips down the inside of the body, hits the styrofoam, and then leaks directly onto the module. I bought a replacement CAS module off EBAY and put it into a ziploc bag, along with creating separation of the module from the styrofoam wall so water can't drip directly onto the CAS module.

My connector looked the same, I got lucky however as I cleaned it carefully from the outside without having to disassemble is, and all worked just fine.

Yeah I've eead that this is a common occurrence. I had water down there. Also had my bumper repainted recently which could have attributed to it. Either way I got a replacement and I'm going to clean up the connector and see how it goes. I really doubt my car has been "in a flood". Did you need any coding?

[dtla1]

Originally Posted by ghost135i

Yeah I've eead that this is a common occurrence. I had water down there. Also had my bumper repainted recently which could have attributed to it. Either way I got a replacement and I'm going to clean up the connector and see how it goes. I really doubt my car has been "in a flood". Did you need any coding?

Would your car maybe have been around during Hurricane Sandy?

[ghost135i]

Originally Posted by dtla1

Would your car maybe have been around during Hurricane Sandy?

Honestly not sure. It's a 2012 so I'd say probably not. All I know is the owner before me had it garage kept. I'm going on 2 years of owning it and have only had issues with the driver seat these past 6-7 months. Haven't had time to look into that further, but I wouldn't be completely surprised if this module has had issues for that long, and caused those things to short out. The real thing that caused me to take a look at this module was the loss of comfort access which makes sense. Water getting to this module isn't all that uncommon since it sits directly above the wheel well.

[asbrr]

Originally Posted by ghost135i

Yeah I've eead that this is a common occurrence. I had water down there. Also had my bumper repainted recently which could have attributed to it. Either way I got a replacement and I'm going to clean up the connector and see how it goes. I really doubt my car has been "in a flood". Did you need any coding?

Technically you should code it, mine was off an M3 and it worked just fine. Apparently some of the modules will stay "awake" for longer than necessary if they are not properly coded. I've noticed that after shutting off my car, there's a period of 10 minutes where it's quiet and then it will make a noise and my bluetooth adapter (connected to the USB port and 12V) will turn on and take over my phone .... not sure if related to the uncoded module, but the car does seem to be "awake" for some time...

I haven't bothered getting all the tools set up, nor have I bothered finding anyone local to do it...

[///Makis]

Definitely water related, you can see salts on the connector and water stains on the module housing. Was there any water down in there? When I painted my tail lights I covered the outside with plastic and taped everything off, water still got in when it rained at 3am and fried my module.

You can order another one with the same part number and serial number and it should be plug and play for the comfort access, mine was when I replaced it but the passenger side doesn't work and I think it's broken also maybe another sensor isn't working as I can close my keys in the trunk and it won't auto open like it used to :

Check and make sure there isn't any water down there, my styrofoam module holder was literally floating down there in an inch of water but I threw a lot of towels and got some desiccant tubs from Walmart and put them back there until it dried out completely.

Check your tail lights, maybe they weren't installed correctly or maybe the rubber around them has plasticized and isn't routing water around the lights properly (I think) which is causing water to get in where it shouldn't.

Just my two cents

[ghost135i]

Originally Posted by ///Makis

Definitely water related, you can see salts on the connector and water stains on the module housing. Was there any water down in there? When I painted my tail lights I covered the outside with plastic and taped everything off, water still got in when it rained at 3am and fried my module.

You can order another one with the same part number and serial number and it should be plug and play for the comfort access, mine was when I replaced it but the passenger side doesn't work and I think it's broken also maybe another sensor isn't working as I can close my keys in the trunk and it won't auto open like it used to :

Check and make sure there isn't any water down there, my styrofoam module holder was literally floating down there in an inch of water but I threw a lot of towels and got some desiccant tubs from Walmart and put them back there until it dried out completely.

Check your tail lights, maybe they weren't installed correctly or maybe the rubber around them has plasticized and isn't routing water around the lights properly (I think) which is causing water to get in where it shouldn't.

Just my two cents

Ordered a new module, plugged it in, still not working. I cleaned the connector too. Might have to clean it some more, I'm not sure just haven't had the time to look into it because I've been doing a lot of testing and tuning with the car so this was the least of my concerns right now. Might take a look this weekend. As for the taillights, they should be fine. I think it was due to a previous shop removing part of the under-tray allowing water to enter into the compartment where the module sits.