Hello Everyone, I finished a nice wash and detail of my baby then went for a ride. When I turned off the car the dashboard lights started to flicker uncontrollably and chime. I went outside and the driver's side inner headlight was only on. I never paid attention but are the inner two headlights the daytime running lights? when should they be on? The driver's inner headlight is on when the outer headlights are on.

I turned the car back on and off. Everything back to normal. What happened?? Has anyone every encountered this??

 

Hi @mpasiuk ,

Based on you having just washed your car, I think the mostly likely cause of what you experienced is water ingress or an already suspect ground that got wet. Have you cleared all of your drains recently? Are your grounding points good?

-j

 

hi! I haven't checked the drains recently but usually clear two drain. One below the drivers side wiper arm attachment pivot and the other in the base of the cabin filter. Are there any other I should check? What grounding points should I be looking to check specifically?

 

Those two drains that you mentioned are good to check and keep clear. The others are the four sunroof drains. Two in the front and two in the rear. The other area of concern is the trunk seal. Check for wet areas in your carpet in the cabin and also around the trunk. Lift up the trunk floor and check around the spare tire too.

Grounds


These are all the grounds. The most common problem grounds for weird electrical issues are G1-3, G26, G12 and 13, and G22-25. G17 and 18 too.

The headlights behaving oddly, especially the inner driving lights (I assume those are the ones you were referring to, rather than the high beams) may be a problem related to the headlight ballasts (if you have HIDs) which are connected to grounds G1 and 2. When G2 was loose in my car the front driving lights were illuminated with the ignition off. Once I simply applied pressure to the ground terminals the lights switched off. After I permanently repaired the ground, the problem never returned. Water and bare aluminum will create a thin layer of poorly conductive aluminum oxide, which tends to be a problem as these cars are nearly all aluminum. Cleaning off the aluminum oxide with an abrasive or wire brush will restore conductivity between the chassis and wire terminals. Once bolted back together coat the outside of the whole connection with some Gardner Bender OX-100B or dielectric grease to protect it from water. The best is to replace the ground lugs or rivnuts with a nut and bolt for a solid, nearly bombproof connection, but that will require some work on your part. It's easy if you are handy with the hand tools.

To complicate matters further...
The column light switch communicates with Front Electronic Module (FEM) via the instrument cluster, so your issues with the driving lights and instrument cluster might actually point to instrument cluster or the FEM. In which case you might want to check for moisture in their vicinity and harnesses, as well as grounds G7 and G9.

If all is well tomorrow with the electrics, I would definitely tackle those sunroof drains. A quick search on this forum will guide you to numerous posts that have great instructions. All the best!

-j

 

wow Thank You Jacuar!! This is great info and I'm definitely going to tackle all the sunroof drains, trunk for moisture and check the grounds for sure. My inner driving light (drivers side) did remain ON when I turned off the car, so I'm thinking maybe it is a grounding issue. I'm going to follow yours advice to improve the ground connections.

I've driven the car 3 times since and no issues at all, but I'm still going to check everything. Ok I'm being lazy(and not search the forums) so some silly questions
1. where is the FEM located? 2. When are the inner driving lights activated and how do I tell if I have the headlight ballast setup? I don't remember they being on before, but my brain is very foggy.

Again thanks for taking the time to explain everything.

 

No problem! Always happy to try to help. The FEM is located behind the driver kick panel. The door sill panel comes up first. They can be tight, but gently pry up near all of the hidden snaps with a panel tool. You can locate where the snaps are buy feeling where the panel is tightest. The kick panel comes out next.



Here is the kick panel from the front view


This is the back side of the kick panel. Note the yellow snap lock. To remove the kick panel, pull it toward you from where the the yellow snap lock is.



Here is the FEM.


You can, in fact, see the water stains on the insulation behind my kick panel.


When you pull the driver side A-pillar panel to work on the sunroof drains you can check and confirm for the presence of water stains on the back side of the panel. If it is there, then your FEM most certainly got introduced to some water, but hopefully not too much. My lights do a few weird things and I have seen the water stains on both front A-pillar panels, so I know my electronic modules were at least a little exposed to water. Best of luck!

-j

 

Thank You again for the info and pics. Really appreciated. I checked the two drains and the one under the driver's wiper arm was 80% clogged that I cleared up. The other side by the cabin filter was clear and the two front sunroof drains were clear, and nothing wet in the trunk either.

Maybe that we it?? I'm gonna wait and see if it happens again. Nothing wet near the FEM either.

 

No problem! That's good that you didn't find any moisture, but also good that you will keep an eye on it. The rear passenger floors are dry too? One time I washed my car and the airbag light came on and then cleared a few minutes later. No problems since, but I cleared all the drains right afterward. I had just purchased it and had unwisely decided to wash it right away before getting it smogged. All of the drains were clogged

 

I didn't check the rear carpet area and rear drains, BUT I will. I'd like to keep all the electrical gremlins away lol