My CL55 AMG 500bhp has been destroyed by tree seeds

jinkazama

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So, i knew the car would get me eventually, not just this way. I have owned this monster for 5 years and it is in pristine condition, a beautiful car and luckily I have not had any major bills.

So this year it was outside a new house where the tree foliage are like small pine cones that disintegrate into multiple seeds and they clogged the drain vents over a short period of time. The amount that fell over a short period was ridiculous but as they were small I never had a reason to see it or action it. Water backfilled into the passenger footwell and rear, it was mopped up, went to the garage, cleared the drains etc, but upon picking up the car would not start. Key turned fully, all lights but no action. STAR unit said canbus issue in realtime, mechanic cleared it, reappeared. The only suggestion was to trace the entire canbus, dry it etc, put heaters in the car for three days and then turn the key again, if nothing happened then it's really screwed. This hasn't been done yet as insurance is covering this under act of nature etc but I am aggrieved to lose the car. But two opinions so far are that you could spend forever tracing this, fix it and it could happen again.

If I could this myself I would remove all seats and carpets as I am guessing the main water damage is under the rear seats, I would have to get a mobile mechanic as no garage wants to take a 2 tonne car that does not move currently so this would have to be me calling someone out to do this and then it's a shot to nothing - like I said, I knew this car would eventually bite, not just this way. If anyone has any opinion on this interested to hear. What a way to lose your car but as I know now it happens to a fair few.
 

mikestrivens

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lesson learnt, don't park under a tree.
 

Craiglxviii

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It will be one or two ECUs and not the entire CANbus that need repairing or replacing. Might be costly but not impossible.

And as Mike, avoid trees, filthy leaf- polluters that they are!
 

mikestrivens

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On a practical note you could get one of those industrial dehumidifiers and put it in the car for a few days to really dry it out. But you really need to address the cause of the issue at the same time.
 

umblecumbuz

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Or use what I have in my camper - a greenhouse heater. Not the polluting paraffin type, but a compact mains electric jobbie with a 'stat. Mine is only 200 watts, but left cycling on the 'stat it works wonders.

As anyone who runs a small camper knows, condensation is a bugbear. This baby heater conpletely eliminates that, and the vehicle feels dry every morning.

And would I feel gutted if this happened to me!
 

bembo449

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I think you really should try as the guys are suggesting and dry it out in someway , from what ive read , water ingress is common place and doesn't seem to be terminal in most cases , its got to be cheaper than hours of labour at a garage pal,
 

Craiglxviii

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Just out of interest. The OP joined April 2014 but this is his first ever post..?
 

LostKiwi

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Canbus is a star topology.
I think any component you suspect to have failed can be disconnected and the rest of the vehicle retested. The only component you can't disconnect is the EIS (hub of the Star).

Before doing this dry out the entire car with battery disconnected. As suggested a dehumidifier will work very well.
 

umblecumbuz

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Jinkazama - your post seems to suggest that the car is now with you, awaiting insurance assessment, and no longer with the garage.
If so, or if you can gain access to the car, why are you not taking steps to minimise the ongoing effects of water damage?

I'm not alone in saying that if it was my car, and with enjoyable five year ownership, still in pristine condition as you state, I would be ripping out everything damp and getting it dried out. I couldn't just sit by and watch it continue to deteriorate.
 

Craiglxviii

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what you thinking Craig ??
Just that we get spurious posts, usually related to some catastrophe, from people who have been members for years but never posted once before- then never hear from them again. Makes me curious. And I’m properly paranoid about information security.
 

ajlsl600

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So, i knew the car would get me eventually, not just this way. I have owned this monster for 5 years and it is in pristine condition, a beautiful car and luckily I have not had any major bills.

So this year it was outside a new house where the tree foliage are like small pine cones that disintegrate into multiple seeds and they clogged the drain vents over a short period of time. The amount that fell over a short period was ridiculous but as they were small I never had a reason to see it or action it. Water backfilled into the passenger footwell and rear, it was mopped up, went to the garage, cleared the drains etc, but upon picking up the car would not start. Key turned fully, all lights but no action. STAR unit said canbus issue in realtime, mechanic cleared it, reappeared. The only suggestion was to trace the entire canbus, dry it etc, put heaters in the car for three days and then turn the key again, if nothing happened then it's really screwed. This hasn't been done yet as insurance is covering this under act of nature etc but I am aggrieved to lose the car. But two opinions so far are that you could spend forever tracing this, fix it and it could happen again.

If I could this myself I would remove all seats and carpets as I am guessing the main water damage is under the rear seats, I would have to get a mobile mechanic as no garage wants to take a 2 tonne car that does not move currently so this would have to be me calling someone out to do this and then it's a shot to nothing - like I said, I knew this car would eventually bite, not just this way. If anyone has any opinion on this interested to hear. What a way to lose your car but as I know now it happens to a fair few.


go buy a dehumidifier and try that for a week . you might get lucky. i bought one for 90 euro here in france and it does a grand job , worth a try ,if you had issue for long resulting corrosion might stop that from resolving the matter. it could be a cheap fix if you did,nt short anything out .i am guessing that u looked all fuses already. after drying it out stick it back on star. and note any, all isues .go from there.
and yes its a disaster to loose yr car because of a little water ingress. .its not the cars fault water got inside, but a little more design thought could have prevented it wrecking yr car .electronics,electrics AGAIN..
 

mikestrivens

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Just that we get spurious posts, usually related to some catastrophe, from people who have been members for years but never posted once before- then never hear from them again. Makes me curious. And I’m properly paranoid about information security.

well the OP hasn't been back since the first post so maybe you're right.
 

ajlsl600

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Submariner1

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So, i knew the car would get me eventually, not just this way. I have owned this monster for 5 years and it is in pristine condition, a beautiful car and luckily I have not had any major bills.

So this year it was outside a new house where the tree foliage are like small pine cones that disintegrate into multiple seeds and they clogged the drain vents over a short period of time. The amount that fell over a short period was ridiculous but as they were small I never had a reason to see it or action it. Water backfilled into the passenger footwell and rear, it was mopped up, went to the garage, cleared the drains etc, but upon picking up the car would not start. Key turned fully, all lights but no action. STAR unit said canbus issue in realtime, mechanic cleared it, reappeared. The only suggestion was to trace the entire canbus, dry it etc, put heaters in the car for three days and then turn the key again, if nothing happened then it's really screwed. This hasn't been done yet as insurance is covering this under act of nature etc but I am aggrieved to lose the car. But two opinions so far are that you could spend forever tracing this, fix it and it could happen again.

If I could this myself I would remove all seats and carpets as I am guessing the main water damage is under the rear seats, I would have to get a mobile mechanic as no garage wants to take a 2 tonne car that does not move currently so this would have to be me calling someone out to do this and then it's a shot to nothing - like I said, I knew this car would eventually bite, not just this way. If anyone has any opinion on this interested to hear. What a way to lose your car but as I know now it happens to a fair few.

Out of interest which drains clogged . , the ones under the bonnet, near the windscreen?
I am forever sucking them out with a large wet and dry vac. Moss from the roof blows down and disintegrates.


BTW when the wife left the sunroof of my first S Class open in a rainstorm back in 2001.
I spent 4 hours with a 2000watt wet vac, and a pointy crevice tool. Backaching job.

And I then got MB to low load it back to their paintshop.
They took out the front and back seats and put it in the paint shop oven / drier
Took 3 days tull they said their was no humidity in the cab,

Worked a treat, sold car to sister aged 3, and she ran it till 2017 ! 165,000 miles
Not one fault! Just regular services

BTW the dealer reckoned quick action with the wet vac saved it. As he said if the water had got past some semi waterproof soundproofing membrane then they would have written it off, aged 1 year 3 months :-0
 

bembo449

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the front drains on our 216 are a flat shape once they go out of sight pal , I use a piece of wire to regularly poke mine clear as they block up really easily
 
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jinkazama

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Yes I'm stealing all the replies to form one long note to Kim Jong Un. On a more practical note - yes it was the drains under the scuttle, apparently there was not a recall for this but a DB whereby you drill some new holes however you would have needed to take your car to be serviced at a MB dealer for this to take place ( and then who knows ), hindsight is great. However, it is in the process of being dried out so we'll see and I will post back.
 

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