Help! 147 Breaks down in wet?

Hi all,

My 147 Selespeed has started breaking down whenever it's driven in heavy rain!!!

The problem always seems to happen after I've been driving at high speed in the wet, then just left the motorway and started to go around bends - as soon as I go around a sharp bend the electrics go haywire. The actual fault seems to vary at random - sometimes I just get spurious warning lights, but other times I can't change gear or the car simply stops completely and won't start again.

If I stop the car and wait about half an hour it usually starts going again.

The car has already been at the dealership twice for this - they diagnosed "corrosion on the body computer" and replaced the computer but it is still breaking down.

Has anyone else experienced this and do you know what it might be? It seems like there's water getting somewhere where it shouldn't be.

thanks
Patrick.

Sounds like you have a leak, my friend. Never had this myself, your dealer should be able to fix it though?

The next time do some investigation, open the bonnet and check if you see water in sensitive parts, fuse box for example. Check if any protective covers are not fitted properly (or missing )

Good luck

Hmmm strange...

I recently drove from Belgium to Spain and back again (covering a total of just over 3500 km) and both the night journeys were about 12 hours long non-stop and had rain and heavy rain but no complaints with the Bella.

PS: a more detailed summary of the trip can be found on my web site's forum - under the Travel section)

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:<hr /><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Rico JFDD:
<strong>Hmmm strange...

I recently drove from Belgium to Spain and back again (covering a total of just over 3500 km) and both the night journeys were about 12 hours long non-stop and had rain and heavy rain but no complaints with the Bella.

PS: a more detailed summary of the trip can be found on my web site's forum - under the Travel section)</strong><hr /></blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">We dont have selespeeds Rico. I also drove through strong rain for 800km and had no problems (fingers crossed!!)

But Patrick said he couldnt change gears sometimes, so it might be related to the selespeed's electrics.

I have selespeed, but no such problems...
(cross my fingers... wink )

I think too that this must be a leak... you can make a simple check; put some paper (or some old clothes) around the computer and the fusible box; go and speed the car up in heavy rain, and after stop the car and check if and where the paper is wet...

you can try another thing: put an plastic bag around the computer (like in the car wash, when they wash the engine), and try the car...

2 little ideas, maybe it would help...

..or get a huge condom for your bella

seriously, i think a little personal investigation will solve your problem (something that your dealer should have done already )

Thanks for the hints - it hasn't rained for the last few days (unusually!) but I'll take a look.

Does it say in the manual where the computer is located? I have no idea.

cheers
Patrick.

p.s. by the way, it isn't just the gears that are affected - it's different each time it happened. Usually it starts with lots of warning lights going on (VDC faliure, ABS faliure, Selespeed faliure etc etc.). Then different things happen:
- One time it just carried on driving normally even though all these warning lights had come on.
- Another time all the lights inside the cabin went out including all dashboard lights (the external lights stayed on.
- Another time weird things were happening even after I had switched off the engine and got out of the car (headlights on left hand side came on all by themselves even though the switch was off).
- Most of the times the central locking is affected in some way - sometimes the doors lock and unlock by themselves - others the locking becomes inoperative, others the alarm activates but the doors won't lock.

All of this normally goes away if I wait an hour or so, and it doesn't happen at all in the dry.

cheers
Patrick.

uncool

In Extremely heavy rain, eg monsoon style, droplets the size of babies, I get "selespeed System Failures" but the car still runs, or i get clutch slip on slipery speed humps...revs go up to 3k but car doesnt move

i had very simular problems - the electric windows would stick, all the dashboard electrics would fail. I think I had the body computer replaced to solve that one - I have also heard of a problem with the radio as mine would return to normal if i turned off the radio! The first replacement body computer that they tried to install was also faulty!

Had the selepseed failure fault too - the replaced all of the potentimeters and actuators which solved the problem. Although i now discover my gearbox is faulty and the entire unit is being replaced under warranty.

Also my selespeed pump packed up in very heavy rain and left me in the middle of nowhere with no gears.

You might also have had a recall notice for you battery charger control -worth checking this out as u tend to have everything switched on in heavy rain and a low charge could cause all manner of bizarre electrical problems as the system is designed to shut down non essential electrical consumption to preserve the charge.

good luck