water in ecu box 2005 A6 3L quattrodw

[raylynch]

Hi,
My audi wouldn't start after Christmas holiday. Audi dealer checked and discovered the box containing ECU on passenger side flooded with water. Says car is a write-off as repair costs €11,500 greater than car value €8500. (connectors have oxidised so need new cabling) No one seems to know how water got in to sealed unit as the seals dont look faulty. Does anyone have any idea how this could happen? I did get windscreen replacement last November. Currently hoping my insurance company will pay for flood damage.

[Happygilmore78]

Sorry to hear that bud, I have just had a case of bad flooding in mine - the front section of the engine bay in front of the windscreen was under about 3/4 foot of water - which was caused by blocked drain holes in my case.

Not sure where the ECU is on these? so not saying it's the same, just that leaks and floods seem to be a problem from reading on the net - I had a load of electric under that water, half I had no idea what they were - but for long periods that could not have been good.

Hope your insurance company sorts it buddy, hopefully they will.

All the best

[raylynch]

Hi Happygilmore78,
Thanks for taking the time to reply. Looks like you were lucky.

[ttamlleb]

Raylynch please keep us posted on this, i too have a 3lt 2006 with IMM issues which according to the guys on here will be/or could be water damage, was yours literally flooded or just rain water not being able to drain out for a long period of time.

Godd luck any way
, well God luck may be needed but i do mean Good Luck!
Matt

[Peter D]

Search on Plenum Chamber. The garage are ripping you off is is circa £300 for a replacement ECU (CCM) and £100 for cable and connectors. However drying the carpets out is a major issue and you may have to strip the interior out, seats carpets front and rear, loads of labour and drying time. The last one I came across done by Audi was £740 plus vat. Regards Peter

[joshA6]

think the garage are saying itis worse than that. There are known cases of water propagating from one end of the wiring loom to the other, requiring a whole new car loom. its even described in the dealer manuals and tsbs. At that point, I can see why you would write off due to the labour and the risk of having to guarantee such a repair.

I had something similar on a car that had an engine fire. Insurances wanted to write it off as the could not guarantee just changing the engine wiring loom was enough

[raylynch]

Hi Matt,
Thanks for taking time to reply. The box that holds the ECU and lots of connectors and relays was filled with water almost to the top when they opened it. I didn't drive through any obvious flood. So they don't know how it happened. The insurance assessor suspects windscreen being a possible source of water. But I don't know how long the water was there for. Could have filled up over a long period of time. I am still awaiting a decision from the insurance company.
Ray

[raylynch]

Hi Peter,
Thanks for the reply. May have to do what you suggest if the insurance company doesn't cover it.
Ray

[raylynch]

Hi Josh,
yes you are right. They say that unless they replace everything including loom they can't guarantee the work. That is very interesting about water propagating up the loom. Maybe Audi should be paying for faulty design!! Thanks for taking the time to reply.
Ray

[Peter D]

Ray "The box that holds the ECU and lots of connectors and relays " that sounds like the Engine ECU in the plenum chamber in front of the driver. The CCM unit is under the passenger carpet. Which is it. Regards Peter

[ragebe]

Hmm. I had an issue with a known[1] rear-washer design problem, that meant the well under the passenger (LH) seat and the foot-well for the rear-seat passenger on the same side, flooded. Basically every time I tried to use the rear washer, a split hose leaked water back to the afore mentioned area.

However the damage was to my Bluetooth unit, which meant no SatNav/CD/Radio/Telephone/DSI. I had this replaced by an independent Audi garage in Poole, who charged me circa £600 for the unit, replacement, 20k service and repair to the duff washer.

This might be a different problem entirely to the one you have, however your original description sounds very similar.
[1] Audi know all about this problem and repair it free of charge in the USA apparently.15644

[raylynch]

Hi Peter,
Thanks for the reply. Yes it is in a chamber under the bonnet above the engine. It is in front of the passenger side in my car (right hand drive Ireland). The insurance company have agreed to the claim and are going to give me €8500 - scrappage allowance of €2650 - policy excess of €250. This is good news but I am now thinking maybe I should try to get it repaired myself. with my friend the mechanic!! Get it back on the road for €2000! Would I be mad or should I just take the scrappage offer and avoid future problems?
All opinions would be welcome.
Ray

[raylynch]

Hi Ragebe,
Thanks for the reply. No that is not the same problem I have just spoken to the insurance assessor and he has said that the flood is in the main fuse box that holds all the cable connectors, relays and the ECUs. It is on the passenger side under the near the windscreen visible when you open the bonnet.
Ray

[ttamlleb]

My issue has now cost £670 to rectify, plug and scan £85, repair to leaking rearwasher jet £85, plus new phone module £460 which was the route cause as signal through fibre optic was getting confused at the phone module, MMi in rear was checked for water was found to be damp??

Not convinced ive not just been ripped off?