Strange electrical problem after rain
 

Here's the story:

About 2 years ago my car was repaired after a front drivers side collision affecting the roof, left doors, fender, etc.

Shortly after getting my car back, I had the hazard lights come on all by themselves. This was after a heavy rain, so I assumed it must be some type of electrical short. I took it back to the repair shop, but of course the problem had corrected itself by that time, and they couldn't find anything wrong.

This happened again a couple of times, only after very heavy rains. It would start with the hazard lights kind of buzzing on and off, not the regular clicking, which would go away if you physically put them on or used a turn signal, then they would just stay as if the hazard button was on for an hour or two, then go off by themselves. Each time, it would happen on a sunday or something when I couldn't get the car looked at, and by the time I had it in the shop the problem was gone/not reproducible. This problem never seemed to occur after washing the car, only after a 2-3 hour prolonged heavy rain, or driving in a rain storm.

Then, about 6 months after the repair, the problem began to escalate. I went to the mall during a rain storm, and when I went to leave, the car flat out refused to start. The battery was definitely not dead, just for some reason the starter would not run, and if you turned on the key, the anti-theft warning light would flash like crazy, the needles would flicker up and down and then nothing. I had to have the car towed to the shop. This was on a Sunday, and by the time they looked at it on Monday morning, the car started up just fine.

Flash forward - no real problems except the phantom hazards till this winter. First, I had the hazards come on during a light snow storm. Then when I got gas the car refused to start. I played around a bit disconnecting the battery and reconnecting it after 5-10 minutes, and about a half hour later it started up just fine.

Since then the following set of symptoms have manifested:
the hazards flash once just about every time I release the trunk, and if they go steady by themselves during a rain storm or snow storm, the trunk lid won't open either from the remote release or the release under the steering wheel. I've noticed that during rain, the door ajar symbol on the dash illuminates partly even with all the doors closed. It brightens significantly when the doors are open, but when they are closed it is always slightly lit. The horn got stuck on twice, I had to pull the fuse, then when it dried out, the horn worked like normal. Twice more since then, my car has refused to start even though the battery is fully charged, but if I disconnect the battery and wait a half hour or so, it will start right up. Now the hazards only work intermittently when I turn them on, and the left and right turn signals will flash once or twice when I turn them on, then die, or sometimes work normally, or sometimes not at all. So far these are the only things to be affected at all by this glitch. All other electrical systems/car systems are in perfect working order.

What I would like to know is, is there an easy way to determine where a short is in the electrical system from the symptoms, or does this sound like a problem that requires replacing a whole harness (big $). The other party of the collision was deemed at fault, if this problem costs more than a couple hours of labor to repair, I'm going to have to see if I can go through the insurance again to get it done, since the problem is definitely related to the accident (the symptoms first appeared the first rain after the repair.

Also, if the left and right blinkers no longer stay on when turned on, is that a part that is worn out that is easy to find/replace.

Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Hey Raz0rama,did you figure out what the problem was?

I recently got a '04 RX8 shipped to me (in Trinidad) from Japan and right now we're in the middle of our rainy season and I'm having the same problem right now!

Last night my wife's car was in the garage so I was parked out in the rain,then the neighbours called and said that my hazard lights were flashing.It was about 8pm,so I just disconnected the neg battery cable.This morning,re-connected,the hazard lights were OK but the door ajar light was on,and all the doors were securely shut. Drove through a pretty heavy rain shower today and the hazard light flashing and weird buzzing returned.

Hope you got the problem solved or some forum members could shed some light on this (very distressing) issue.

My car started showing the same symptoms.

If I just put the key in and power it on, the needles go haywire, the lightin the dash goes on... then off, on, then off, when I try to start, the starter doesnt even try...

Wait a little while and boom, it starts.

Has nothing to do with flooding, its a spooky electrical problem.

Tonight in the snow storm I popped the hood and pushed in everyone of the relays in the front right box... no idea if it helped but the car started as soon as I sat back down.

We'll see if it does it again.

p.s. Also when this happens and I finaly restart the car, I have to recalibrate the steering (turn right, then left) to get DSC light off, and restart the car one more time to turn on DSC because the skidding car icon is on...

check bat connections.

beers :beer:

do you have a sunroof? seems like a random question, but sunroofs have drain tube and those can direct water to the wrong places sometimes!

But, you are describing exactly what's happening to my '05 Rx-8. My g/f complained of the hazard circuit buzzing in a weird way. once the horn got stuck on right when we pulled into a mall parking lot.

it wouldn't start for her once - when it was towed to dealership they said battery was dead and it was flooded, but I KNOW those weren't the symptoms she was seeing.

we had crazy rain the other day, came out to the car and the hazards were flashing. no telling how long they'd been flashing.

Some water gets in the pass rear taillight when it rains. I think i'll try disconnecting all rear taillights to see if it fixes it.

this is a tricky one,i need schematic of car and some time and I can troubleshoot it!

My 04 with 16000 miles just started to do the anti theft light thing. I disconnected the neg. cable on battery for about five minutes. Was able to get it started, but stalled about 5 minutes later in rush hour traffic on a friday. I had to disconnect again and wait again. that sucked. Im kinda curious if anyone else has had this problem. Any solutions that dont invovle dealership?

Hey jojo, did it rain on/in your car at same time you had this issue?

No it hadnt rained in probably a week. Today i noticed that my turn signals dont work half the time either. Moved signal lever and no turn signals. Hit a bump and they came on. I think i probably have a loose connection somewhere. Checked ground wires and they seem fine. I think the two problems im having are related.

I've had the same problem... =(
did you ever find a solution? My dealership wanted to replace my ecu $$$$$..

Hum did you pull codes? Sounds like immobilizer issue. Maybe something is grounding out. Did you do any eletronic mods?

uhhhhhh if that means the blinking security light.. Then yes. It blinks once, long pause then six consecutive times, long pause. Code 16? No electric mods.

I fixed my problem last feb. Went to dealer again. Problem got worse over the winter. Had a bad connection in fuse box that caused my turn signals not to work. 300 fix. They said the problem with immobilizer was carbon build up in combustion. I thought that didnt make any sense at all considering when car would stall, all electrical gages and everything wouldnt work (like immobilizer had kicked in) Anyways i said f#@& it. 600 to clean out carbon build up. Well to my surprise i havent had any problems since then. Dont know if it was the 300 to rebuild fuse box or 600 cleaning. Just glad i dont have to worry about getting stuck in traffic.

Just another note. I did the RB race tune because it disables engine immobilizer thinking i would just get rid of it hoping it would help. It didnt help the issue. Love the tune tough.

well I feel like my dealership sucks. They didn't figure exactly what was causing my imobilizer to go on. They said 'we an start by replacing the ecu and go from there' I don't want to spend money for them to poke around and hope to find the problem... Ugh.. Very frustrating...

I have exactly the same problem on my 8: after rain hazard lights went on by themselves and didn't respond to on-off switch, doors-open red indicator lights dimmed and unstable, and one week ago the car refused to start despite battery was fully charged.

The car was towed to Mazda Technical Service. After some hours of checking and inspection they found the problem: the connectors at the rear of fuse box (the one at side of the driver's place) were plenty of water :eek:.

They dried and replated the connectors and all was back to normal. But...

The problem now is to discover wich is the path followed by water to reach those connectors. Dropping a small quantity of water from the upper windshield corner of driver's side ends with water on the connectors in half a minute.

One month before the problem began I had to change the windshield because it was broken. So at first it seemed this was the origin: a bad sealed windshield :naughty:. But...

Dropping water directly then inches after the windshield produced the same effect: water on connectors :mad:. So next hypothesis was that a small hole in the conduct that drains water from windshield area to floor, could allow water to pass to the interior. But...

Once oppened nothing can be seen, and now if you drop water at the same places than before connectors remain dry :SHOCKED:.

What is clear until now is that if water arrives to the connectors of the fuse box, you'll get crazy hazard lights and after some time car will refuse to start.

We'll go until the end. I'll keep you updated.

I had the same problem with hazards/alarm/door ajar light turning on and off randomly. Water in white gang connector off to the left of the clutch pedal under the black plastic cover was causing oxidation and shorting out existing circuits.
Cleaned it and made a small enclosure with a plastic bag to shield it in the future.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48044634@N06/8382967598/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48044634@N06/8382967272/

Here are two pictures in case above links go dead:

okay i have the same exact problem right now, hazzards and everything, i had to pull the fuse to shut off horn and hazzards. Now my car will not start, the immobilizer light is on. I checked the plugs for water as seen above and havent found anything. I have messed with all fuses and nothing works. I did instal a double DIN headunit but that was about 5 months ago and havent had a problem until now. Could it be the headunit? and also what grounds should i be checking and where are they. Any help would be nice. Thanks everyone

I'm having the same issues everyone else is having. Is their a known solution for this?

Just had the same experience. Found that there is a hole in the engine bay close to the firewall on the driver side. The hole allows the water to drain into what would appear to be the tire well; however, this is not the case. It actually goes right into the floorboard, after it makes it's way into the connector first. I simply applied some silicone to the hole and we are going to see if this solves our issue completely! Thank you to all of you for aiding in the search and destroy mission I had to complete after a long day of work and school!

This is exactly correct. I was having the same problems and took the car to mazda so they can check it out. They confirmed water was getting in through my windshield and into this connector. They replaced/resealed the windshield and replaced the connector to prevent the water from getting in.

I had this done 3 months ago and have not experience any problems since.

what hole is it there's quite a few? im trying to locate my problem now.

Yes, would you mind posting a pic of this hole that is the issue here? thanks

Hi There, First of all Thankyou for everyone using this site. and posting the helpful comments. I have only owned my RX8 for only 6 month, and in that time I have had a few funny problems. but this site has helped me heaps.
I had dramas with the coil packs, error codes p0662 and p2260 and so far this site has been my solution for all problems.
However the only drama that still remains is the problem I experience when it rains, or after a good car wash. I don't get any problems with the indicators flashing or immobiliser. but when driving through the rain, the car starts missing, running rough. the first time it happen the car didn't stop. but the second time I drove through a puddle about 2 inches. splashed water all over the left hand side. drivers side in America. and the car ran really bad and came to a stop. I tried to restart the car it would barely start, and when it did I had my foot flat on the gas, but it wouldn't rev past idle. later that day I came back after it had dried and it started fine. I just killed my battery in the process of trying to start it earlier. So after installing a new battery and doing the terminals too. the car has a lot more starting power.
But I still have this major problem of the car stopping when getting wet.
I have noticed a couple of things on this site, mentioning that the car floods with petrol and wont start when there is an electrical short, causing the MAF air flow sensor to have a higher voltage and flood the car. causing the stopping problem and causing it to not restarting. unless using the flooded motor restart procedure.


So what I would like to know has anyone got a picture of the hold that water is getting into causing this electrical problem. cause for me it is on the drivers side that is causing the problem. I have checked the connections in the fuse box but cannot see any water.


also the side indicator lenses are old and cracked. sometimes a bit of water gets into them. I have ordered a new set. could it just be those being the problem.


Has anyone else had problems with the indicators when old and wet.

Hi so I realize I'm rezzing a ~6 year thread but I'm also having a sudden electrical issue that may be rain related, with a 2009 series 2. I'm normally parked under a roof but it started raining recently in SoCal and so yesterday I parked it in the rain to get it cleaned off some.

Today my car alarm suddenly started going off (which it never does) and when I went to move it back under the overhang the dashboard was going crazy. Random indicator lights were turning on and off and not all at the same time. I checked the battery and with the engine and lights on, the voltage was 14.07 and with the car off 12.63. The battery is also less than a year old so would seem odd for it to be the problem.

After testing the battery I started the car back up and the dashboard was initially fine but then after a few minutes random stuff started to illuminate again. I normally do not have any lights illuminated.

All I can figure is water got somewhere it shouldn't have. Any thoughts? Thanks for any suggestions.


2009 series 2, 65,000 miles.