Oh god, what have I done...

"Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing." (granfury)
07/01/2015 at 22:45 • Filed to: None

There was a seriously nasty storm here in STL, just about the time I was driving home from work. Traffic was slow, and lots of people were pulling over to the side of the road and parking under overpasses, which I assume is in case of a tornado. Perhaps I should have shut off the podcast I was listening to and tuned in the weather instead.

Anyway, at one point I drove through a rather large puddle, or maybe it was a lake that had materialized in the middle of the road. I didn’t think it was a big deal until my trusty Mazda5 illuminated a bunch of warning lights and proceeded to shut down. Oh shit.

I got it restarted and it seems to be operating OK, but the CEL and TCS/DSC warning light were on as well as the cruise control power light (the system was on but not controlling speed when I drove into the lake/puddle). The car seemed to drive OK until the TCS kicked in at which point the engagement of said system seemed to be a bit more abrupt than before. When I parked at the market I noticed that the horn sounded a little weird, and I assume that this is caused by water in the horn itself.

Leaving the market I noticed that the CEL light is still on but the TCS/DSC and cruise control lights are off. However, if I lose traction the TCS/DSC light comes on and stays on. I ran some software on my phone via the OBD II port, but most of the errors that pop up require me to spend another $10 to be able to decode.

So, any idea what I’ve done? What is the likelihood that the problems will go away once it dries out? I’m guessing that something is up with a wheel speed sensor, but my automotive technician training was done back in the ‘80s before everything got computerized so I may not have a full grasp of all of what makes up a modern TCS/DSC system and what is necessary to troubleshoot such a system.

DISCUSSION (9)

Funktheduck > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
07/01/2015 at 22:54

My guess is wet sensors that may just need drying out. Possibility of need of replacement but I would hope that wheel speed sensors would be more resilient.

Maybe pop them off/out and blow with a hair dryer? I’m no mechanic but I’d probably try that.

Don't park under an overpass if there's a tornado.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
07/01/2015 at 22:58

Give everything time to dry out. In addition, disconnect the battery for a few minutes. This is gonna reset the ECU and possibly clear any false codes caused by the water.

deekster_caddy > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
07/01/2015 at 23:05

Yup, give it a few days, if the CEL is still on disconnect the battery to reset all the trouble codes. If it’s still a problem the light will come back on.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
07/01/2015 at 23:12

Well, I did a little poking around on the ‘net and under the hood. The primary error code, P061B, seems to indicate limp-home mode and/or MAF sensor issues, and when that code is activated the TCS/DSC is disabled. I opened up the airbox and found that the air filter was completely and totally soaked. That alone is probably causing some airflow issues. I know it’s due for replacement in a couple of thousand miles and was planning on doing that this weekend. In the mean time I’ve tossed it into a low temp oven to see if I can dry it out in the next hour or two.

Hopefully there won’t be any damage to the MAF itself, but if there is, the part isn’t as expensive as I expected. For the time being I’ll resist the temptation to shoot any contact cleaner or WD40 into it and hope that allowing it to drip-dry overnight will fix the issue (along with a dry filter...)

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Funktheduck
07/01/2015 at 23:18

Yeah, this tornado business is still rather new to me. In SoCal all we had to worry about were earthquakes and there wasn’t really much you could do. I still can’t remember which is more severe - watch or warning, but I do know enough to head for the basement if I hear the sirens. Last Sunday I was stuck at work when the sirens went off and spent the next half hour down in the parking garage area. I figured I needed a break and could catch up on some gaming on the phone whilst I waited it out; continuing to work right up against a plate glass window didn’t seem like the best idea.

Funktheduck > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
07/01/2015 at 23:22

Warning is worse. I haven't heard a tornado siren in a while but growing up I lived really close to my elementary, middle, and high schools. All the schools are/were equipped with sirens so you couldn't miss them.

tromoly > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
07/01/2015 at 23:33

Yeah get some actual MAF cleaner if you want to clean it out, anything else may attack it (or so I’ve been told).

Big Bubba Ray > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
07/01/2015 at 23:35

Where were you when the storm hit? I’m in the Kirkwood area. There were a shit load of ominous clouds, some lightning....then no storm haha

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Big Bubba Ray
07/01/2015 at 23:40

The storm was just getting underway when I left Creve Coeur. By the time I got to Lindbergh and 64E I was back in the dry, but a few miles later, as I passed 170, I caught up with it again. The puddle issue happened just as I was getting in the exit lane for Boyle.