Hey guys. Out of nowhere My '01 boxster decided to give me some problems. When I turned the key it does nothing. The windows will not roll up or down and the trunks wouldnt unlock. The next day things were fine. Then today the same thing happened. The car got damp inside due to a unknown leak the day before this started. Any clue's before I have it towed to the shop?
Thanks

 

What got wet?

 

rain water leaked in. Mainly just made the carpet damp but caused a high level of humidity in the car.
Thanks

 

sounds like a short in the ignition. Hard to say without troubleshooting

 

Hi I assume the battery is OK? Is there any moisture getting into the fuse box?
Regards Big Bob

 

If your carpet is wet under the driver seat, your Boxster is taking a bath.
When the drain holes become clogged, the excess water will saturate this back carpet piece until a pool of water collects under the seat (and over the control unit).

Boxster_bath[/align]http://www.dietersmotorsports....[/align]When you work in an automotive repair facility and it starts raining, it’s only a matter of time before the tow trucks start rolling in. Usually the problems range from dead batteries to wet ignition system failures. ...[/align][/align]The car would not start, the top and door locks would not operate, and the lights were flashing like a bad 70’s disco video. Being suspicious of water damage on this very wet day , we starting poking around and found a non-factory installed option for this Boxster; an indoor swimming pool.

Under the driver’s seat was about 2 inches of standing water. Normally this would be a small task for a good wet/dry vacuum. However on this model vehicle, a very important control unit was taking a bath in the depths of this new pool.

This little black box controls everything that is even remotely related to the alarm. This includes the top, the door locks, the windows, the lights, and of course the starting of the vehicle.
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Depending on how much water and where.......
Pull up parts of carpet that you can and wedge things underneath to hold it up/allow air to flow. Regarding the carpet, squeeze between thick towels stomped on, to get excess water out of carpet. Use small blow dryer, handle tucked in the magazine holder behind passenger seat or driver's seat depending on size of dryer, pointed downwards, set on low, move it around a few times, leave overnight. Protect leather and plastic areas close by from heat. Maybe 2 overnights and the carpet will be bone dry in all areas.

Goal is to soak up any and all water. Till carpet is bone dry and foam pad underneath carpet is free from dampness. So the black box/control unit underneath driver seat is not damaged.

Some people would reconnect the seat to get to the carpet, and low and behold, the CEL (check engine light) light is on! So make sure you or someone else knows what they are doing if the seat has to be removed to get to the carpet and control unit underneath seat. If the CEL light goes on, then it needs to be reset. Don't worry about that now though. That's a another topic to discuss.

Control Unit/Black Box: This little black box controls everything that is even remotely related to the alarm. This includes the top, the door locks, the windows, the lights, and of course the starting of the vehicle. This box should not get damaged from water.

 

Thanks everyone. Sure enough the alarm control unit sits in a depression under the driver seat and that was filled with water. Weathers nice here so I've opened everything up and letting it dry out for a couple days before I drive it. Car did start after I let it dry out for awhile and windows are working again. I'm just gonna keep my fingers crossed that no permenant damage happened and work on locating the source of the leak. Thanks for the insight I was lost on this one.

 

Spray what you can with some electric contact spray and add a fan or two to help dry it out.

 

Up until today the car was still broke down. I removed the driver side seat. Disconnected the alarm module. It easily opened up and revealed lots of corrosion. I cleaned everything with crc electrical cleaner a toothbrush and some q-tips. reassembled everything and the car is running fine. According to everything I read I'm one of a very few people who got lucky with a flooded alarm module.

 

One other thing you need to do too. Fix the water leak!
Regards Big Bob[8D]