Whenever there is a good rain here in Cincinnati there is a slight chance that my 2007 Saturn Aura will start acting up.
So after the car is sitting in the parking lot and it rains pretty good…there is a chance that when I go to start it that th computer throws error messages.
The most common error is about traction control and that the engine power is reduced.
Once I get this error the car doesn’t have much power as promised but I can drive it around and it does ok unless I try to go over 50 and then it struggles.
This error seems to stick around until it dries out. The last time I got the error I went out and turned the air conditioning up and the defroster on and let it sit idle for about 5 minutes and the error disappeared.
Question is…I have a sunroof and in told that it is possible that there is supposed to be a drain or something that when the water gets in the sides of the closed sunroof that the water should drain, but if they are clogged…water can get into the dashboard.
I do know water is comming in from somewhere because after a good rain and the car sitting for a few days the carpet is wet. Question is…where is this drain and how can I clean it out??
I paid a commercial garage to look at this for me and they couldn’t identify the drain and wanted to sell me a new computer…lol
This issue has been going on since I bought the car with 55k miles on in January of 2014 and I have 75k on it now.
I am also having problems with tires and a garage wanting 1,000 to replace the control arms and bushings but that is another problem. I need to find a noncommercial garage in the area I can trust.
Selling you a new computer would be stupid because it goes in the same place as the old computer, which is getting wet. I’d recommend not ever going back to that garage.
Sunroof drains are a prime suspect. Your car is quite known for them. In some cases, the drain tube is disconnected at the sunroof. You’ll need to take out the interior panels to access it and re-attach it. This also gives you the opportunity to inspect it for clogging.
Not sure it’s the computer that’s getting wet and causing the error codes. But instead some ignition component that sends a signal to the computer and thus throws the code.
When it’s dry and vehicle is running fine…get a spray bottle water and one at a time start spraying down ignition components…keep doing this til the problem occurs…the last component you sprayed with water is probably the culprit.
@shadowfax is right on the sunroof drainage problem. But if you open the sunroof and look down in the duct area along the corners you should see two little drain holes… Before taking Everything apart I would try to pour a little amount of water down and then check to see if any water is draining under the car… If it is then most likely the tubes are clogged, if not then they probably got disconnected. sometimes if tubes are clogged then the water has nowhere to go and will begin to leak into the car
I wonder if a faulty wheel speed sensor could cause this symptom, given the relationship to the traction control feature. Wheel speed sensors and their connections are near to the ground so would tend to get wet pretty easily.