I'm an idiot. Apparently I didn't get the plastic shield at the bottom of the windshield to seal properly when I re-installed it yesterday, and after a torrential downpour last night, my trans went HAYWIRE today. Intermittently at first, then just completely **** the bed.
PRNDS were all illuminated, then they would all shut off and the whole car would lose power, then come back to life a split second later, still illuminated :PRNDS:. I stopped by Autozone to scan it, and it said :lost communication with TCU.
I figured it had to be water, but I also just got an APR on Thursday and at first I thought it was that.
Anyway, I limped home and took up the carpet and SURE ENOUGH, the TCU was COMPLETELY submerged under water....
I removed the plastic box and, of course, FULL of water.
So, my ultimate question is:
Is the TCU fried, or does anyone think there's hope of drying out???
My carpet and foam padding is another story...
Also, how or what do I use to seal that plastic shield from leaking again?
Thanks all~

 

sorry to hear the news. When you brought up yur issues the other day in a different thread I told you I thought it maybe a tcu code due to bad connection or humidity. That sucks. I m not sure how to dry it out without damaging it further. Maybe just let it sour out in a dry area. Keep us posted. See if auditech79 he any ideas for you. You should m
Him

 

Thanks Gigi. I'm wondering if my Thursday incident was a separate issue from this one. I can pretty much say for sure that it didn't leak until Saturday night, after I couldn't get the windshield to seal properly against the plastic piece and then we suffered torrential downpours... who knows?
Now when I re-connect the TCU, it won't even display the PRNDS on the dash display, and it won't shift out of park. If I remove the computer, it will shift out of park, but clunk into the gears. Obviously, I'm not going to dare to drive it like that....
Also, now the ABS and ESP ligets are on. I'm assuming this is directly related to the TCU being dead....
Anyone know a good place to get a new/used TCU? I found a company on Ebay, but I'm weary, just in case a new one doesn't quite fix the problem.
Does anyone know if/think it could've damaged the ECU when the TCU shorted out?
Thanks again.

 

Audi wants $1251 for a new TCU. OUCH!! Time to start calling junkyards, I guess...

 

contact shokan.com and give them your vin

 

I'll try that. Calls to all the junkyards with national database connections revealed that there's only 1 TCU in the country, in Wisconsin, and one guy said they're weird about shipping.... Oh well, we'll see...

 

Great link; thanks! Hopefully they'll be able to help me out!!

 

Park the car and leave the computer in the sun for a few days. It should be just fine once it dries out. Most electronics do just fine after going for a swim. Now of course it very well could be toast, but before spending a lot of money, I would just let it sit for a few days.

Another drying option would be to put it in a bucket and fill it with rice. Let it sit in there for a few days. You could take it's outer cover off, use compressed air to remove as much visible water and then put it in the bucket with rice. Or place in the sun.

The worst thing you can do it hook it back up before letting it completely dry. Your chances of success depend on how long the computer was forced to work while wet.

Best of luck,

Jeff

 

I had my window switch soaked with water. It was alutomatically pulling windows down all the time. I pulled it out and water was flowing everywhere. Anyways, I set in on top of heater vent at home over night and it worked like a charm next day. Give that a try first, before spending money.

 

Thanks for the help and the info, guys! Turns out, my insurance will cover it under my comprehensive, but there's a $500 deductible. The junkyard unit would've been $300 with no warranties, or I can get a brand new one from the dealership with installation and maybe drying/replacement of my carpet and padding while they're at it! That would be nice
Anyways, in the meantime, I took the comp. apart and am leaving it in rice. Maybe I'll put the whole thing in the rice, too???
Again, thanks to all for the help!!