Flooded Cab...ECU woes

I have a 2001 996 Cabriolet. It rained, (hurricane that we had a week or so ago), and the floorboards were soaked and had at least an 1" of water. Now, when I hook up the battery, the door looks just keep clicking, there are lights on, on the guages, won't start, etc. I found ECU Doctor online and they will rebuild the ECU for some ~$900 to ~$1,100 depending on which model of ECU I have. Any other cheaper options? Thanks on advance.

Well you can start by removing all of the soaked electronics and drying them out. The old "put them in rice" trick, I suppose. Your chances of escaping corrosion are slim but it's always worth a shot. If you're not handy with electrical repairs I'd strongly consider sending it out. If you manage to ruin your existing ECU the quote will get higher.

Take the immobilizer out from under the driver's seat and put it on one of your vents in your home for a few day . It might just need to be dried out. That immobilizer is likely the problem.

I pulled the imobilizer, pulled it apart and cleaned with alcohol. Will try to plug it in, in a while, to see if it works.

Use some electrical spray cleaner. My immobilizer has gotten wet several times until I found all the drains that need to be cleaned. I was always able to dry it and clean it.

Definitely start with the self-drying approach.

Okay, I pulled the ECU, hosed it down with alcohol and the let it dry. Plugged it back in and, so far so good. At least the dash board lights didn't light up like a Christmas Tree. Will charge the battery over night and then see if I can fire her up. That said, who out there is somewhat reasonable to assess whether or not the ECU has been damaged? I don't want to just FedEx my ECU to a company that will charge me $1K if the actual fix is only at $20 capacitor.

You're trying too quickly to get this car running. It's not the water that messes the immobilizer up. It's the electrical current that runs through one that's wet in some way. One major mistake you made was connecting the battery so quickly after the flood. You might have blown your opportunity to get it running without needing any services. Let it sit over a vent for at least two days. You only get one shot at this. Don't waste it by trying to get it running prematurely.

Take the cover of the ECU and and any other module that you can remove the cover and let it dry.

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I did pay ECU Specialists (ECU Doctors) in Florida for my repair of a burned up transistor. This was after a previous (6 months prior) diagnostics test they did. The repair was 5x the diagnostics cost, but they have the skills and experience and equipment to make it work, with warranty. They also sell a waterproofing kit, which I did buy, but haven�t yet installed. I probably should do that.

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What did they charge for the transistor replacement? Was this the transistor for the variocam solenoid?

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I think it was over $700. Yes, the transistor was burned from the solenoid on bank 2. The bank 1 solenoid failed 6 months prior, and ECU Specialists could find no fault with my DME at that time (and they were right). If you think $700 sounds like a lot of money for a simple $5 transistor, you are right, but I paid for a solution (a trouble free outcome) that was warrantied. Headaches with the DME aren�t worth the cost savings as these guys fully test the DME in other ways. I had enough headache with troubleshooting the first solenoid failure - spending $1000 in additional labor just on diagnosis - that led me to pay more money for a better skilled mechanic to fix the solenoid issue the right way the 2nd time.

Virtually same thing happened to me in my cab after torrential rains. Submitted an insurance claim to repair. $5,000 later my baby is good as new. HOWEVER, because of the cost the insurance company was required to report it to DMV as flood damage. Damn - didn�t see that coming. The good side zero hassles from insurance company and I have zero technical skills so I guess it worked out ok.

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Doesn't matter for you but maybe will be helpful for others. If you have a burned up Variocam transistor in the ECU, once you open up the cover and look at it, you will easily see that the transistor is literally burnt. Very easy to spot, you don't need to have any electrical knowledge. Mine went and after finding a suitable replacement ($7), it was replaced and the car ran fine for years. If you want to replace the other bank transistor just in case it might fail later then just get your hands on the wiring diagram and find the pins at the ECU for it and then just follow the trace on the circuit board. I left my other transistor alone but have the replacement part number just in case it ever fails. You can save majority of the $700 if you do it this way.

This is getting confusing. Are we still talking about the alarm module under the driver's seat or the ECU?

If it's a flood car i'd start taking everything out - seats, immobilizer, and main floor carpet. The things I can think of off the top of my head that sit low and might be water damaged are: - immobiliser and two main wiring harness plugs on each side of the car and two crash sensors - one on each side. Is it dry on the inside or wet?

Okay, after I took out the ECU, I pulled off the plastic cover and let it dry out. Then, I cleaned it with alcohol...no luck. Then, cleaned it with electronic spray cleaner. Still no luck. When I plug it in, the car seems to be normal but, it won't start, can't roll down the windows, can't turn on/off the alarm. I contacted ECU Doctor and they want about $1K to rebuild the ECU. Isn't there anyone else out there who is reliable and also cheap?

1k! That's absurd, I'm pretty sure a new alarm unit from Porsche is less than that... Someone else on here just had some success with another company and an auction car.

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This. I am so confused about what the OP is dealing with. The alarm/immobilzer is under the front drivers seat. The ECU is on the rear shelf behind the drivers seat. If the OP sends whatever unit to ECU Doctors, they will need the Immobilzer/ECU/and keys.

This is the part that got waterlogged. It's mounted to the floor right under the driver's seat. To be sure we are on the same page, this is a 2001 Porsche 996 Cabriolet.

The immobilizer/alarm unit costs $550 or whereabouts as a Porsche part. But there is work involved including programming they keys, which I guess can be expensive at the dealer. I still find the thread confusing wrt alarm vs. ECU.

BTW, since this was the part that got drenched, I am assuming this is my problem. Is there a list somewhere that will confirm what the immobilizer does? So far, the things that don't work that I know of are: Door Locks, Won't Start, Windows Won't go up or down, top won't go up or down.

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Fuel access door. I think that's about it.

I used SOS diagnostics when this happened to our 986. It was less than what you have quoted above.

You have a few options: - Dealership - buy a new alarm unit (they may also need to re-code you new keys) if they can't get the data out of the original. Depends on how water damaged the unit is - generally it will be working but not well - might be enough to use the transfer keys function in PIWIS2 which saves you from needing new keys - Independent service eg. Specialised ECU repairs, ECU doctors etc. they will take the code off the original unit and transfer it to a donor unit - if the data is still there. If its not they will need your ECU to rematch/pair it to a donor ACL. If the data is corrupt/gone new keys are required - Very clued in independent/specialist - if they are knowledgeable they can do what the independent services do but I think this skill is rare and they leave it to others/dealership - same deal as the independent service. The alarm unit controls quite a few things some people also call it the BCU "body control unit" as it does control quite a few things.

Okay, here is the update. Hagerty said I am covered so, I intend to have the car flat bedded to a dealership tomorrow. I am hoping they can get some info out of the old one due to the fact that if they have to pull the computer, well, you can't open the top with the imobilzer not working so, they would have to do it manually. I guess they have done this all before so, none of it should be an issue but, the less they have to screw with the car, the better.