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[wakeyomega]

Hi All
I've been out with the Omega in two of the badly flood affected area's today, West York and Lincolnshire, I've driven through almost monsoon style rain, and I've also encountered quite a few flooded roads, and although I have driven through them very slowly, there is still a bow wave and therefore some underbody splashing.

I stopped the car back home in Wakefield for 30 minutes (to photo the floods), when i got back in and started the car I got the "'A'  - Auto Gearbox" message on the display, and the lights on the gear selector were dancing around. I switched off on and managed to get it to pull away in 3rd. When I got home 5 mins later, I switched of and on again, and with the gear in 'Park' I was also getting a flickering light on 3rd also (very faint).

It feels like it may simply be ingress of water / damp into the selector mechanism so I'm going to leave it overnight 'to dry out'.

Does this sound right or familiar? or is it wishful thinking.

Thanks Pat

[TheBoy]

The selector switch is on side of box, so possible if its been submerged...   ...I think its supposed to be fairly waterproof, but submerging it  :-/

[STMO123]

It seems like too much of a coincidence for the two not to be connected Pat. Trouble is, will it ever get a chance to dry out?

PS. You should have seen the lake I had to drive through at the bottom of Haigh Lane. Right up to the floor of the car

[wakeyomega]

Fingers crossed then Steve, (BTW I've never seen the water so High at the Calder / Chantry bridge)

Thanks TB, I wasn't exactly submerged, but may as well as been given the splashing and bow wave I probably made on some parts of the flooded roads.

[Kevin Wood]

I'd be inclined to take the switch off, dry it out, clean it up and try and seal it properly on reassembly. It's designed to be water tight so the water will find it difficult to get out, and it's liable to corrode the contacts now it's in there.

Kevin

[Marks DTM Calib]

Its not totaly water tight....it has a drian hole/vent type affair in it that fits into a rubber tube that is part of the wiring loom, it can be seen on the top left of the pic

[wakeyomega]

That's a useful picture Mark, thanks. I'll see if i can get at the drain from underneath. May also try a hairdryer on the general area.

Pat

[Marks DTM Calib]

Just take it off and work on it in the comfort of your own home.....there are only two bolts a nut and an electrical connector


On the car



Alignment slot for re-fitting

[wakeyomega]

Ah.... that makes me feel better - I consulted 'Haynes' (I know, serves me right) and it talked about taking off both cats, undoing the prop shaft, jacking up the gearbox to remove the support then lowering down past its normal position(minding not to damage anything in the engine compartment) then unbolting the switch - so i I shut the book up quickly and put my head in a bucket of sand! (Perhaps I was reading the wrong section.)

I just need to wait for the flood water to subside on the drive now!!

Cheers Pat

[Dave-C]

I sincerely feel for you folks who've had the floods in Yorkshire and other areas...  It's devastating, we watched it on TV yesterday...  I hope your damage is minimal...

Regards

Dave C

[VX1]

I had the same think happen to me when my gearbox was replaced. Got about a mile from home and the "Autobox" came on the dash and the lights on the selector were dancing around to RIVER DANCE lol. So rang my mechanic up and he said it could be were he cleaned all underneath the car because of all the trns fluid that was thrown all over the place. Took it back to him wiped all around dried it all out and still the same problem. Took it off and replaced with the old one off my old box and now its fine. So the moral of this story is Don't go rowing in the flood's if you can help it and replace the selector switch. Your switch will be now knackered and will need replacing best all round. As DEL BOY would say "you know it makes sense".

Paul

[wakeyomega]

Sorted (well appears to be anyway, time will tell). Many thanks to all contributors, especially Mark who saved me 2 days effort (at my pace). I undid the linkage and dropped the switch off the two retaining bolts, unplugged the plug, but could not easily detach the plug from the retaining back plate (there appears to be a plastic sprung clip holding it in place, I didn't want to tug too hard in case it broke) however, I was able to dismantle the switch while it hung under the car and, low and behold, as I separated the casing a few drops of water came out. I then took a hairdryer blowdried my hair and gently dried out the interior of the switch for 15 minutes. refitted it and have just come back from a test run - lights now stable and gearbox functioning OK.

I've got a long run on thursday so hopefully that will confirm repair or otherwise.

thanks again

Pat

NB - Re Floods,  our garden is all but clear now, however 2 or 3 streets full of the poor folks just down the same road are in for another night of camping in the local sports centre.

[TheBoy]

Great news

A replacement wouldn't have been cheap