Car won't star; dealer says water damage

[MRandlett]

Hi all,
Has anyone heard of this happening? The engine of our 450h won't start. Battery is fine. We had it towed to the dealer, who says the problem is that water has been leaking in from the sunroof and damaged wires. It's going to be thousands of dollars to repair because the "interior" has to be removed or some such. We have no signs of water in the car.
Thank you,
MMR

 

[HaloRomeo27]

I know exactly what the issue is there and no it will not cost thousands to fix does involve removing some interior parts to get to the battery assembly and an easy way to find that water is lift up the drivers or passenger side carpet if water is there you will know it quickly the sunroof drains clog very easy

 

[RAL]

Welcome @HaloRomeo27

 

[HaloRomeo27]

Welcome @HaloRomeo27

Thank you for the welcome

 

[Ian Schmidt]

Sunroof drain clogs are a thing on pretty much all cars, and it's easy in many cases to go a while without actually noticing the water. It sounds like the dealer's going to replace the interior wiring harness, which is definitely expensive, but unfortunately there aren't a lot of mechanics that competently do wire-level or connector-level repairs so just changing the harness is the safest/lowest skill fix.

 

[HaloRomeo27]

I would want to inspect the wiring harness most damage would be in the battery isolator possible connector corrosion depends on how long the water has been there some can be saved others need replaced as with any high voltage system don't just go poking around they will kill you if you don't know what your doing