Intermittent power loss leak related?

[James]

Good morning 

my 2004 hybrid alphard has been having intermittent power loss not recognising its battery and failing to start. Two months at the garage found no specific fault but seemed to get it working. After 4.8 miles it failed again, same problem. After several days the garage recovered it as it wouldn’t start! After a few days they got round to looking at it and it started and behaved normally every road test!

I drove it home, all well. Next day tried starting it several times all ok. Next day wouldn’t start same problem.

at that point I noticed the fitted carpet in drivers foot well was soaking wet, the mats above it dry! A day of dehumidifier and heater in car and in the afternoon the car started! 
next morning it failed to start. Another day of heating and dehumidifier progressed the drying but a storm and torrential rain brought to my attention a wet patch formed in the carpet around the base of the drivers pilar! 
more drying and car started again. Today car starts having overnight drying and keeping roof covered!!

I suspect the leak down the drivers pilar ? Cause may be at the root or the problem of power loss?? Could it be causing a short or current leak that the car detects and shuts down??

Any ideas how to find the leak?

How do I remove the drivers pilar trim to see behind it??

sorry it’s a very long post but grateful for any thoughts and ideas.

thank you everyone. J

[Rojie]

1 hour ago, James said:

Good morning 

my 2004 hybrid alphard has been having intermittent power loss not recognising its battery and failing to start. Two months at the garage found no specific fault but seemed to get it working. After 4.8 miles it failed again, same problem. After several days the garage recovered it as it wouldn’t start! After a few days they got round to looking at it and it started and behaved normally every road test!

I drove it home, all well. Next day tried starting it several times all ok. Next day wouldn’t start same problem.

at that point I noticed the fitted carpet in drivers foot well was soaking wet, the mats above it dry! A day of dehumidifier and heater in car and in the afternoon the car started! 
next morning it failed to start. Another day of heating and dehumidifier progressed the drying but a storm and torrential rain brought to my attention a wet patch formed in the carpet around the base of the drivers pilar! 
more drying and car started again. Today car starts having overnight drying and keeping roof covered!!

I suspect the leak down the drivers pilar ? Cause may be at the root or the problem of power loss?? Could it be causing a short or current leak that the car detects and shuts down??

Any ideas how to find the leak?

How do I remove the drivers pilar trim to see behind it??

sorry it’s a very long post but grateful for any thoughts and ideas.

thank you everyone. J

 

Silly question, and probably totally irrelevant.

I assume your van has a sun roof / moon roof ?

If so, I am wondering if the drains are blocked.

 

This topic is covered elsewhere in this Forum.

Try the search facility on your home page.

[James]

Yes it has a moon roof. I checked the drains that go forward to the drivers sun roof and these were clear but cannot access the forward sun roof to see where the drains go from there

[smurf]

It is very likely that they go down the A pillars and then down to the cill. I believe the A pillar covers are very easy to remove, and is probably a good starting point for finding the root cause, which is possibly that the drain hose has come off at the sunroof end or perished/worn through somewhere. 

 

The other possibility is that water is finding its way through the seal between the windscreen glass and the body.

 

Although it would look terrible, a good way to eliminate the sunroof drains as the issue is to gaffer tape up around the glass to prevent water from even getting in. If you still get wet carpets then you know the issue lies elsewhere. 

[James]

Thanks that very helpful.

having dried out the car it repeatedly started so I drove to a hill to test the drain which all drained rapidly from the moon roof to behind the wheel arches. 
i then attempted to drive to refuel but got 800m and the power went as the car failed to see the hybrid battery!

pulling up off the road I disconnected the 12v battery and reconnected after 5 minutes. Fortunately the car restarted and I drove home 800m. Unfortunately the car now will not see the hybrid battery and will not start, the original problem!

I cannot feel any dampness in the carpet in the drivers footwell or at the base of the drivers pilar so perhaps it was a red herring although failing so soon after doing the moon roof drain test ??? I do not know what the water could be affecting to cause the problem?