# BCM Water Damaged?



## jdyates (Aug 22, 2018)

Hey, everyone. New to the forum, this is my first post. The car is a 2011 LT 1.4T 6AT with power everything minus seats.

Here's the backstory; my neighborhood underwent some pretty major flooding on 6/20/18, and unfortunately my house was a total loss and a few of my cars needed extensive repairs. Luckily, my wife's 2011 LT was parked at such an angle in the driveway that the only water it took on was in the floorboards. No water reached the fuse box, PCM, or battery, or anywhere near them for that matter. During the flooding, however, the car's alarm started to sound, and the remote went unresponsive. Door locks didn't respond, and the front left parking light lit up and stayed on all night until the battery died the next day. 

The car was taken to a shop to handle my insurance claim, and surprisingly, they didn't total it and elected to fix it. They ripped apart the interior, dried and cleaned it, full fluid change, and the car was running and driving in a matter of a day or two. 

Here's where things started to get a little wonky. The remote door locks still don't work, among a few other weird things. Namely;

-key fob does not work, no buttons have any response from the car. It was diagnosed by a specialty auto electric shop, and they claim it's the junction box. Apparently the car is "receiving signals from the key fob, but something is preventing the car from sending the signals to the door locks"

-the dome light turns on when the doors are opened, then turns off about one second later, then flashes for a split second every now and then while a door is open. Switch does not turn it on manually anymore. (Map lights work fine)

-The manual gear select no longer works. When moving the shifter to the "M" position, the dash still reads "D" like its still in drive.

EVERYTHING else on the car works and functions as it should. There's no check engine light, all lights and windows work fine, electric mirrors work fine, there's no other indication anything was wrong.

My theory is that the BCM could have taken a little bit of water just to mess with a few things, but not completely burn it out. I still need to pull the connectors to inspect them, but I'm making the post to see if anyone has any other opinions on the matter. 

I'm also going to replace the negative battery cable, because it's causing a "Service Charging System" message at highway speeds, and the charging voltage fluctuates too much for my liking. Verified by wiggling the cable and it stopped doing it. Dealership wants $125 to basically just park the car in a service bay and "diagnose it.", and mentioning the cable TSB didn't work, as they still wanted to charge me.


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## Blasirl (Mar 31, 2015)

Welcome Aboard!:welcome:

I would go back to the insurance company and tell them the car has not been fully repaired and you want them to take care of it. As for the dealer and the cable, read this: Special Coverage #14311: Negative Battery Cable

Don't forget to introduce yourself and your Cruze here.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

The charging system is managed by the BCM. 

It may not be the BCM itself, but the connector or wiring. But I'd certainly start looking in that direction. As I recall, it's located just above the floorboards on the far right.


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## Taxman (Aug 10, 2017)

What insurance company was this?

I can't believe they paid somebody to dry out a 7 year old economy car which was waterlogged to the point of electrical failure and called it fixed when it still had unresolved electrical issues.

I've seen $40,000 Mustangs totaled for flooding which did not result in any electrical damage.

I hope we see your car at CoPart next month with 'rejected repair' listed as the damage.


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## Snipesy (Dec 7, 2015)

Just call your insurance company. It's totalled. Don't go down the water damage rabbit hole, it is not worth the time nor the money.


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## jmuel (Aug 30, 2018)

Law in most states requires insurance company to total car if water is high enough to go over the door sill. That being said, if you want to keep it, buy a bcm on ebay for less than $40. Take it to dealer. Install the bcm in their lot (10 min) and have them push it inside and program it (about $100). It will be good as new.


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