ralpht44

I have water soaked at the front drivers side under the steering wheel. When I drive, I can hear water swiching around. Also, many of the das lights like ABS brake and the regular brake light as well as the transmission light come on. The trans also starts to slip after it being completely fine. Is it water that may be trapped under the floor board. If so, would this have to do with some sort of electrical problem due to the water? I am baffled.

FL 3.2L

Sounds like 2 issues. Is your coolant level OK? Wondering if your heater core is leaking. Can you smell coolant in the cabin? The other stuff sounds like your alternator is going, and it is causing the tranny problem. Who knows, maybe your tranny is going, too. Has it ever been serviced? And how many miles on it? I had the water swishing sound coming from water trapped in the rocker panels beneath the door sills, for another area to check.

__________________
'97 Rodeo LS 4X2 Dueler Alenzas 4L-30E 193K
'96 Jetta 236K
'97 TJ 153K
'03 E46 96K

ralpht44

Trans shifts smooth as butter normally although it is due for a service. This is intermittent ao does not do it all the time. It is a 94 3.2 with 120k. Had a lot of rain yesterday and all of a sudden this started.

trooperbc

how'd it get in there? //bc


for the OP, i would second FL's dual theory. the coolant from the heater core often starts on the passenger side, and then migrates along wiring and wicking through the carpet/soundproofing material gets over the hump to the driver's side. with a mirror and gymnastic contorsions you can see the heater core piping behind and up from the glove box as they go through the firewall. you can also attact them from the engine compartment, passenger side; feel around with your hands and see if you feel some green slippery liquid especially immediately after shutting the engine off, careful of the exhaust manifold.

the other problem could very well be your charging system, probably the alternator but first do a good check of all wiring, all connnectors, the battery, battery terminals, and the grounds. charging system problems are most often responsible for multiple dash lights lighting, and will also often cause problems with the trans operation often setting it into limp mode.

hth

//bc

__________________
1992 trooper 3.2L v6 sohc automatic...as is

i love a good intermittent electrical challenge. . .especially when it's someone else's.

FL 3.2L

There are drain holes under the pinch welds for water to escape. They were clogged with debris. The water got in higher where there is not a perfect seal farther up front near the fender liner. I think the engineers expected water to be able to flow out the bottom if it got in there on rainy days.

__________________
'97 Rodeo LS 4X2 Dueler Alenzas 4L-30E 193K
'96 Jetta 236K
'97 TJ 153K
'03 E46 96K