Faults and shifter locked due to water

[jgdisco2]

So the lady left the sunroof cracked open during the latest storm and we didn't catch that til it quit raining. Needless to say there is a ton of water that got in. Pulled carpets, vacuumed up a lot of the water but still drying with fan and all that.

The problem is when I turn the truck on I get a fault that won't let me shift it out of park. On the terrian response system dial, I have lights but I cannot select any modes. I'm guessing this is why it won't shift out of park.

So are we screwed or is there a way to get this back in running order without a dealership visit??

Edit 2006 se with hd

 

[discostew]

A couple things could have gotten wet causing this. The splices in the right sill area could be wet and causing one of two battery voltages to be lost at the brake light switch.. Most likely the red wire and not the wht/grn wire. The other common issue is with the connector on the shifter itself. It has a latching connector that plugs into the shifter and it catches water and anything else that gets spilled down there.

 

[jgdisco2]

So I've been watching some videos as to how to remove that part of the center console, all of them say to get the gear knob off it had to be in nuetral. The gear lever is locked in park. Any tricks for that?

Also I've located the red wire in the harness, would unplugging it, plugging it back in solve anything?

Sorry for the dumb questions, this truck is a whole new animal for me

 

[discostew]

Its not a dumb question. Just pull on the thing. They want it in neutral cause your going to pull so hard to release it that you might hurt your hand on the center stack when it releases.

 

[jgdisco2]

Center console is removed, didn't look or feel like a lot of moisture was there but still getting the fault. None of the drive modes will light up red so I'm thinking it is locked in park due to that. Unplugged the lead that goes into it and put some dielectric grease on the leads to keep the moisture out.

So I'm thinking it has to be the wiring in the footwell? What can I do there? I've got fans blowing to dry things out but nothing has changed in 3 days. Carpet is dry but the sound dampening is still wet. The wiring in the sill is dry but obviously water got something for it to be acting this way.

 

[discostew]

Take the knee boltster out from under the steering column. It should just pull loose from clips at the top side then pivot down on a couple tabs before just lifting out. Check the 4 wires going to the brake light switch with a test light. Two of them should have battery voltage when the key is on. I bet the red one is your problem. Did you see that connector on the base of the shifter? Unlatch it and look for corrosion in the terminals.

 

[jgdisco2]

Voltage looks good. Truck now will recognize road mode but will not select any other off road mode, air suspension acts as normal as does high/low shift.

 

[jgdisco2]

Another day of drying out, still will not recognize any other mode than normal road mode. Is that sensor or dial toast?

 

[discostew]

Another day of drying out, still will not recognize any other mode than normal road mode. Is that sensor or dial toast?

Your going to need to get codes out of all the systems. Anything short of that is total guess. Does it shift out of park now? You could try a hard reset to see if that clears out some of the codes causing this. disconnect both battery cable and touch them together. Sometimes I have to bridge the gap between them with a wrench.

 

[jgdisco2]

Will shift out of park and run and drive normally, only symptom is the lack of other terrain modes.

I'll check on a hard reset tomorrow