Audi S8 D2 Indicators stopped working

[notorious]

No. It can only drip on indicator relays via Botang's hole. Gravity. The hole is directly above the relay.

No matter because scuttle drains are blocked or because it is raining now and it just drips from windscreen directly on Botang's hole with clean scuttle drains, the bottom line is that water gets into chassis of the car via Botan's hole. Of course, with blocked scuttle drains if water always stays permanently above the level of Botang's hole the paper patch will probably disintegrate faster than during occational rains.

Botang's hole will fail on all A8 D2s. The question is not will it fail or will it not fail. The question is **when** it will fail.

[HPsauce]

Originally Posted by notorious

Of course, with blocked scuttle drains if water always stays permanently above the level of Botang's hole the paper patch will probably disintegrate faster than during occational rains.

Exactly what I meant, that's why that needs checking too.

[H24k]

I took out my passenger front carpet ages back and it was soaking, and I dried it out but had to wash the hell out of it due to nasty stink of stale water!!

Anyway I cleaned up all the other water under the carpet and put loads of rags etc to sock up anything else that comes in, actually done that a few weeks back as the water problem has been with my car for some time now, and it doesnt look like alot of water is coming in, it just seems to build up over months so must be a slight leakage coming in and the rear carpets are not wet at all, the main problem obviously is the indicator problem as i cant drive the car safely!

I will address the problem with the pum tang hole or whatever its called lol as soon as I can, did try earlier today but it started ****ing down so had to call it a day, ive also got another facelift S8 which has an oil cooler problem which im also working on same time, Luckily sold my 3rd pre facelift a few weeks ago so now only have the two to worry about but the one im talking about here is my main car, and im stranded without it!! So if I do put the new relay in soon and have not addressed the water issue yet then I think its wise to cover the relays for the meantime just to protect them for more damage!?

[The_Laird]

For the life of me, I don't understand why you don't start with the easy, 30 second option of checking the drain in the wheel arch!

My simple mind says check the easy things first, especially as that's the drain that blocks most often on my car. I know Botang's hole is a possiblity/probability and I'll be doing mine when the weather improves, but you have a good chance of fixing the problem instantly if you check the wheel arch drain, instead of leaving a wet footwell for days/weeks whilst you pray for good weather.

Get a torch, find the rubber 'teat' at the top rear of the wheel arch and give it a squeeze!

[notorious]

Jim, this won't help. Botang's hole is located right below lower edge of windscreen. When it rains water drips from windscreen **directly** into the hole. Because of gravity laws this will happen even with perfectly clean wheel arch drains.

Now from Botangs hole water drips **directly* into indicator relay case. Gravity laws again.

If author of the thread has confirmed that water is inside indicator relay it means that is has got there **only** via Botangs hole. It can't be anything else. In D2 cars water can get into indicator relay only via Botang's hole, which is directly above that relay.

Hope it is more clear now.

[HPsauce]

The thing that concerns me is that Botangs hole isn't particularly large and I don't see it being the sole source of the amount of water described as being around the carpets, especially if all the drains are working properly.
Hence the suggestion to check elsewhere for blockages, made by me and others.

[notorious]

Take a bucket of water and drill 5mm hole in it. Fill bucket with water........

But let's be conservative. If 10ml of water gets in per minute that means 14.4 litres if it rains 24 hours per day.

[The_Laird]

Originally Posted by notorious

if it rains 24 hours per day.

But he doesn't live in Helensburgh!

[H24k]

I opened the relay and the whole circuit board was brown with rust however I still gave it some WD40 treatment and cleaned most of the rust off and then put it inside the house on top of the radiator and just left it over night,

I swapped the relay from my other S8 onto the mentioned car and indicators started working again as expected (Thank God!!) and then I thought to put the old mangled relay into the other car and to my surprise that works fine aswell now, so looks like you can save these relays in some cases!!

I noticed that there was some water in the same place on the other car aswell and the relay even had some drops of water on it when I took it out so looks like this is very common problem with the Botang holes as Notorious has said, so Im gonna address the problem on both cars in the next couple days and then dry them both out and hopefully thats that sorted!!

I will also check the wheel arch drains as The_Laird has mentioned as you never know these could also be blocked up!

[notorious]

I'd never put back water damaged relays into car.
Even after WD40 treatment .

Don't forget to check other neighbouring relays in that plate too.
If your car is late FL you may have ABS relay there also with some water.

P.S. Hole is named after nickname of someone who first discovered it:
http://www.tyresmoke.net/forum/topic/72396-wet-carpet/