Like an idiot, I went to sleep having left the sunroof and one window open. It was a beautiful, dry day yesterday; this morning I woke up to a thunderstorm. Not only is the car pretty wet inside, but the sunroof switch wouldn't work and the hazard light switch was sitting there illuminated, so I suppose a lot of stuff is shorted out.

I've covered the whole thing in plastic, dried things as best as I could with a towel, removed wet carpet, and disconnected the battery. If the rain stops I'll uncover the car and let it dry out. Is there anything else I can do at the moment?

How likely is it I've done lasting damage to the car?

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http://webwench.net/albums/new83-300...1700.thumb.jpg
1983 300D-T
348,000 miles

Bummer that,

I doubt there's perm. damage but I'm generally an optimist when confronterd with things like this, could be worse.

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Rob M
Norwich, VT USA
1980 240D Euro delivery 4 speed manual silver/blue
~160K miles

A hairdryer directed around those switches should help, followed by an aerosol electrical contact cleaner. I'd include the window switches too.

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'82 300SD - 361K mi - "Blue"

"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."

listen, look, .........and duck.

You aren't the first one who's done that!

Sounds bad....tell ya what...I'll give ya $200 for the car and take your worries away.......

I took one of the switches apart to clean out spilled coke...(the liquid kind)....it was causing the switch to stick. They are the simplest things around...open it, dry it, back in business.

As for the rest of the interior, all I can say is find a way to dry it out and you'll be fine. Make sure you pull all carpets, etc. so you get all the way to the soundproofing and floorboards..

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1998 W202 C230 - The money pit of late.
1984 W126 300SD (356,800 miles) Gone to the wrenchapart
1984 W123 300D Gone to the wrenchapart
1972 W108 280SE 3.5 (sold but not forgotten)
1986 Buick Grand National 3.8l Turbo (86k miles)
1966 Glassic Model 'A' Replica http://www.glassicannex.org

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The sunroof can be closed manually but I have never done it and can't describe the procedure. I bet it has been posted before, or you can find it over at skinnerbox.

Yes it can, my W126's details the procedure right in the manual. On the W126 their is a knob back by the antenna and a tool fits in their that is in your tool kit. I guess you crank it and it shuts but I have never tried it.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

OK; thanks for the advising so far, everyone.

I have cranked the sunroof closed with the socket wrench supplied in the car's toolkit. Simplest thing in the world; in the trunk on the left side, right under the trunk lid spring is a little access panel, and behind that is a big plastic-looking nut. You turn it counterclockwise with the wrench (clockwise in coupes says the manual) until it closes.

Then I reconnected the battery to try out the window switches, and none of them work, which is unfortunate considering two windows are down. However, the sunroof switch works now, go figure. So I've removed the cover for the center console and all the console switches and brought them in to dry, and have removed the easily-removable carpet under the floormats -- will remove more later today if I can figure out how. Hopefully everything will be okay.

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http://webwench.net/albums/new83-300...1700.thumb.jpg
1983 300D-T
348,000 miles