Hazard lights keep turning on and off

[madmanpauly]

I need some help here. My sunroof drain hose "disconnected" recently and I had to reattach it. In the interim, some water got into the interior of the car. Ever since, the hazard lights will come on and turn off on their own. It's killing the battery in the evenings and a bit embarrassing while driving. Does anyone have any ideas before I go and pay thousands at the dealership?

[VStar650CL]

You almost certainly got water into one or more connectors somewhere, either the big SMJ connectors at each end of the dashboard or some of the surrounding smaller connectors, possibly even the fusebox depending where it's located. Water from sunroof leaks makes its way down the A-pillars and can drip onto anything in or near the kick panels. You need to crack and inspect all of them. Corrosion on connector pins generally shows up as a green stain. Any you find should be treated with Deoxit or another good contact cleaner, then water chased out with WD40, and the contacts finally protected from further and future corrosion with a heavy dose of dielectric grease. Connectors in those areas should all be WD'd and greased even if no corrosion is evident, residual water can cause low grade shorts in and of itself.

[madmanpauly]

Agree, passenger side is affected so the fuse box is dry - thankfully.

[madmanpauly]

Done. It finally stopped raining and I was able to dry it all out. The connector at the kick panel on the passenger side must have gotten wet because I cleaned it up, chased the water out with WD40, and applied a lot of dielectric grease. Fixed. All works normally now. Thanks!

[VStar650CL]

[jasonpirkle]

Were the connectors that you cleaned up and chased the water from with wd40 the 3 connectors to the BCM? Thank you

[madmanpauly]

To be honest, I didn't find out where it went but it was one fairly large connector. Possibly 2" x 3". It's been a minute since I did this, but, if you remove the kick panel on the passenger side, you'll quickly see it. There isn't much else in that location. Does that help? I didn't take pictures at the time.

[jasonpirkle]

i took out the panel directly under the glove box towards the front of the car. The BCM is behind that and has 3 connectors. Is that the kick panel you removed or is it on the right wall towards the side of the car? Appreciate the quick response btw on this old thread.

[VStar650CL]

I'm confused about what you're looking at. The BCM on an '11 M is under the lefthand dash, it's nowhere near the glove box. There are some control units in that area, but they aren't the BCM. There is a big SMJ connector which links the Main to Body #2 harnesses, if there's a moisture problem on the passenger side then that's the thing most likely to be invaded.

[jasonpirkle]

Thank you

[madmanpauly]

I see, the kick panel would be basically to the right of the glove box. It's the panel that's just in front of the door panel. If you were sitting in the passenger seat, it would be at your Right foot. To be fair, the connector that I'm speaking of was sort of in that corner, not under the glove box. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

What's the issue that you're troubleshooting? It might give us some context to see if we can help a bit more.

[jasonpirkle]

The hazards have been coming on while the car is off, draining the battery. I looked at the connectors under the glove box but didnt see any staining at all. Will look at the large connector under the panel to the right tonight to see if i see any staining or water. Never really saw any water on the floor but a short from water somewhere seems to be the most probable.

[VStar650CL]

The kick panel is #4 in the diagram on INT-36. Nissan japlishly calls it a "dash side finisher":
https://www.nicoclub.com/service-manual ... %2FINT.pdf

[VStar650CL]

You really need to break the connectors and look for visible water or green corrosion. It's highly doubtful you'll see anything external. Since the BCM is on the left, it's more likely any hidden problem would be on that side.

[madmanpauly]

Agree, It took a bit of investigation for me to find the water. There's a - for lack of a better word - channel that runs along the floor panel and has a styro piece that sits in t it. It can hold water without soaking the carpet.

The sunroof drains through a small hose that runs from the sunroof down to the same area as the connector (ish). So I didn't see any wet areas until it was really wet and had been for a while.

I hope it goes well for you!

[jasonpirkle]

I guess I should add that the actual hazard button doesn't turn on or off the hazards at all either. Not sure if it could be that button that is just bad. Thank you for the input.

[madmanpauly]

There are several youtube videos on how to remove the screen. You don't need to remove the screen but that panel does pop out. If you can remove it, you can either put a voltmeter to it or bring it to a shop to do it. That would eliminate the switch. That whole panel can be found on ebay if the button is bad. I personally would go after the connector in the passenger kick panel and / or the button. Neither one is overly terrible to do.

[madmanpauly]

Or just change it out. Honestly, for less than $25 you can simply swap the panel:
https://ebay.us/m/ivaZf9

[madmanpauly]

Here's the video, you obviously wouldn't have to remove all of these panels - use your judgement. Also, don't use a damn screwdriver like this guy...get a hard plastic tool from Harbor Freight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BL6_6tMDQgs

[jasonpirkle]

Just wanted to stop back and say thank you. The water had gotten in on the passenger side and into the TPMS module. Purchased a used one on ebay, cleaned up the connector and the issue is resolved. Thanks again for your help.

[VStar650CL]

[madmanpauly]

That's great news! Repay us with a burnout pic:)

[superdesi]

Just wanted to stop back and say thank you. The water had gotten in on the passenger side and into the TPMS module. Purchased a used one on ebay, cleaned up the connector and the issue is resolved. Thanks again for your help.

What's amazing is that the FSM procedure for diagnosing the hazard circuit does not involve the TPMS module. The BCM is what activates the flashers.

However, I did check the TPMS circuit and pin 29 of the BCM leads to pin 30 of the TPMS module (labeled BCM Flasher). When looking at the BCM circuit, pin 29 leads directly to the hazard switch on the multifunction dash pad.

[VStar650CL]

The source for that signal is actually pin 16 of the multifunction switch, which tells the TPMS and BCM that the hazards are on. I'm sure it's a pulled-up circuit which gets grounded by the hazard switch, so the water was probably shorting the circuit to a nearby ground and invoking the lamps. Typical rainwater is about 200 ohms per inch, so it can easily short any sort of signal wire without burning anything up.