mkirsch
Rochester, NY
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My Dad passed away in February 2021. Before we could get his affairs in order Mom got sick and that took priority until she passed last September.
Dad's truck, a 2015 Silverado 2500HD with just shy of 47K on the clock, must have developed a water leak in the cab. I tried to dry it out as best I could last fall and parked it inside a dry pole barn with the rest of the farm equipment.
Checked on it a few times over the winter, and it seemed okay.
Well I went to get it out today and found green mold growing in the cab. Turned the key and the truck started right up and sounds fine, but it throws a whole bunch of codes about the traction control, trailer brake, TPMS, and other systems. The trip odometers are blank. None of the gauges work.
I'm afraid the truck is junk. Water got in under the dash and I'm sure nothing short of a complete new wiring harness and who knows what else is going to fix it.
There was no insurance on the truck, not that it would have made any difference. This I'm sure would be considered "flood damage" and since flooding is not a common thing around here it wouldn't have been covered for that.
This really sucks because it was a nice low-mileage truck. I was considering buying it for myself. I really thought I had it dried out last fall and was doing a good thing by keeping it inside out of the weather.
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theoldwizard1
SE MI
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Unless find someone who is good at chasing electrical problems AND does not charge an arm and a leg, it is probably not worth fixing.
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agesilaus
North Florida
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I was at the local junk yard the other day looking for wheel covers for my wife's car that we were selling. And some women was checking out before me and she had an instrument cluster from some vehicle. The trick is finding the same model. But there is a national web app that will search nation wide for a part. So if you have access to a handy mechanic you might be able to save it.
Here it is: Car Parts
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Roger10378
Goodrich, MI.
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With the shortage of new trucks available at this time you might be surprised at what it will sell for.
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PastorCharlie
NC
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Check with a good reputable body repair shop. They are able to restore it. The truck is probably worth a lot.
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enblethen
Moses Lake, WA
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Check around for a detail shop.
Be surprised what they can do.
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ktmrfs
Portland, Oregon
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I'd try disconnecting the battery(s) for 10 minutes or so, then connect battery back up and start the car. See if that fixes it the display and error codes etc.
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Turtle n Peeps
California
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Ok, first, my condolences about your parents.
I was in the same boat as you about 15 years ago. A few things got away from me too and got damaged.
Now the good news. Rain water is pretty much purified water. This is very good news because if any salt water gets into any electrical; it's done. Water does not get into wires so the only thing that corrodes is the connection. Even that rarely happens because most connections are plated. So good news so far right?
Now the not so good news. I didn't say bad new because it's not really that bad of news. The stepper motors that run the gauges are kinda fragile. In fact they go out all the time with truck in climate controlled garages.
More good news. There are people out there that can replace the whole gauge cluster with a serviced one pretty cheaply.
About the interior and the not so good news. You're more than likely going to have to pull the seats out and have them redone. The carpet and padding and headliner is also going to have to be replaced. That will not be cheap but not too bad either when considering new truck costs or even used truck costs.
You are also going to need to have the cab ozoned. A lot of high end detail shops have ozone machines where you can have this done. This will kill all of the mold in the cab and make it smell good again.
Even if the puter is bad it not crazy expensive to replace. Not cheap but not 5 grand either.
All in all without seeing the truck, this things is VERY much worth saving and will be much cheaper than you think.
Good luck and let us know how things go.
~ Too many freaks & not enough circuses ~
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outside the fire"
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ACZL
UPstate,NY
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Like Turtle-n-Peeps,
My condolences with your parents. I agree w/ above statement as well. Won't be cheap to fix, but cheaper than anew truck.
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BurbMan
Indianapolis, IN
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Sorry to hear about the folks, mine also went close together with Dad passing 9/03 and Mom in 6/04, they lived up near Auburn.
A quick search shows that your Dad's truck with that low mileage is worth $40-50K, depending on body type and trim level.
Parking it inside was a good call because you stopped any more water from getting in. The bad news is that it wasn't completely dry, and as soon as the weather warmed up you got some mold. The mold is also indicative of very high humidity levels which may be affecting the body control module (BCM) or similar computers that control the functions that showed codes. The instrument cluster may be junk or it may just not be receiving any signals from wherever it gets signals from.
As T&P points out, it's all very fixable. It may cost you $5k for the diagnosis, repair and de-molding, but totally worth it based on the value of the truck. Even if you don't want to keep it, get it fixed and sell it.
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