Flood water damage resulting in full battery replacement

[mrg9999]

Hi all,
I am a new member and I have just signed up specifically to make this post.
Before I go onto explain the situation, I want to precede this with the fact that I am not here to publicly shame MG, the car ( 2023 MG ZS EV) or scaremonger. I'm simply looking for answers and possible explanations to how this could have occurred. However, I don't have anything positive to say about the garage involved (Paul Rigby MG Redditch), as their service has been poor and that has made it harder for me to trust their findings. I have seen another recent thread referring to the same garage so I'm obviously not alone in this.
Its a bit long winded, but I will try my best to summarise and keep it concise.

• Its a company lease car that we have had from new since April 2023, done only 5K miles in that time. Mainly used by my wife for getting our baby around town.
• One Monday morning we were unable to put it into drive. The car as asking us to put it on charge (even though it had over 30 miles left) and hab the warning HV Battery disconnect. Unfortunately, it was parked too far away from our charge point. I had the idea of getting a mains charger to put through the living room window, but after waiting a day to get this we then couldnt access the car, complete shut off. AA came out suggested the problem was related to the main battery seeking a charge which had drained the 12V battery. He jump started it, took it round the block to clear the warning messages and then plugged it in. Said it would be good to go in a coupe of hours. Sure enough we were driving it again that afternoon without issue.
• Next morning same original problem - we could get into car, but couldnt put into drive and had the warning message HV Battery Dicsconnect. AA came out again, but this time they said they couldn't diagnose the problem and it would need to be taken to the manufacture.
• A week later it went into the garage and I ended up booking an AA visit in advance knowing that I wouldnt be able to start it. He tried everything to get it started, but then decided it had to be recovered and we both went in his van towing it to the garage. (I have spoken to this AA man since and he was shocked at the outcome).
• After several days the garage finally looked at it and I got told the report had been submitted to MG and they were waiting for their response. A day later the service manager rang me and said that there was water damage, which could only have been caused by us driving it through high level water or leaving it in high level water. As a result MG wouldn't be covering the repairs under warranty and it would likely be several thousand so I was advised to contact my insurance. I was very surprised at this, as I couldn't recall going through any water of note (I innocently thought it was some form of electrical fault and that I would have the car back in a matter of days).
• I have asked to see the report but have so far been denied access to this and all the evidence that has been provided to me has been a few photos of some internal parts looking wet and suggested flood damage to the outside of the car, some of which I don't honestly recognise. I took it up with the lease company and they initially agreed that it seemed inconclusive, but after asking some more questions to the garage they said they had to accept the evidence provided and that I was liable for the recharge. I was advised that I would receive an email with a quote on the likely repair cost and I would need to approve it before it would be actioned. The email arrived and it stated a full battery replacement at the total estimated cost of £22K+VAT. Obviously this came as a massive shock to me, especially as this had now seemingly escalated from a few thousand pounds of repairs to tens of thousands for a full battery replacement.
• Needless to say I didn't approve this and went back to the lease company strongly arguing against this outcome, putting on record to them that I hadn't knowingly or willingly driven through any high level water. I also made the point that this is our family car and my young baby is in it 99% of the time, which means that I have apparently put this life at risk. I also sent a similar disgruntled email to MG customer services.
• The lease company have said that they are going to send in their own independent inspectors and that I will also be allowed to arrange my own independent inspection after this.
• MG customer service responded saying 'the damage could only occur if the vehicle has been driven through flood water, at a reasonable pace on a number of occasions. Alternatively, the vehicle has been sat in flood water.' The second part to that seems so ridiculous that its not even worth entertaining and the first part has just made me even more adamant that there must be some other reasoning for this. To think maybe I have been through some level of water once without being able to recall it - unlikely but possible. To say that I have done it several times - that I just cant comprehend.

Does anybody have any thoughts on this please? I've been racking my brains for possible explanations and the only ones I can come up with are as follows;

1. The car was sat in water during transportation on its way to us, but would it take that long for the damage caused to become apparent?
2. We went through some water (hand on heart cant recall anything of note) several months ago, which has caused some water damage and then corrosion to parts around the battery, which has then further caused water ingress and damage to the battery? Although, I would then argue that this would mean a ticking time bomb for people who, like us, would carry on using the cars not knowing that there was damage being caused to the battery at such astronomical cost.
3. This is probably going to show how little I know about cars, but perhaps there was water retained in the car and when it was put on the back of the AA van, this then caused it to shift and create damage to the rest of the car?

I realise I have waffled a bit now but just t finish; I am not a car person and I don't really mind what I drive, I just want a reliable car that gets me and my family from A to B. I am not particularly for or against electric and the only reason I got one is because it made sense from a tax (financial) perspective. The idea was to sell my Focus, bank the cash to cover my wifes maternity and then also get a family car in the process. Instead of securing us financially I am not looking at the possibility of causing us financial hardship for years to come.

Any help is much appreciated.

I've driven through fords/flooded roads up to the wheel arches with no ill effect. I don't do this on purpose but it fares better than an ICE car without a snorkel.

 

[cristianton]

Hi all,
I am a new member and I have just signed up specifically to make this post.
Before I go onto explain the situation, I want to precede this with the fact that I am not here to publicly shame MG, the car ( 2023 MG ZS EV) or scaremonger. I'm simply looking for answers and possible explanations to how this could have occurred. However, I don't have anything positive to say about the garage involved (Paul Rigby MG Redditch), as their service has been poor and that has made it harder for me to trust their findings. I have seen another recent thread referring to the same garage so I'm obviously not alone in this.
Its a bit long winded, but I will try my best to summarise and keep it concise.

• Its a company lease car that we have had from new since April 2023, done only 5K miles in that time. Mainly used by my wife for getting our baby around town.
• One Monday morning we were unable to put it into drive. The car as asking us to put it on charge (even though it had over 30 miles left) and hab the warning HV Battery disconnect. Unfortunately, it was parked too far away from our charge point. I had the idea of getting a mains charger to put through the living room window, but after waiting a day to get this we then couldnt access the car, complete shut off. AA came out suggested the problem was related to the main battery seeking a charge which had drained the 12V battery. He jump started it, took it round the block to clear the warning messages and then plugged it in. Said it would be good to go in a coupe of hours. Sure enough we were driving it again that afternoon without issue.
• Next morning same original problem - we could get into car, but couldnt put into drive and had the warning message HV Battery Dicsconnect. AA came out again, but this time they said they couldn't diagnose the problem and it would need to be taken to the manufacture.
• A week later it went into the garage and I ended up booking an AA visit in advance knowing that I wouldnt be able to start it. He tried everything to get it started, but then decided it had to be recovered and we both went in his van towing it to the garage. (I have spoken to this AA man since and he was shocked at the outcome).
• After several days the garage finally looked at it and I got told the report had been submitted to MG and they were waiting for their response. A day later the service manager rang me and said that there was water damage, which could only have been caused by us driving it through high level water or leaving it in high level water. As a result MG wouldn't be covering the repairs under warranty and it would likely be several thousand so I was advised to contact my insurance. I was very surprised at this, as I couldn't recall going through any water of note (I innocently thought it was some form of electrical fault and that I would have the car back in a matter of days).
• I have asked to see the report but have so far been denied access to this and all the evidence that has been provided to me has been a few photos of some internal parts looking wet and suggested flood damage to the outside of the car, some of which I don't honestly recognise. I took it up with the lease company and they initially agreed that it seemed inconclusive, but after asking some more questions to the garage they said they had to accept the evidence provided and that I was liable for the recharge. I was advised that I would receive an email with a quote on the likely repair cost and I would need to approve it before it would be actioned. The email arrived and it stated a full battery replacement at the total estimated cost of £22K+VAT. Obviously this came as a massive shock to me, especially as this had now seemingly escalated from a few thousand pounds of repairs to tens of thousands for a full battery replacement.
• Needless to say I didn't approve this and went back to the lease company strongly arguing against this outcome, putting on record to them that I hadn't knowingly or willingly driven through any high level water. I also made the point that this is our family car and my young baby is in it 99% of the time, which means that I have apparently put this life at risk. I also sent a similar disgruntled email to MG customer services.
• The lease company have said that they are going to send in their own independent inspectors and that I will also be allowed to arrange my own independent inspection after this.
• MG customer service responded saying 'the damage could only occur if the vehicle has been driven through flood water, at a reasonable pace on a number of occasions. Alternatively, the vehicle has been sat in flood water.' The second part to that seems so ridiculous that its not even worth entertaining and the first part has just made me even more adamant that there must be some other reasoning for this. To think maybe I have been through some level of water once without being able to recall it - unlikely but possible. To say that I have done it several times - that I just cant comprehend.

Does anybody have any thoughts on this please? I've been racking my brains for possible explanations and the only ones I can come up with are as follows;

1. The car was sat in water during transportation on its way to us, but would it take that long for the damage caused to become apparent?
2. We went through some water (hand on heart cant recall anything of note) several months ago, which has caused some water damage and then corrosion to parts around the battery, which has then further caused water ingress and damage to the battery? Although, I would then argue that this would mean a ticking time bomb for people who, like us, would carry on using the cars not knowing that there was damage being caused to the battery at such astronomical cost.
3. This is probably going to show how little I know about cars, but perhaps there was water retained in the car and when it was put on the back of the AA van, this then caused it to shift and create damage to the rest of the car?

I realise I have waffled a bit now but just t finish; I am not a car person and I don't really mind what I drive, I just want a reliable car that gets me and my family from A to B. I am not particularly for or against electric and the only reason I got one is because it made sense from a tax (financial) perspective. The idea was to sell my Focus, bank the cash to cover my wifes maternity and then also get a family car in the process. Instead of securing us financially I am not looking at the possibility of causing us financial hardship for years to come.

Any help is much appreciated.

I have same problems with the car (MG5)and AA engineer wasn’t enough trained for electric cars. I solve the problem myself with Chinese diagnoses OBD2. Anyway garages no ready for electric cars yet.

 

[MG steve]

I've driven through fords/flooded roads up to the wheel arches with no ill effect. I don't do this on purpose but it fares better than an ICE car without a snorkel.

I wouldn’t drive through deep water, the problems won’t show up instantly like an ICE car.

OP have they cleaned the connections as the damage is with both the car and battery connectors yet they only want to replace the battery. The battery end can be very easily cleaned whereas the car end is more fiddly but can be done. It seems odd they don’t want a loom change even for the car connector.

Failing that claim for the damage under your car insurance. It’s what most BMW drivers do when they need a new engine.

 

[EV convert]

As odd as it may seem, have you tasted the water in the connector?

I had a similar problem with water getting into the ECU connector of my old diesel 406. I cleaned and dried it, put tape around everything but it happened again and again until it was almost undriveable.

Then, having read something on the internet, I tasted the water - it was sweet! It was coolant.

However, the ECU was at the top of the engine bay and nowhere near any coolant. What had happened, as the internet post suggested, was that the water temperature sender had developed a leak and capillary action caused the coolant to 'climb' up the sensor wire and into the connector - causing the sort of problem you have, up to and including some of the pins corroding and breaking off.

Solution: I changed the water temp sender, sourced a replacement ECU and a plug (with 300mm of loom wires) from a breaker. Then one wire at a time (as 16 of the 36 wires were pink), soldered the wires from the plug to the end of the loom - and the car ran perfectly for another 15,000 miles and was still going fine when I sold it.

The MG technicians or some other specialist company must be able to do something similar with your vehicle without replacing the battery. You could try EVBreakers who have 6,700 salvaged EV parts listed on ebay (including a drive motor for an MG4).

Good luck

 

[Tim Green]

Andy L has a good point, could the water be from the battery heat/cool system?
I am not familiar with the layout of the batteries or heat/cool system but it should be inveztigated.

 

[FamilyMan]

Just a quick update for those that might be interested. The inspection to be carried out by the lease company has had to be rescheduled, as the garage did not give them the required access to a ramp.
So it rumbles on.

 

[FamilyMan]

Another quick update: The lease company have now admitted that the technicians at the garage are not at the required level to determine if the whole battery needs replacing. Apparently this was not known at the time when sending me the £22K bill!

 

[Alb]

Now why does that not surprise me?