Charging port door opened in car wash

[rockytj]

Hey all,

Usually wash by hand but was gifted a car wash and took the truck through a tunnel style wash, unfortunately the rollers apparently applied enough pressure to pop the charge door open and the port got wet.

Thankfully the door is fine, and I was able to quickly blow the port out with compressed air. How’s the water resistance on the charge ports? I don’t think it got hit with pressurized water but I’m wondering if there’s anything I should watch for?

thanks

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[jetfixr1]

Hey all,

Usually wash by hand but was gifted a car wash and took the truck through a tunnel style wash, unfortunately the rollers apparently applied enough pressure to pop the charge door open and the port got wet.

Thankfully the door is fine, and I was able to quickly blow the port out with compressed air. How’s the water resistance on the charge ports? I don’t think it got hit with pressurized water but I’m wondering if there’s anything I should watch for?

thanks

You did your due diligence, no experience on this but plenty of people AC and DC charge in the rain. The weather seal is mainly there to keep elements out when not in use.

 

[chl]

Drying it out as you did was the right move. I keep an old hair dryer for drying things out as needed - sometimes I don't want to risk the heat gun.

If it were me, I'd also try using a pipe cleaner just to be sure to get at any moisture that got down into the smaller pin holes of the J1772 pilot signal lines. Water obviously can lead to corrosion and corrosion can lead to electrical connection problems.

Be sure everything is dry before you try charging.

I remember reading about some (one or more) having a problem when water/moisture got into their charge port while charging, may have been a post on this forum? I think it was causing charging failures and notices on the display I presume because they tried to charge while the port was wet. It might have been ice or snow was involved.

They had to have their charge port replaced as I recall (under the 3-year B-to-B warranty).

Sorry to be so vague, but I didn't copy any links about it.

BTW, Ford makes a charge port weather kit, probably useful if the precipitation problem is ice or snow.

I always cover the end of the charge plug with a hard plastic cover (from etsy) when not in use and when charging I cover the plug with plastic to keep any rain, ice or snow off the connection. Works well.

For what it's worth, Ai says there have been some reports of water causing damage to the Lightning charge port leading to replacement and says:

Symptoms of water damage

• Charge port door not closing or latching correctly:
• "Charger Service Required" indicator illuminated:
• Charging failure or intermittent charging issues (e.g., "orange ring of death"):
• Corrosion or scorch marks around the pins of the charging port or cable:

Good luck.

 

[RickLightning]

There is no reason to dry anything. Next time, put a piece of painter's tape on the door.

AI posts should be banned for the incorrect information they provide.

 

[davehu]

interesting. I take mine to the car wash a couple times a month and haven't had any problems but I will keep a lookout for this.

 

[rockytj]

interesting. I take mine to the car wash a couple times a month and haven't had any problems but I will keep a lookout for this.

I saw a lot of posts on Mach-e forums about char port doors opening but relatively few for Lightnings so maybe they’ve improved the design and I’m just unlucky.

Fortunately it seems no worse for the wear, I’m just gonna give it a few more days before I charge just to be safe (working from home), but I think it’ll be fine based on the weather resistance of the port.

 

[rockytj]

Drying it out as you did was the right move. I keep an old hair dryer for drying things out as needed - sometimes I don't want to risk the heat gun.

If it were me, I'd also try using a pipe cleaner just to be sure to get at any moisture that got down into the smaller pin holes of the J1772 pilot signal lines. Water obviously can lead to corrosion and corrosion can lead to electrical connection problems.

Be sure everything is dry before you try charging.

I remember reading about some (one or more) having a problem when water/moisture got into their charge port while charging, may have been a post on this forum? I think it was causing charging failures and notices on the display I presume because they tried to charge while the port was wet. It might have been ice or snow was involved.

They had to have their charge port replaced as I recall (under the 3-year B-to-B warranty).

Sorry to be so vague, but I didn't copy any links about it.

BTW, Ford makes a charge port weather kit, probably useful if the precipitation problem is ice or snow.

I always cover the end of the charge plug with a hard plastic cover (from etsy) when not in use and when charging I cover the plug with plastic to keep any rain, ice or snow off the connection. Works well.

For what it's worth, Ai says there have been some reports of water causing damage to the Lightning charge port leading to replacement and says:

Symptoms of water damage

• Charge port door not closing or latching correctly:
• "Charger Service Required" indicator illuminated:
• Charging failure or intermittent charging issues (e.g., "orange ring of death"):
• Corrosion or scorch marks around the pins of the charging port or cable:

Good luck.

I’ll have to look into a cover for the peace of mind. Fortunately, between blowing it out and living in a desert during the summer I’m fairly confident that it should be dry now.

I think we should be good, but I guess we’ll wait and see.

 

[RickLightning]

It does NOT need to be dry. People charge in the rain all the time. The cover is to keep debris out.

 

[Mike G]

You need to have a word with the operator of that car wash. Those brushes shouldn't be swinging in with such force that it's able to open your charge port door.

There are two car washes in my town that are both operated by the same company (Mister), one on the west side and one on the east. I won't go to the one on the west side of town because the brushes on that tunnel are set to swing away from the front bumper/headlight area pretty aggressively and then when the left side brush swings back in it can pop open the charge port door. Both on my Lightning and my Mach-E.

The tunnel owned by the same company on the east side of town not only has completely different equipment (similar but not the same) but the rotary brush settings are not violent enough to hit the left fender that hard.

I've had a discussion with the manager of the west side location, and she assured me they would adjust the equipment settings.....but since I have very little confidence they actually adjusted anything after I left, I just avoid that location completely.

 

[MountainAlive]

It’s strange to me why the charge ports on EVs aren’t angled slightly downward so that water doesn’t pool in the holes. It wouldn’t be that hard to plug in if the angle was very slight.

 

[rockytj]

Update for anyone interested, was home for a while today and finally charged the truck, seems to be totally fine. Will update if anything changes and will put a piece of tape over the charge port door the next time I take it through any sort of car wash.

 

[Henry Ford]

Do we really think Ford engineers didn't consider how water would interact with the charge port?

Water in the charge port isn't a problem. I am so confident of this that I charge my truck outside all year...in Michigan.

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