Anyone ever found corrosion inside their fuse box; what’s the solution?

[Adventurer]

This is regarding my 2021 RTL (Sea to Sky). I searched but no luck using the search function with multiple words.

Recently my instrument cluster would not come on when I turned the key to on position. Nor would the starter button do anything. It was like the battery was completely dead, but all the lights came on and the horn worked. Started checking fuses and noticed a lot of corrosion inside the JCase style fuses and two of them had shorted (main control jcase #4 and DPS jcase #3 in the left fuse box) due to the extensive corrosion. I replaced the bad fuses and all is well for the time being. Has anyone else encountered this problem and if so, what is the solution to prevent it from happening again.

I’m thinking about disconnecting the battery, pulling all the fuses and spraying the terminals down with battery terminal cleaner, cleaning with a small brush and compressed air. Letting it dry thoroughly before reassembling. Any one see any issues with this approach.

I’d really like to know the root cause, maybe riding in the rain? I always hand wash and never use a power washer or commercial car wash so wouldn’t think that should be a problem. Any input?

 

[EdMat]

If it's still under warranty I would be headed for the dealer as this is not normal. If I was taking care of it myself I would use something like Corrosion X that leaves a long term protective coating.

The hardest part is figuring out why it corroded in the first place. If that part is not solved it will happen again at some point.

 

[Peter Aawen]

Check out this thread:

https://www.spyderlovers.com/forums...ny-ideas-on-next-steps&highlight=Water;++fuse

There's a few ideas & some links in there that might help you resolve this issue. :thumbup:



Re your 'searched but no luck using the search function with multiple words' concerns, did you use the term 'corrosion' in your multi-word search?? That might've been the issue... :dontknow:

If you'd tried entering 'water; +fuse' into the basic Search bar up towards the Top Right of the page; ticked the 'Search Titles Only' box; and then submitted the Search, you probably would've had more luck. Check it out, there's a few more threads that show up.

 

[Adventurer]

Check out this thread:

https://www.spyderlovers.com/forums...ny-ideas-on-next-steps&highlight=Water;++fuse

thanks for the link.

Re your 'searched but no luck using the search function with multiple words' concerns, did you use the term 'corrosion' in your multi-word search?? That might've been the issue... :dontknow:

I did use the term corrosion and I didn’t use the Boolean symbols as didn’t think this software recognized them. Will try again.

 

[Adventurer]

If it's still under warranty I would be headed for the dealer as this is not normal. If I was taking care of it myself I would use something like Corrosion X that leaves a long term protective coating.

The hardest part is figuring out why it corroded in the first place. If that part is not solved it will happen again at some point.

It is still under warranty and I’m going to take it in to my dealer to check it out. Reading the thread that Peter linked too makes me think I’m in for an uphill battle…let’s hope not and that I’ll soon post that my dealer and BRP were great at covering the repair cost and making a repair that will prevent it from happening again…everybody hold your breath for me and I’ll certainly keep everyone on Spyder Lovers up to date, good or bad.

I’ll be checking into CorrosionX, thanks.

 

[ARNIE R]

Yes. One of the relays got damaged.

 

[BertRemington]

Yes. One of the relays got damaged.

The relays are mostly sealed so yeah the external terminals were damaged but the internal contacts are probably clean. However the fuse box terminals are most likely damaged and need deep cleaning as described in the linked thread.

This degradation (corrosion for our Adventurer member) is like dry rot. It spreads quickly in unexpected directions.

I do the trailer wiring for a friend's SCTA roadster that runs at the Bonneville Salt Flats. In building a new truck-side connection, I kept cutting back the "dry rot" looking for Cu. All I was finding was CuSO4. Fortunately it was a power circuit so I tapped into as best I could. Spyders need better treatment.

Find and fix that dry rot!

 

[oldguyinTX]

This was a common problem on 2013 RT's. BRP "fixed" it under warranty. Basically involved silicone caulking and new gaskets. It figures that BRP still hasn't solved this problem.

 

[chipveres]

Once the corrosion is cleaned up, I recommend Caig Deoxit (available at Amazon or Digikey) by the drop on each contact to try to prevent reoccurrence. It works on the old radios I play with.

 

[ferrasr]

I wanted to pass alone my experience, as you mention riding in the rain and washing the bike. I checked the outer fuse cover box after I had read about the issue in another tread. I noticed I was getting water inside the outer fuse cover box in various small amounts. When I checked the inner cover on the fuse box I noted it had an actual rubber gasket which prevented any water intrusion onto the fuse panel and no rust. As I now new that water was getting into the outer fuse box cover I made a better gasket out of rubber tape instead of the foam gasket used by BRP. This seemed to help but after washing the bike I would always now check the outer fuse cover box and still found some small amount of water intrusion, but never in the inner fuse box. When I wash the bike I never use a pressure washer and only use a garden hose set to a light spray. I noted that I never get any water inside the outer cover box and confirmed this after riding in the rain, which we just did for the last 3 days riding back from Vancouver Island to Calgary and at the time it rained extremely hard for a few hours at a time. So I found that the water was getting into the outer fuse cover box only after I washed the bike, so it is from me spraying the water some how where it can intrude into the outer fuse box. Just as an added note I like to take the plastic cover piece off located above the frunk and below the head lights, it is easy to remove and found it is amazing how much water sits behind this space.