Warning when tinting Type R (or any 10th gen civic) - water will cause keyless entry system problem

[Jaydubs]

If you get your Type R tinted like I just did a couple hours ago, make sure they are even more careful than they usually are with the water. My guys had every tool and precaution in the world to keep water from getting all over the place and yet here we are.

Seems 10th gen civics are hilariously sensitive to water getting onto a harness somewhere and since tinting involves a whole bunch of water flying all around the inside of your car, well.. You'll also probably need to take off the black spoiler which requires removing basically everything from the hatch.

If water gets to whatever causes this issue your car will start intermittently locking itself over and over when you walk away from it - mine was CONSTANTLY doing locklocklocklocklocklocklock until I got away from the car or manually locked it. At first I thought somebody was fucking with me. Once I got in, I saw 'BRAKE' was flickering and started it up - bang, keyless entry problem. Pulled it into the shop and pulled the battery and left it as is. In my case the instrument cluster was also flickering (including the display itself) but the main tell-tale is the keyless entry system going haywire.

Only thing you can really do is wait for it to dry it out - don't take it to the dealership immediately as they'll end up tearing apart a bunch of stuff AND possibly voiding warranties due to water damage (remember, this didn't happen from normal driving - although there have been reports of this happening after torrential rain). I would strongly recommend pulling the battery when you aren't using the car.

There's plenty of reports of this from 10th gen civic owners but when it comes to this part of our car it's the same. Every post I've read about this was saying their cars went back to normal after one to four days. Mine went back to normal in less than 24 hours. Your best bet is to wait it out - if it's still messed up after a week.. well, you're going to have to make your own decision based on how your dealership acts about these things. I didn't find any posts from anyone saying this was permanent, but still.

In any case the tint came out perfect and I'm waiting for the detail to be finished before posting pics.

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[98-0425]

Never had a problem tinting mine including the windshield. My tinter used these sponge devices to prevent water from seeping.

 

[Jaydubs]

Never had a problem tinting mine including the windshield. My tinter used these sponge devices to prevent water from seeping.

Yeah, it doesn't happen to everyone. My tinter had similar tools but somehow it still happened. Maybe a mistake was made, who knows - they still need to be extra careful with our cars in particular!

 

[Deadgame]

Guys, it's not a water issue...It's the fact that the car's battery sucks and the tint guy has the doors open for hours. I had it happen on my CT-R, went home and the battery was all but deep cycled. I had my wife's sport touring in the following weekend and brought the battery charger. No issues at all. Apparently, the tint process is enough to drain the battery enough to cause all these crazy issues, but not long enough to completely kill the battery in most cases. Charge your battery. It'll solve your problem. Hope this helps.

 

[Jaydubs]

Guys, it's not a water issue...It's the fact that the car's battery sucks and the tint guy has the doors open for hours. I had it happen on my CT-R, went home and the battery was all but deep cycled. I had my wife's sport touring in the following weekend and brought the battery charger. No issues at all. Apparently, the tint process is enough to drain the battery enough to cause all these crazy issues, but not long enough to completely kill the battery in most cases. Charge your battery. It'll solve your problem. Hope this helps.

I already checked that with my KTuner unit. Voltage is fine and they pulled off the battery anyways. That won't cause instrument gauge to flicker and whatnot either. It is most definitely a water issue, as it was in all the other threads about this (although none about the type R in particular)

Although, that being said, a slew of problems can definitely be caused by them not disconnecting the battery and draining it while they work. The battery probably shouldn't be connected when they are squeegeeing water around the inside of your car anyways, eh?

 

[Hayabusa160]

had all the windows and windshield tinted also they didnt have to remove the wing it came out great.
driving home home i did get an error for the electronic damper control but it went away the next day. id assume something got wet behind the dash that caused it.

 

[Driveitlikeuboughtit]

Sounds like you have a medicore tinter. My tinter had no issues and did not need to remove the wing to install tint. He laughed when I asked him if he had to remove the wing - said he had laser cut tints and it wouldn't be a problem. At all.

I had no electrical issues after the tint.

 

[RedGiant217]

Thanks for sharing! Please let us know if/when the problems go away. I'm thinking about having mine tinted in a couple weeks.

 

[Jaydubs]

Detailer just texted me and told me the car is back to normal! Like I said guys, just pull the battery and let it dry out.

 

[Deadgame]

I already checked that with my KTuner unit. Voltage is fine and they pulled off the battery anyways. That won't cause instrument gauge to flicker and whatnot either. It is most definitely a water issue, as it was in all the other threads about this (although none about the type R in particular)

Although, that being said, a slew of problems can definitely be caused by them not disconnecting the battery and draining it while they work. The battery probably shouldn't be connected when they are squeegeeing water around the inside of your car anyways, eh?

Oh yes it will cause the flickering and lock/unlock issues. I had the EXACT problems you had. How is your tint guy so cautious that he'll pull off your battery cable, but sloshes water all over there place? Are you checking voltage while the car is running or while it's off? I did a bunch of research as well and it was 108F in San Antonio when I had mine done. Everybody wants to conclude that it's a water issue, but no one has actually proven this to be the case. They all say it must of gotten wet somewhere. The culprit is low voltage from the doors being left open for too long.

For anybody else getting tint done, bring a battery charger to your appointment and you'll thank me later.

 

[Jaydubs]

Oh yes it will cause the flickering and lock/unlock issues. I had the EXACT problems you had. How is your tint guy so cautious that he'll pull off your battery cable, but sloshes water all over there place? Are you checking voltage while the car is running or while it's off? I did a bunch of research as well and it was 108F in San Antonio when I had mine done. Everybody wants to conclude that it's a water issue, but no one has actually proven this to be the case. They all say it must of gotten wet somewhere. The culprit is low voltage from the doors being left open for too long.

For anybody else getting tint done, bring a battery charger to your appointment and you'll thank me later.

I plugged in my KTuner unit and checked for DTCs, running voltage, stopped voltage. Tested it with a multimeter too. All fine.

They definitely got water somewhere, which is the entire point of this thread - make sure they're more careful than my tinter was. I'm not sure why you're so dead set on telling everyone water doesn't cause this. Maybe yours wasn't caused by it, but mostly everyone else certainly was. Water is moving around the edges where harnesses are, suddenly things start exhibiting exactly what happens when water bridges low-power wires, battery is usually fine, and it goes away after a couple days. Sounds like it was the water to me.

 

[Estoril4]

Side note - which tints did yall go with? I have crystalline on my S4 and love it but every tinter I've spoken to has tried to talk me out of doing that on the hatch

 

[Jaydubs]

Side note - which tints did yall go with? I have crystalline on my S4 and love it but every tinter I've spoken to has tried to talk me out of doing that on the hatch

Nano-ceramic 38% front windows, 20% rear windows and hatch, 50% windshield (before you ask, yes)

Should be getting pics today or tomorrow.

 

[Sup_Devil]

Do you guys mind sharing what you paid for the Nano ceramic tints? I'm getting quotes now from a Llumar Pro installer

 

[Jaydubs]

Do you guys mind sharing what you paid for the Nano ceramic tints? I'm getting quotes now from a Llumar Pro installer

I paid $720 for all six panels and it came with a lifetime warranty. Probably overpaid, but it's a family business and I don't mind paying a little extra.

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