Right, even of you lay plastic trash bags over the windshield. The sooner you can stop the water from flowing into it, the sooner you can get it to start drying.

 

I'm in the process of trying things right now. Here is what's happened so far today.

I move my car from its parking spot to my girlfriends spot, under the garage. To keep it out of the rain.

It cranks and starts but acts like the battery is low. It's doesn't crank fast, but does start. I should have let it run for a while to charge up the battery. It has been sitting for two or three days without being used.

The driver window does work again and the random beeping and flashing lights aren't flashing. It is acting better. When I turn it off though, I hear a sizzling or hissing sound from the GEM area.

Later in the day, I get the blow dryer out and start blow drying around the fuse box and back behind it. I can feel some wetness. There are some drops on the floor under the emergency brake.

I blow dry for a while, I look at the engine area and along the windshield to see where water might be getting in. The engine area is dry, but on the far side on the drivers' side it looks wet, at the base of the window.

After blow drying and having the doers open and interior lights on for a while I turn the key and there is only very rapid clicking. No cranking, no start. Still that hissing sound from the GEM whenever the key is engaged also.

So what happened? I would like you to tell me that over the last couple days with the electronics being weird, something happened to drain the battery and me having the doors open and lights on while blow drying, I killed the battery.

Googling "car won't start clicking", says not enough juice from the battery, but that hissing sound from the GEM is scary and it seems to have enough power to turn the headlights on.

 

The GEM can cause all kinds of strange issues when it gets moisture. I had a leaking windshield on a rainy weekend trip that kept the hvac system on when the key was off draining the battery over night.
The best contact cleaner is DeOxit but as others have said, you need to get the windshield sealed to solve the problem

 

I will. I will get the windshield sealed. I'm just trying to get the car to work in the mean time. So I can drive it and not have to get it towed. I think once this GEM dries out the funny stuff will stop happening, like I said above, it already seems better.

Does the GEM have anything to do with the car starting or did something just drain the battery? The clicking sound is coming from the solenoid. I looked at that. The battery was ok, unless it got drained. When my alternator died last month I had the two year old battery tested.

 

The hissing sound is likely water sitting across + and - power leads and boiling off. That would also explain the battery drain. The best thing to do at this point is disconnect the battery put it on a charger while you work on drying the GEM.

Unless you get the GEM out and into a warm and dry environment it's just going to take time to get it dried out.

 

Ok. I can go to the store. The expedition is parked right in front of an outdoor socket. I will go get a battery charger and plug in the battery while I dry the GEM.

 

I ended up jumping it with my girlfriend's car. It worked! I just took it for a test drive, and while I still have a lot to fix, we have progress.

You know how it is. Progress always makes you happy. It's much more frustrating to have a problem you just can't figure out.

So far so good. While sitting letting the battery charge, I didn't notice anything weird going on. No beeps or strange electrical occurrences. Time will tell, but at least I now know what is wrong, and I got it to start and drive. The slow shifting between first and second seemed better too.

Hopefully overnight nothing will kill the battery.

What was it you thought was draining the battery? Water on the wires to the GEM? Or is it more likely that over the several days the car sat, the GEM turned something on like a light or the blower that drained the battery?

Thanks again for helping me get this far.

 

Your original post indicated that the hvac blower stayed on after the key was turned off. I suspect that is your battery drain. Until the windshield is repaired, disconnect the battery when not in use. Keep the truck out of the rain.

 

Flip a coin, it could be either or both.