Well it rained last night and I went out to my 99 F350 this morning to find a puddle of water on my floor mat and several weird electrical problems. First off, my keyless entry is no longer working. Second, everytime I open any of the doors a strange beep noise comes from under the dash. The beep is kinda like when you leave the lights on, but it only beeps once. Lastly, my airbag light came on and stays on the entire time the truck is running? I'm terrible with electrical problems so any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks, Judd

 

Oh Oh! The old leaky windshield and fried (or damaged) GEM module problem again!

 

oh *****. How much is this gonna cost me? Any writeups? Any more info????????? PLEASE HELP!!!!!

 

Get the windsheild replaced and dry out the gem...

 

I had the windshield replaced on my 1999 (twice) and it only cost $203 with tax. Maybe if there's nothing wrong with your old windshield, you could just have them take it off, clean it and re-seal it. That might save you a few dollars. As for the GEM, if water got in it and you applied power to it (and it isn't working right) chances are 50-50 that it will never work right again even if you dry it but it's worth a try. The GEM (General Electronic Module) should be located behind the instrument cluster.

 

thanks for the help guys, I'll see what happens, I guess it's off to the windshield repair shop, kinda sucks, only had the truck three weeks and have had a handful of problems already... jts

 

how hard is the gem to replace? any special tools or computers needed? How much do they run? thanks, Judd

 

The GEM sits behind the instrument cluster. I don't know how much they cost for sure, I've heard anywhere between $280 to $400 in other posts. You have to take out the radio, two screws above the radio, the headlight switch module and pull out the dash and the instrument cluster. The module itself (in my 2003 XL anyways, it might be different on trucks with actual power accessories and of earlier years.) looks like a rectangular box with a circular section on the left. There's a bunch of relays on it. I don't know how much it costs but since you have remote entry, the module probably has to be programmed to your key fobs by the dealer, I'm not sure. (Power windows, power door locks, remote entry, alarms, radios, glove box lights, under-hood lights are for rich folks, none of that on my XL.) By the way, relay 1 controls the interior lighting. You can put a switch a-la-chevrolet to turn off the cab light and cargo light while you're in there.

 

I have a buddy that had your exact problem. He did the above prescribed fix and it worked like a charm.