Carwash Light Show

[Altivec]

I am in Canada and it’s winter time, so grime accumulates fast. We need to do a lot of quick washes just to get the salt off. We have car washes here that consist of just a wand wash for this purpose. Basically a big heated warehouse with 20 or 30 coin operated stalls separated by curtains.

When washing around the doors (which is a good portion of the truck), the touch sensors around the locks provide a light show in my stall which is quite embarrassing. Doors lock, then unlock, running boards up, then down, mirrors fold in, then fold out, lights on and then flash off. This repeats 10 to 20 times during the wash. It was nice out the other day, so I tried just using a low pressure garden hose in my driveway and the same thing. I enjoy meeting people to talk about my truck, but having people ask “what’s going in there, are you having a party?” is not really the attention I want to attract.

I surprisingly can’t find anyone else mentioning this so I feel that I am missing something obvious. Is there something like a car wash mode I am missing here? Does anyone else experience this? What do you do?

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[HOTAS]

Leave your smart key inside the truck when washing.

All that flashing and locking cycles can’t be good.
Not to mention mirrors folding and running boards retracting/extending.

I sometimes forget and have to stop washing ….and put the key in garage…..or inside the truck….after the first annoying “reminder”
…..errrrr! Lol

 

[Altivec]

Leave your smart key inside the truck when washing.

All that flashing and locking cycles can’t be good.

Yeah... I didn't think its good for all those motors, that's why I decided to post this.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll give the leaving the fob in truck a try next time. Does that disable the exterior door handle lock and unlock touch sensors? If so, I never knew that.

 

[HOTAS]

Yep, (smart)key has to be within exterior proximity to activate touch sensors.

 

[Altivec]

Makes sense... I knew I was missing something obvious. I also have my iPhone set up as a key. Do I need to keep that inside too?

 

[Henry Ford]

Yeah... I didn't think its good for all those motors, that's why I decided to post this.

Unless you are washing your truck for hours at a time it's fine.

 

[mrau]

The VW ID4 has a nice work around to temp disable the handle lock sensors.

- Lock door with key FOB
- Within in 5 seconds touch lock sensor on door handle.
Lights flash.
The door lock sensor on door handle is now deactivated and won't unlock.

To unlock the door just use key Fob. Sensor is now re-activated.


Wish Ford had something like that. Hint hint.

 

[Heliian]

Do you have the approach lighting/courtesy lights enabled?

 

[mr.Magoo]

You buy a BMW for your Wife.

It's PAAK have a range of 2 inches so its useless, even with a normal key the effing thing beeps (walk away lock) if you go 2ft away from it, so unloading a grocery run is a cacophony of beeps, and beeps beeps accompanied by deafening double honks (if you leave it running and exit with the key in your pocket, I mean who in their right mind would do this on a vehicle with keyless entry).

In the end you'll look at your Lightning with a smile, like, "you're silly, but at least you're quiet"

 

[Altivec]

Do you have the approach lighting/courtesy lights enabled?

No. I have it shut off. I would like the lighting to go on but that settling also makes the mirrors and running boards move. I found that walking in my house close to the garage with my phone in my pocket sometimes activated it. I worried that my alarm might get set off so I just shut it off to be safe.

You buy a BMW for your Wife.

It's PAAK have a range of 2 inches so its useless, even with a normal key the effing thing beeps (walk away lock) if you go 2ft away from it, so unloading a grocery run is a cacophony of beeps, and beeps beeps accompanied by deafening double honks (if you leave it running and exit with the key in your pocket, I mean who in their right mind would do this on a vehicle with keyless entry).

In the end you'll look at your Lightning with a smile, like, "you're silly, but at least you're quiet"

Oh boy... That would annoy the bleep out of me. Do the people designing this stuff ever use their own cars. Some of the stuff they come up with is just bonkers. They should have the car strapped to them for a year as punishment. Yeah, I'm really happy that it doesn't honk and I am not complaining either. More so, I knew there had to be a solution or someone else would have brought this up by now. Hopefully unloading my pockets in the truck before washing solves it.

 

[Zed]

I am in Canada and it’s winter time, so grime accumulates fast. We need to do a lot of quick washes just to get the salt off. We have car washes here that consist of just a wand wash for this purpose. Basically a big heated warehouse with 20 or 30 coin operated stalls separated by curtains.

When washing around the doors (which is a good portion of the truck), the touch sensors around the locks provide a light show in my stall which is quite embarrassing. Doors lock, then unlock, running boards up, then down, mirrors fold in, then fold out, lights on and then flash off. This repeats 10 to 20 times during the wash. It was nice out the other day, so I tried just using a low pressure garden hose in my driveway and the same thing. I enjoy meeting people to talk about my truck, but having people ask “what’s going in there, are you having a party?” is not really the attention I want to attract.

I surprisingly can’t find anyone else mentioning this so I feel that I am missing something obvious. Is there something like a car wash mode I am missing here? Does anyone else experience this? What do you do?

my '22 Platinum does that same thing. It annoys me, but I figured it was a one-off thing since I've not seen anyone else report it until now. Thanks for sharing - now I know I'm not alone with this!

I will try leaving a fob in the truck next time I wash it and see if that stops the behavior.

 

[Bushwood CC]

Where in Canada can you wash your truck with a garden hose at this time of year? I’m in Minnesota and outside water lines have been drained since October. To your point though, it is annoying and I thank you guys for the suggestions on how to fix it.

 

[SSNutz]

Where in Canada can you wash your truck with a garden hose at this time of year? I’m in Minnesota and outside water lines have been drained since October. To your point though, it is annoying and I thank you guys for the suggestions on how to fix it.

Hey Neighbor, WI here. I have installed a freeze proof hose connect that has hot and cold water, so I can have warmish water.
See pic:

This time of year I have one of those 'magic' hoses that has quick connections. The hose explains ~3x with water on. When done, I disconnect hose from spigot and spray nozzle so everything drains completely.

 

[Altivec]

my '22 Platinum does that same thing. It annoys me, but I figured it was a one-off thing since I've not seen anyone else report it until now. Thanks for sharing - now I know I'm not alone with this!

I will try leaving a fob in the truck next time I wash it and see if that stops the behavior.

Where in Canada can you wash your truck with a garden hose at this time of year? I’m in Minnesota and outside water lines have been drained since October. To your point though, it is annoying and I thank you guys for the suggestions on how to fix it.

Thanks guys for letting me know I wasn't the only one. Although I haven't tried the solution yet, it makes sense. I was starting to think that I was the only one that didn't know this and was feeling dumb for asking. Glad I could help some other people out and make a record for future searches.

I live in one of the most northern major cities, Edmonton. If you go back even a decade, it never dipped below freezing all winter long. Now we get cold spells at -15F for a week but most of the time in hovers around 15F to 40F. So we do get quite a few days above freezing.

Our homes up here use what's called frost free hose bibs. The faucet has a real long canister behind it that protrudes into the warm house. They are usually positioned at the height of the floor joist so they go in there and nobody sees them. I don't know all the technicalities of how they work exactly but the premise is that this canister has a second tube inside of it. When you shut off the water, the air inside that second canister and gravity forces all water inside them to drain out. No water, means nothing to freeze. So there is no maintenance or winter draining to these. The only rule is, you can't leave a hose attached to it when it goes below freezing. You can attach a hose and use it in freezing weather but you must immediately detach it so it can drain itself. Due to our past extreme weather, we've had these in our building code for decades and they work great. I've taken mine to another level though. I have 3 spigots in my garage. Hot and Cold Soft water, and cold tap water. The soft water prevents mineral deposit spots after rinsing. Since my garage is heated, I can keep a hose attached all the time and sometimes I just wash my truck inside my garage.

 

[sd25]

@Altivec great setup! How did you do your soft water setup? I'm considering it to avoid having to spend time drying off the truck after washing.

You must live in the warmer part of Edmonton. I visited the area last winter and they had a few days of -50C with the windchill. Flights were getting cancelled because it was too cold.

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