Took the Lightning through a Carwash

[Mike G]

Have many Lightning owners been taking their trucks through automated car washes? I was going to use an automated washing stall near me where the sprayer rotates around the truck, but the Lightning is too long for it. Instead I will have to use the Delta Sonic automatic touchless wash near me, getting pulled down the roller track. Three questions:

1) If I go in neutral and hit the neutral button next to the shifter, that the truck will roll without issue? I drive in one-pedal and keep auto-hold on, the hold will be deactivated when I do this?

2) Does anyone actually take the antenna off? The manual seems to suggest this, but it seems unnecessary. This may be for brush washes, rather than touchless?

3) Any frunk issues after a car wash? Excessive water seems to be causing issues, but this may be specific to those trucks and not a Lightning-wide issue.

1) Yes no problem.
2) Yes I take the antenna off before going through the automated toll gate and put it back on after I come out in the detail area.
3) No Frunk water intrusion that I've seen. If somebody is having a water intrusion issue their Frunk hood is out of alignment or the latch is not adjusted correctly.

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[VTbuckeye]

No, typically just live with it in the winter. If we get a warm streak (above freezing) I may rinse off the salt, but that is mostly pointless - it comes back as soon as I drive again. I will have vinyl graphics so no pressure washers.

Early this spring I was in my basement and had an epiphany. I was standing next to the hot water heater and saw the copper pipe less than a foot away that lead to the hose spigot next to the driveway. A few 90 degree shark bite fittings, check valve and a couple shut offs and now I have potentially hot water (I can adjust the mix with the shut offs) coming out of the hose to rinse off the winter salt and hand wash when warm enough.

 

[Gimme_my_MME]

Early this spring I was in my basement and had an epiphany. I was standing next to the hot water heater and saw the copper pipe less than a foot away that lead to the hose spigot next to the driveway. A few 90 degree shark bite fittings, check valve and a couple shut offs and now I have potentially hot water (I can adjust the mix with the shut offs) coming out of the hose to rinse off the winter salt and hand wash when warm enough.

Actually not that uncommon in the northern areas of the US/Canada

 

[FlasherZ]

Early this spring I was in my basement and had an epiphany. I was standing next to the hot water heater and saw the copper pipe less than a foot away that lead to the hose spigot next to the driveway. A few 90 degree shark bite fittings, check valve and a couple shut offs and now I have potentially hot water (I can adjust the mix with the shut offs) coming out of the hose to rinse off the winter salt and hand wash when warm enough.

Right with you.

I have an on-demand water heater in the pool & honey house that will give 140 degree water all day long, along with double Woodford spigots in my garage (H/C) off the home water supply. Comes in very, very useful for many things.

 

[VTbuckeye]

Right with you.

I have an on-demand water heater in the pool & honey house that will give 140 degree water all day long, along with double Woodford spigots in my garage (H/C) off the home water supply. Comes in very, very useful for many things.

Mine is not on demand, but 50 gallons of 140 degree water can last quite a while. Tankless natural gas could work ok for us, but electric would be challenging. We have 200 amp service (just upgraded from 100), but electric dryer and range in the kitchen and a bunch of EVSEs that will not all be used at the same time. However in the winter our incoming water temperature is in the upper 30s to low 40s and requires much more energy than someone in Florida to get their water hot.

 

[FlasherZ]

Mine is not on demand, but 50 gallons of 140 degree water can last quite a while. Tankless natural gas could work ok for us, but electric would be challenging. We have 200 amp service (just upgraded from 100), but electric dryer and range in the kitchen and a bunch of EVSEs that will not all be used at the same time. However in the winter our incoming water temperature is in the upper 30s to low 40s and requires much more energy than someone in Florida to get their water hot.

When we bottle honey, we use far more than 50 gallons and regeneration time is too long during clean-up. So I have a hefty 65k BTU Rinnai unit and set it to 140 degrees. Works as long as I have propane in the tank.

 

[VTbuckeye]

When we bottle honey, we use far more than 50 gallons and regeneration time is too long during clean-up. So I have a hefty 65k BTU Rinnai unit and set it to 140 degrees. Works as long as I have propane in the tank.

A bit off topic but...I have "met" not really, but figuratively so many interesting people on this forum. Diverse backgrounds, blue collar, white collar, there's the AI art guy a week back, some eco nuts, some pragmatic fossil fuel guys, farmers, factory workers, business guys (by guys I mean humans without regard to gender) and by and large you/we all get along. There are some disagreements, but it is about the substance of the matter at hand, not disagreements with the actual person on the other end of the screen. You all seem to be a nice civil group of people that I wouldn't mind meeting for real.

 

[BennyTheBeaver]

I would be worried about taking my Lightning through a carwash until they fix the faulty connecters on the frunk. Multiple people have been reporting them in another thread.

 

[Gimme_my_MME]

Right with you.

I have an on-demand water heater in the pool & honey house that will give 140 degree water all day long, along with double Woodford spigots in my garage (H/C) off the home water supply. Comes in very, very useful for many things.

I was about to look up honey house as some euphemism I didn't know. Until I read your next comment that it is literally for honey

 

[GoodSam]

p228:
HOW DOES TEMPORARY NEUTRAL MODE WORK
Use this mode to keep your vehicle in neutral (N) when you exit your vehicle or switch your vehicle off. For example, if you exit your vehicle before an automatic car
wash.
Note: You do not need to use this mode at an automatic car wash if you stay in your vehicle with power on.
Note: Do not tow your vehicle in this mode.
Note: Automatic return to park (P) is delayed when your vehicle is in this mode. See What Is Automatic Return to Park (P) (page 229).
TEMPORARY NEUTRAL MODE LIMITATIONS
Your vehicle could shift to park (P) after 30 minutes, or when the vehicle battery charge level is low. Prolonged use of this mode can cause the vehicle's 12V battery
to run out of charge.

 

[wilmerfjohnson]

Took my 2023 XLT through the car wash a few days ago after being bombed by a flock of geese. No issues with neutral, no water intrusion. I keep the antenna off because I mostly use Sirius or stream Amazon music. I kept the plastic antenna plug that usually gets tossed during prep and leave that in to keep water out of the fitting. No issues with the car wash, but the blow dry at the end lifted the passenger side wiper several inches off the windshield and slapped it back a few times.

 

[jimfigler]

Early this spring I was in my basement and had an epiphany. I was standing next to the hot water heater and saw the copper pipe less than a foot away that lead to the hose spigot next to the driveway. A few 90 degree shark bite fittings, check valve and a couple shut offs and now I have potentially hot water (I can adjust the mix with the shut offs) coming out of the hose to rinse off the winter salt and hand wash when warm enough.

Our garage was built with both hot and cold hose connectors. Great for washing the car even in the summer and washing the dogs.

 

[Sirkillz]

I recently went through an automated wash as well. There was a confusing issue. Those air vents (I think thats what they are) on the ceiling just above the rear view mirror that have a bunch of slits in them leaked. It didn’t leak while in the wash. It waited until I left and drive a bit. It was about an eighth of a cup at most that came out. Concerning and confusing.

 

[OracleX]

I recently went through an automated wash as well. There was a confusing issue. Those air vents (I think thats what they are) on the ceiling just above the rear view mirror that have a bunch of slits in them leaked. It didn’t leak while in the wash. It waited until I left and drive a bit. It was about an eighth of a cup at most that came out. Concerning and confusing.

We used to take our MachE through both touchless and soft cloth car washes with no real issues. The only concern on with the MachE was the rear wiper getting smacked around more than I would like. Most of the time it is touchless, but when it is really dirty from our Canadian winter with salt I use the soft cloth ones. Some touchless car washes seem terrible and not much better than hosing down the vehicle.

With our new Lightning we have only tried the touchless washes so far. This is mainly because of the antenna and not wanting it damaged and don't feel like taking it off each time. Also, with the size of the Lightning I was concerned that there could be other challenges. The only thing that we have noticed with the Lightning is that some water makes it in when the water jets go behind the truck. I think it is just between the tailgate and the hard top bed cover. Probably something a little weather seal strip could fix.

 

[snowy_91]

I run my lightning through a tunnel wash about once every other day now, in feb it was once a day to keep the salt off. I put a 6" shorty ant on it.

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