The Aston Martin Dealer wants $40,000 to Fix my Flooded V12 DBS! Let's try this $50 DIY Repair...

This is an estimate for over $40,000 from an Aston Martin dealer in the Tampa Bay area to get my flood total DBS back up and running. For that amount of money, you won't find a replacement engine or transmission listed on this estimate. No, it's just for three parts, two of which are keys, the other a wiring harness, and $17,757 in labor. 40 large is way more than I even paid for the entire car. And even though it was flooded, I'm still having a hard time understanding how the dealer came to these figures. But today, we'll attempt to fix this very special Aston Martin's flood issues with a $50 part that came out of a Volvo. And going forward, we'll have to do it without the help of the dealer, as they told me that they'll decline any further work on this specific car. Now, in case you didn't see the prior videos, I bought this V12 DBS, which is the same exact car that James Bond drove in Casino Royale for less than 10% of its original $300,000 MSRP because it was totaled in Hurricane Ian. And while it was clear that saltwater entered the cabin, it only got as high as the battery compartment, and it didn't touch the upper portions of the seats or dashboard. The major damage here was all contained in the interior, where it decimated the car's central electronics module, which is what controls pretty much every interior feature. And it's what connects the car's electronics to its mechanics. You can look at this module like it's the brain of the car. Luckily, this brain comes straight from a Volvo, and there's a ton of them in parts yards all over the world and online for literal peanuts. Another amazing sign was that when we inspected the drivetrain, we found no signs of water in the engine, nor transmission or differential, which is a huge score where the majority of the value in this car lies. Even if we were left with the option of just parting it out, we would recapture most of our investment in just the engine alone. But it would be blasphemy to part out such a rare car. So I got a hold of one of these Volvo modules, cleaned up my wiring harnesses, plugged it in, and... All right, we are all back and hooked up, and we just gotta put the battery back on. And there's our alarm again. Well, this is it. The alarm went off. Still, nothing seemed to work when you put the key in the slot, and the car had no other signs of life. After painstakingly removing more of the interior, we found one other culprit behind the passenger seat near the battery. This relay connected two main power leads together. This part, which was stamped Ford, we found out with a quick Google search as a battery disconnect relay, which sure sounds pretty important, and clearly it needs to be replaced. Funny enough, Aston Martin sells this thing for 900 bucks. If you do a quick search, you'll see that it comes right off of a Transit Connect van. You can easily find them for about 10% of that. So we ordered it up, replaced it, and still nothing. In between all this, we replaced all the standalone fuses, relays. We cleaned every single terminal, hooked them all back together, tested certain ones, but no matter what little change we made, second you give this car 12 volts, that alarm just would start to sound. And I got to the point where I thought we were so far gone, there was no bringing this car back, but it was you guys in the comments who shed light on our specific situation and explained exactly what was going on. That module that we replaced with the used donor part, well, that is programmed to each specific car. And since we got it out of a Volvo and it was programmed to that Volvo, well, this Aston Martin is not appropriately able to communicate with it. There's an immobilizer mismatch, so it just sounds the alarm. Now, it seems like there's only two ways to attack this problem. On a Volvo, if you take your car to the dealer, they'll sell you a new one of these modules, and then they'll program it. They will not allow you to program a used donor module like we've got here. But then there's cloning services that will take your original water damage module, take the information off of it, and clone it onto a used donor module for a small fee. Of course, cloning the module makes the most sense. It's cheaper and way more straightforward, but it will be a miracle if any data can be extracted off this saltwater corroded circuit board. Either way, I hopped on stamps.com, printed out a shipping label, and sent the original module and the donor part to a cloning service and crossed my fingers. But crossing my fingers simply wasn't enough. The module repair shop went as far as to remove the main data chips off the board to try and salvage the information, but it was too far damaged. That only leaves us with one last option, and that's a trip to the dealer, which isn't really surprising. But if you watch my channel, you'll know I'll do anything to avoid the dealership. Their old school ways are like going to the post office and waiting in line to spend more money to get the same service you can print at home using stamps.com. It's as simple as typing in the destination address and some details about your shipment, and stamps.com will quickly provide you all the available services and rates, which you'll notice are much cheaper than the price you'll pay at the pack and ship store or post office, with discounts of up to 84% less on UPS and USPS. All you have to do to get started is visit stamps.com slash Sam Crack, and when you do, you're gonna get hooked up with a free four-week trial, a free digital scale, and some free postage to get you started. Don't get caught standing in line at the post office. Hit that link in the description box. Save your time, which in turn should save you some sanity, and it will definitely save you a bit of money over at stamps.com slash Sam Crack. It has been brutal waiting for this service day to come. We're just three days away, but could you imagine? It's a month to get a service appointment at the Aston Martin dealer. I don't know if they're just doing that to me because I got a problematic car. I think that's for everybody, but I have to give all of you a huge thanks at home because you helped me solve the main problem here. I kept referring to our central electronics module as a junction box because it has all those fuses and relays installed. I thought it was quite simply what transferred power to all the electronics in the car, and it is really the brain of the car. If it's not configured properly, or if it's not programmed, or if it's programmed to another car like our donor module, well, nothing is gonna work, and that's basically where we were at and where we're still at, but we do have a little change down here. They all look identical because, well, the hardware is pretty similar, but this is a brand new CEM that I bought from Volvo, and it was right around $700. Before I went and hooked everything back up, I took all the terminals apart, cleaned them out. Everything is hooked up, and remember, last time we would put battery power to the car, what would happen is the alarm would just start sounding almost instantly. Got a good working battery here, and check out what happens now when we put power to the car. So far, you hear it, there's no alarm sounding, so that's a good first step in the right direction. When we get in, you should see there's a light flashing on the dashboard there, that red light blinking, and it's telling us that our lights are on. I've tried to figure that out. Our light switch is in the off position, but ignore that for a second. That red blinking light, that's something we haven't had yet. That is our security light, our immobilizer light, and when we take the key and put it in the slot here, see the check engine light illuminates? And that's pretty much it. There's no other action out of this car, but remember, we've got a brand new central electronics module. Nothing has been programmed, and we haven't seen any of that action before, even though I'm super optimistic because there's a couple lights on the dashboard that weren't there before. There's really no way in telling whether we fixed our problem and whether that module that we just installed is ready to be programmed without plugging it into an Aston Martin diagnostic computer. Now, I do have this diagnostic computer here, which has a option for Aston Martin on it. It does not have the ability to program a CEM. You can see right here, can do these functions, but it doesn't say that we can actually program it, but my theory is that if our diagnostic tool here can find the central electronics module, that it is ready to be programmed. Now, when I plugged this all in before with our donor module, not a single module in this entire car showed up. It basically said that it was all offline. So right now, if we go and look, we're gonna see it says DB9 Advantage as of model year 2008. That's basically what we want. And you can see there's two options here. One's for the powertrain diagnostic socket and one's for the body diagnostic socket. There's actually two OBD2 ports in this car, one on the passenger side, one on the driver side. And the one that we need to communicate with is the one here on the passenger side. That's the one that has the functions for our central electronics module. We're gonna pick our model. Now, this is pretty cool. When we hit this button, basically has an entire tree of modules that will scan. And right there, right off the bat, the first one it did was the CEM and you could see it lit up red. Now, red, even though that says abnormal, that's good because it means that it found the module. It just means that there's fault codes in it. And at the same time, we found whatever this one is right here, DIM. It will tell us what all these modules are when it's done scanning. But the fact that it's finding something right now is great. Now, I don't expect it to find a lot of them because again, you have to program your CEM in order for a lot of the modules to come back online. But the main one we're looking for is right there. It clearly found it. So I'm super anxious because I've been waiting weeks at this point, hand excited. I'm hopeful the dealership gets this thing flashed and the car turns right over afterward. The dealer was a monumental waste of time and money for that matter. But they did provide me with this really fancy white folder with a repair estimate in it for over $40,000. But let me explain how we got here and what that means for the future of this Aston Martin. Now, when I initially reached out to this dealership, I let them know that what we were dealing with here was a flood car and it had a water damage CEM or central electronics module, that I would be replacing it and I needed it programmed. They told me that would be fine. The second thing I let them know is I would like to bring it in on a truck and a trailer and have you perform all the programming on the trailer. That way, if it has some sort of running issue or whatnot, remember, we haven't ever got this car started, that it would remain there. It would make it really easy for me to get it to them and bring it back. And they said that since all they're doing is plugging into the diagnostics port to flash the software, that shouldn't be a problem. Now, that's when they told me they were a month out for service appointments. And I pleaded with them and asked, is there any way you could squeeze me in? Because in theory, it's just a module programming. It shouldn't take but a few minutes. They told me you have to wait your turn in line and I totally accepted that. Now, a month lapses. It's the day before the service date. I call them up to remind them, I'm the guy bringing the flooded car for the CEM programming on a truck and a trailer. And they responded by saying, hey, that's all good. We're still fine with you bringing it on a truck and a trailer, but would you like us to set up a shuttle to maybe the movie theater or the local mall? Because this module programming could take north of half a day. Now, half a day to flash a module? That sounds ridiculous. Even though this was really annoying, I wasn't about to lose my place in line over it. So I had it flatbedded into the dealership that evening so they could grab it whenever they wanted to in the morning. And it really didn't matter at that point since I wouldn't be waiting for it. It was convenient for everyone or so I thought. So the car was there and I got a text message right around 11 in the morning, asking if I had the pin codes to my keys. I didn't know exactly what that meant, but it was interesting because my appointment was also at 11. So I figured, well, they're getting started on the car now. I gave them a call. This is important. The call was at 11.05. And I asked, what do you mean by the pin codes for the keys? And they said, usually when you program a new CEM, you also get a set of keys at the same time because, well, it asks for the pin codes. That's how Volvo's old security system works with their keys and their immobilizer that is built in to the central electronics module. And while I don't understand it entirely, supposedly the car will still turn on with the original key that came with it. However, you won't have any keyless access features like unlock or lock from your FOB if you don't program them at the same time you're programming the central electronics module. They explained that to me and they said, hey, we can get your car started, but we can't program a FOB unless you want us to sell you another set. I said, don't sell me another set. Just get this module program and we'll worry about the key situation later. Now, again, that call was at 11.05 because 14 minutes later at 11.19, I got a call from the same service guy and he goes, hey, you know that this car was flooded, right? We saw corrosion on the wires. And I go, yeah, I explained this to you even though it was like a month ago when I set the appointment. I get it, but all I want is that module program. Can you do it? And he goes, no, we can't do it. And I asked, did you try to do it? And they said, yes, they did. And it failed. I said, well, if that's the case, I don't think there's anything more you could do here. He goes, well, how much time do you want to spend on it? We could spend like four or five hours. Now, when I hear four or five hours, I'm thinking of four or five dealership labor hours and that would get very costly, very quick. I said, no, no, no, if you can't program the module, I think we're done here and I don't think there's much you can do. He went on to explain that they would recommend a new wiring harness in which I told him it'd be great if he quoted me for one. But otherwise, you know, again, there's no reason to go tinker around with the module or anything like that. We've already done this. Let's end the time right now if your computer is not communicating with the car. He told me that's fine and that he would contact me later that afternoon and all the way up to closing time, I never heard back from the dealership that day. But early the next day, I got a text message from the service guy explaining that all the tech could do was communicate with the engine control module, that they would write me up a quote for a new wiring harness and then I could just come and pick up the car. And I said, great, how much do I owe? Well, that's when there was a bit of silence. Silence from 10.55 in the morning all the way to 1.45 in the afternoon. And between this time, I was just so anxious to figure out how much this trip to the dealer was gonna cost, especially in a car that was gonna leave pretty much unchanged, but I wasn't expecting anything for free. I brought it there to have something done and well, they were unable to do it. So that blame kind of falls on me, right? But keeping in mind everything I've experienced so far, I can't imagine they spent a whole heck of a lot of time on. Anyway, I called the service department multiple times, finally got ahold of a guy that was not my service guy. He pulled up the car, he pulled up the ticket and he said, we don't even have an invoice generated for you at this time. Remember, this is 24 hours after I got the message that there's nothing that they can do with this car. A short while after I finally got the text message from the service guy telling me that my bill would be $591.90, almost $600 for a car that they plugged a diagnostic reader into and then said that they couldn't do anything. And that was a little troubling, especially because I had called a few other Aston Martin dealers and they had all agreed that they would bill a module programming out at one hour of labor, no more than that. Now this dealer, like a few other in the area, charge $300 a labor hour to work on these cars, which is a mind blowing, but that's what they charge. Now, of course I wasn't there, so I didn't witness anything. And I wanted to give the service guy the opportunity to explain to me how they landed on a $600 bill, which again equates to two labor hours to do what would literally take any other person 30 minutes tops. So I called him up and he was adamant that the tech spent at least two hours on the car. Now that number changed to at least over an hour later on in the phone call, but the story rapidly changed from what I heard the day before to what I was hearing now. There were a lot of inconsistencies. And when I started getting somewhere is when I pressed him on the technical questions. The first technical question was how much do you charge for a central electronics module programming? Now I already talked to two other Aston dealers at this point, and they told me it's a one labor hour job. He said two. Now that's not how it works. Aston Martin sets the book rate on each individual job, and then the dealer can charge per hour, whatever they wish, but the time doesn't change dealer to dealer. Again, that's set by the manufacturer. But then I also asked him if this was gonna take more than your base rate, which is usually either one hour or a diagnostic fee, how come you didn't call to approve any additional time? That's when he said, I'm gonna talk to my manager and then we'll figure something out. And they ended up reducing the bill to $300 or one labor hour, which is what it should have been from the start. So after a month's wait, and then over 48 hours stay at the dealer and $300 later, we're actually worse off than when we began because I got one final message from the service guy that said they would decline all future service work on my DBS, which is like saying, we know the only way where you're gonna get this up and running is with your module programmed and we're not gonna be the ones to do it. And we hold the power to do it. But that's very contradictory to this $40,000 repair estimate they provided me along with my receipt. I think it just kind of sums up the motives of this dealer. They want the high payout with low effort jobs and they don't wanna deal with a guy like me. And if you break down this $40,000 repair estimate, it's bogus in a number of different ways. And I would tell you if it was 40,000 to sort everything on the car, it would make sense being done at a dealer, but it's not. It's literally just to get my module program. Here's what they recommend. $17,757 in labor charges alone. If you divide that by 295, that's their per hour charge. That's 60 hours of labor. Then they have over $20,000 in parts and that's just three parts. And they only have to install one of those parts, which is a wiring harness. Now I've removed an old wiring harness and installed one before and it didn't take more than an hour, hour and a half, but each wiring harness in your car is different. Some of them have to go through the cabin. Some of them have to route through the trunk. You have to take off a lot of trim, but there's no way I could find anywhere near 60 hours labor in this job. The other two parts they recommend are two transponders, which are basically key fobs. Now, if you search all these product descriptions online, you'll find them immediately. Both the key fobs together will cost about $2,000. Retail, and this wiring harness would run about $10,000 retail. So that's $12,000 in parts if you just go online and order them, that they want $20,000. And I continue to use the word retail because this is a retail dealer. Their parts should be in line with the retail costs in line, but they've got an $8,000 markup on them. Let's be real, this dealership isn't the only Aston Martin dealership in the world. There's always alternate solutions to pretty much every problem. And you got to think about this car in its simplest form. It's just a bunch of Volvo and Ford parts stuck together. And I know a place where you can get some Volvo and Ford wires way cheaper than 10 grand. Turn right, then your destination will be on the right. You know, when you think about shopping for exotic car parts and trying to get a deal, it's usually on some European site. There's a ton of exotic car parts sites in England. I shop those all the time. There's European eBay. You don't think about the pick-a-part yard, but as long as we find a car that doesn't have a lot of moisture in it, should be able to get a good set of these wires. All right, so this should be row 15 right here. And I think I already see what we came here for. Here we go. All right, this is a 2008 Volvo S40. And this should have the same exact central electronics module as the Aston Martin. But if that one doesn't work out, look, there's another one just a few bays down. And it should be in the same exact place. Oops, sorry about that. Hmm. Okay, the big thing we're gonna wanna make sure, though, is that there's no corrosion. I'm already seeing something, which looks wet right there. See all that? I don't like that. Okay, I'm not liking this already because you can feel it's a little damp in this corner. And what we really need to look and see is how clean these connectors are. I'm sure they're better than the ones that we got. Fighting with this a bit. I got a few of the connectors off so far. They look good. All I'm worried about is if you see any corrosion on the connector ends. But since we got one so close, just a few bays down, let's just make sure that one isn't like perfect looking and then we'll just grab the one out of here. Okay, yeah, that window's busted. Ooh, okay. Someone's already messed with it in this area. Yeah, this one looks, that looks way worse. Supposedly the one we're working on was inventoried today. So again, not great that there's a little bit of moisture in there, but we'll check through all the connectors and if they're clean, we'll be good to go. All right, we're gonna have to find another car. I've pulled and I have pride at this one and it's stuck. And I'm sure if I pulled a little more or brought some WD-40, we could get it out. But it feels similar to the one that was in the Aston Martin. So that's gotta be corroded. And if you look at any of these videos online of people working on these, usually it's this one with the green connector that gets dripped on by, I don't know if it's the dryer the heater core that's in the dash and it starts to corrode anyway. So we can come back to this one if we need to get the majority of the cables, but this green one is stuck and I'm wasting a lot of time on it. All right, now, if we look at the end of this row, we should see a Volvo hanging out. I see it right there. We see two Volvos. One I think is an S60 or an S80. That does not have the same control module. The other one is a C70, a two-door. I'm assuming C stands for coupe. And since it's a two-door, it's basically the same exact thing as an Aston Martin DBS. So let's go see if this has our module and connectors in it and is a little drier. Here it is. And we've got a lot more room to work on this thing. It looks like nobody's even touched this. All right, we've already got more room here in the, look at this guy's got the original window sticker. This was a $45,000 car. Think about this. You could have bought this car brand new with the amount of money. The Aston dealer wants to charge me. Someone's already pulled the module down and our connectors. I'm gonna start with here. Let's see here how crispy they feel. That one came right out. That was good. All right. If the green one does this, we're in business. Two. These are feeling really pretty good. Let's see this. All right, the green one. Top popped, or no, this green one is the one that's always causing trouble. All right, there's one side down. Oh, that's feeling really good. Oh, that, look at that. This is the, this is the car, baby, the C70. Look at that. Perfect. Any corrosion in there? This looks brand new. Amazing. If only I could buy this module for like 20 bucks and program it. It's a little far gone at this point. Look at these. These are beautiful. These are the connectors we want here. Two. There's a central electronics module. All right, here we go. I'm going as high up on these wires as I can go before I snip them. And here's the first one. This feels so wrong. Oh, come on, baby. I have to clean these up, but here we go. One, two, three. All right. There's one. All right. Two. All right. There we go, all right. All right, so here we go. We should have eight connectors. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. All right, here are eight pigtails, and the total was 45 bucks. He only charged me for seven of them, and that's because this one right here has two on one. And if you convert this to Aston dealership math, we just picked up about $5,000 worth of pigtails for 1% of the retail price, but realistically, these pigtails are only going to be half of our solution if we even need them. I'm not really sure what can be read on the car without having that Aston Martin proprietary software. Now, I've called several independent exotic car repair shops that I'm familiar with, and they've reached out to their friends in this Indy exotic car network, and not a single one of them seems to have this tool. You don't really need it to service these cars, but we've got this unique situation that requires use of the tool. So you guys have bailed me out once on this project already. Can you do it a second time? Do you have the tool or know somebody that does? Make sure you reach out to me on Instagram down in the comments section. I read almost every single one. My email is down in the description box. If you do, well, I'm sure we can work something out. Now, if we can get this flood total Aston Martin up and running without the help of a dealership, just goes to show that we don't need them. They need us.