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I left my windows down during a storm last night. I was really pissed/upset at myself for having done that (it was an accident, of course). The little "hole" in the arm wrest on the door was half way full of water, and unfortunately I could see some water below the window control buttons...

Even the door locking mechanism would leak water when the power locks either opened locked or unlocked...

Although everything is working now I'm concerned about something either short circuiting, frying, or getting rusty inside of the door and later causing problems b/c of the water.

I'm tempted to take the entire (both) doors apart but I don't want to mess anything up and I'm not a super mechanic-inclined person. Any thoughts or ideas on this situation?

 
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bump

Anyone?

 
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first, i'd check the inside of the doors, it is not hard to take the panel off. first take the cover off behind the door open lever and you will find two screws, take those out and then take the handle off and disconnect the rod that is attached to the back of the door handle, second you need to pry the cover that looks like carbon fiber under the window controls off, there is alittle opening at one end just use a thin straight head and pop it out then you will find to scews buried about 1.5 inches in, do not unscrew the two easily exposed screws. after that you need to take the small panel is in the same place as your side mirror connections and pop that out starting from the top working down. ok now its time to pop all the door panel fasteners out, there are seven, you can do this with a long straighthead, just stick the straighthead between the panel and door frame and pop the fasteners out. then all you have to do is lift up and out to get the panel off dont forget to disconnect the harnesses

 
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to continue my previous post, now just inspect everything to see if you see any rust, if the water just got in there like a day or two ago you propably will not notice rust yet. be sure to check between the big white plastic covering too just to make sure. check the harness connections and make sure they are dry, if anything is wet just dry it off. if you notice any rust on metal try a rust remover polish it might work. if everything looks fine i wouldnt worry anymore and put everything back together just like you took it apart in oposite order, hope this helps some, let me know how it turns out

 
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don't bother, ive done the same but with probably more rain and a few occasions and ive never had a problem(knock on wood). They're meant to take some moisture. I did the same thing on our old accord more times than i can remember and when we got rid of it with almost 200k miles, everything still worked the way it was supposed to and never shorted out.

 
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I took the trim off and inspected the inside. Taking it off, by the way, was pretty easy, while putting it back on was a beotch. Anyways...turns out that everything was perfectly dry. I figure having left my car out in the sun all freggin' day long after the night of the rainstorm probably made the water simply evaporate away...

The stuff was a little dirty, dunno how...it looked like dry/fine dirt inside of the door (but *not* behind the plastic cover).

I take it that everything is okay... To be honest, I was more worried within those 24 hours than I am now. I still wish it hadn't happened, but ya know what they say: sheit happens...

By the way folks, if you ever leave your window down, worry not. The door was well designed, and everything that's important is behind a thick plastic sheet that is attached to the metal door frame with a silly-putty like substance. Reality is that there's not much "in the door," just some cables, a motor for your window (also protected), and the plastic trim. Unless something goes haywire within the first few hours, I wouldn't worry, simply b/c the clips for the power window/lock controls are desined so they won't be ruined with water unless you dunk it in a puddle or something...

Thanks for the help folks!

 
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Plus your doors have drain holes. Water always gets past the seals, so it has to go somewhere. Honda did a good job of rust proofing our cars, so if the holes are open, I would probably not worry.