"CAR KIT" showed on my screeen, no sound, etc. Verizon offered me a rebuilt version of the same model for "only" $50.00 OR a new vesion for $70.00 + $29.00 for a car charger + $29.00 for a second A/C charger!
Soooo, . after persisting with Verizon for about 2 hours on the phone and at a repair station , I found out "the most likely cause" of the "CAR KIT" problem is corroded pins in the battery port in the phone (if the charger is corroded, the corrision fron the chager gets transferrred to the phone pins.)
NOTE THAT EVEN A SINGLE DROP OF SWEAT COULD START THE CORROSION PROCESS.
Here's the fix: If you have a spray can of " ELECTRICAL CONTACT CLEANER, ZERO RESIDUE" and spray bottle that you use to blow out a computer on hand (AKA - "canned air"), here's the fix:
TAKE THE BATTERY OUT!
UNPLUG THE CHARGER (AC OR CAR CHARGER WILL DO JUST AS WELL)!
Spray a GENEROUS amount of the contact cleaner into the phoone plug end of the chager and a QUICK SPRAY into the phone socket.
Hold the two buttons that keep the charger in the pone and rapidly plug and unplug the charger at least 20 times.
Spray both the charger (phone end) and the phone socket with the "canned air".
Put the battery back in and try to turn the phone on --- the "CAR KIT" should be gone; if not, try it again!
If you don't have any "electrical contact cleaner", try radio shack or an electronics parts store -- it's about $4.50 a can. You can also try vodka, or some other pure alcohol, but you may have to plug and unplug the connector more.
IF YOU DROP YOUR PHONE IN THE TOILET, THE SURF, etc. OR SPILL WINE, ETC. ON IT --
OPEN THE PHONE (BEFORE DRYING IT OFF) AND PULL OUT THE BATTERY, YOU WILL HAVE A MUCH BETTER CHANCE OF RESCUE.
Then dry it off with a clean cloth and set it out in the sun to dry for a day or so; do not try to use it during that time!
If you are so inclined and want to speed up the process;
REMOVE THE BATTERY!
GENTLY remove the case screws (some are probably in the battery compartment and some may be under those little rubber plugs in the phone you always wondered what they are for. MY LG 8300 has 4 in the battery compartment and two under the little plugs.
Now, GENTLY separate the case using a sharp knife ( a screw driver will mar the case); DO NOT stick the knige in any further than about1/32"! -- be careful to note where any butttons on the side of the phone are located; when I opened my LG the photo button and the cover to the memory card fell out).
Mechanically dry everthing off and use a hair dryer (on LOW) to blow any residual water out.
Spray the inside well with the contact cleaner, let it sit for a while and blow the inside out with the "canned air" (be careful and don't blow any small parts out.
Leave it in the sun for an hour or so and reassemble.
I HAVE RESCUED ABOUT TEN PHONES FOR MY FRIENDS AND TWO FOR ME USING THESE TECHNIQUES.
GOOD LUCK!
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bevinann Posts: 1
Mon Jul 28, 2008 5:32 pm
Hi, My husband dropped our LG 245 in the f-ing toilet about 6months ago. we dried it out and it worked fine for about 3 or 4 weeks, then suddenly it crapped out. I took it to Telus (Canada) and they said the same damn thing they say at Verizon according to all these posts, you need a new phone. quite innocently, I asked if there was anyway to save the pics stored in the phone, as they were of my nephew from 1 to 2 yrs old. the clerk took pity on me and got a tiny screwdriver and removed the battery, the 6 little screws and pried the plate off to reveal the innards of my phone. THen he took a fancy toothbrush! yes! and some common household rubbing alcohol and gently cleaned the circuit board, ports, etc., Obviously i didn't tell him about the toilet h2O, and played dumb. and said i was coming back in to buy a new phone on pay-day. well, he put the phone back together, and that was 6 months ago or more. ha!ha? well, last night, all of a sudden the damn phone is saying car-kit and we can't get any sound, same as everyone here. so I went to a dollar store, bought a set of teeny-tiny screw drivers for $1.64, grabbed an old (and very fancy!) toothbrush and some common household rubbing alcohol and repeated procedure, a la Telus-guy and VOILA! AU REVOIRS CAR-KIT! Hope this is helpful to some of you out there. just GENTLY clean off the corrosion and /or mould that has grown. this is obviously a huge scam to get us to all buy new phones. they are actually a lot more sturdy than we consumers havebeen l(i)ed to beleive.
nikepablo Posts: 1
Sun Aug 03, 2008 10:26 pm
Here's another possible solution. I tried all of the other posted solutions: Nothing worked. I tried to use common sense. I had no hair dryer; so I left the phone in my car on a warm So. CA. day (I opened it up and took the battery out). After sitting in 120 deg.+ heat all day.the phone worked and the CARKIT message went away. But; the screen began to fade out and get fuzzy and eventually went back to CARKIT mode. Yes, I did have the pink moisture dot too. I appeared to me that the fogging of the screen may mean that there is more moisture and that the heat did help but wasn't a final solution. It seemed that since the heat was a partial solution: Then it wasn't a corrosion problem: But a moisture problem that had not completeley dissapated. What to do? I carefully cut open a bag of Desiccant (easy to find these things in all sorts of products).and emptied the bag enough (and taped it back up) so it was flat enough to fit behind the battery. After one more heat therapy in the car: When the CARKIT dissapered again.I placed the bag into the phone. This was days ago. The phone is perfect. No fuzzy or cloudy screen; no CARKIT message.
NP
nhojo54 Posts: 1
Sun Aug 17, 2008 11:32 pm
I have been having the same problem Verizon fix it once lucked out a service guy accuallly had the same problem with a friends phone vx 8300 said if any moisture gets in and around certian parts can cause the problem. I found that if i cut off the phone and plug it in and cut it back on it zaps it back to regular mode, I do blame lgs design of the 8300 though it is a nice phone it is the first i have owned where you can lose the protective rubber peices that blocks the head phone jack and power plug circuit board allowing dust and moisture in. Some one said it takes a lot for the strip to turn i don't belive that my mother just got a new phone in from verizon and her pink spot is as dark s mine and my phone goes through hades with me hers is but 12 days old, as i have found always get the extended warrenty or insurance because thaey make things now to break before you really want to upgrade them.
evensteven Posts: 1
Mon Sep 29, 2008 4:48 pm
I followed all of Blazes steps and it didn't work, probably because my model is a little different - LG VX8300. Here's what I did: I plugged my cell into the live car charger, then unplugged it, and the message went away. Pretty simple.
carrie Posts: 1
Mon Nov 03, 2008 6:57 am
After trying many of the above, this was simply my problem. Some of the prongs where you put the charger in were bent. Once I straightened them out (with the battery out, using a safety pin) it worked great! They were really hard to see and one was bent way back. good luck!
kylelandry Posts: 1
Thu Jan 01, 2009 5:26 am
God, this scam is so retarded. I'm pretty sure I didn't get my phone wet. Me and my friends looked through the phone for so long trying to figure out how to get the mysterious "car-kit" mode off.
Finally I came here to read up on it. I wasn't really sure what to do, so I came up with my own way to get rid of it!
I plugged it into it's charger, and wiggled it around. Finally, the car kit thing disappeared for a second, so I continued to do it. THEN, my phone suddenly turned off. I turned it back on, and it was gone!
FREEDOM.
mercutio6573 Posts: 1
Mon Mar 02, 2009 4:53 am
I was having the same frustration of not being able to get my phone to comer out of the notorious "car kit" mode. I tried all the fixes that were posted here, to no avail. I then found another site that said that if you short out the pins where you carge your phone, that would toggle the device out of car kit mode. I used a butter knife, slid it into the opening, and immediately, my phone worked as it was supposed to. Hope this helps end the frustration!
TAC Posts: 1
Mon May 25, 2009 2:13 pm
lgphoneracket wrote:
After unsuccessful attempts with rickyd's and blade's instructions, I tried something else which did work.
I inserted the plug-in for the lighter charger on the contacts on the bottom of the phone (under the rubber seal). Even though it wasn't plugged into a lighter, the car kit indicator started flashing. After putting the plug in and out a couple of times, the car kit indicator went away and the phone started functioning as new.
That just worked for me. Thanks!
joshsgirl6107 Posts: 1
Sat Oct 17, 2009 12:41 am
Makaelin wrote:
Quote:
Seems like lots of people have had similar problems. This is a racket. I've had Motorola phones that have been rained on and kept working. The LG, though a nice phone, seems prone to this problem and with this "moisture indicator" pink spot seems like an excuse to disclaim warranty coverage.
It most certainly isn't a racket. I am a phone technician, and I can tell you firsthand that the LG moisture indicator doesn't trip easily.
The LG VX6000 goes into constant Car Kit mode mostly for one of two reasons. First and foremost, the phone got wet enough that enough water entered the charging port, causing corrosion to form on the outside. Many times, however, the corrosion is on the base of the circuit board on the inside of the phone where the charging port is soldered to the rest of the phone. Cleaning the port, as well as opening the phone and cleaning all signs of corrosion (some of it is very hard to see) with NAPA electronics cleaner and allowing it to dry is the best way to try and reverse the problem.
The other reason an LG trips into Car Kit mode is physical damage to the charging port, where some of the tiny pin connectors have been bent or broken and are usually touching (even very slightly). Make sure that isn't the case by confirming that the black lining strip is still attached beneath the row of connectors, and that none are bent out of place (do this while looking for signs of corrosion).
Read your LG warranty information. Getting your phone wet enough to trip the moisture indicator voids LG's warranty, which is what Verizon is honoring on behalf of the manufacturer. Doesn't matter whether you agree or not, no phone manufacturer is going to replace your device for a problem caused by you getting it wet.
Any other LG that goes into Car Kit (a very small percentage) without one of these two factors is normally fixed by simply flashing the firmware. However I've only seen a handful that weren't in that mode due to liquid or physical damage.
Hope this helps someone out.
thank you so much!recently my phone charger that plugged into the wall had broken and bent some pieces inside where my charger plugs into,so my husband bent the pieces down so i can hook up another charger in there and ive been using a car charger and when i unplugged it,it was in car kit mode i couldnt figure it out and i went on here and tryed everything and everyone kept saying its due to wetness and i never got my phone wet at all and i have a phone cover on it so i knew that wasnt the problem and then i seen what you said about the phone being bent or things touching and i looked and the pieces my husband had bent down they were all touching so i took a saftypin and pryed them off each other and as soon as i did that car kit was gone!thank you soo much i was getting really mad to!this worked for me god i am so happy now!
, I found out "the most likely cause" of the "CAR KIT" problem is corroded pins in the battery port in the phone (if the charger is corroded, the corrision fron the chager gets transferrred to the phone pins.) 
TAKE THE BATTERY OUT!
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