california profile amp, repair, purchase?

I have a California Profile 2400 MOSFET Bridgeable 2Ch. 400Watt Amp. A tech at my Saturn dealer dumped water into it, while it was mounted to the RR in the trunk. Question: Is anyone able to tell me what I could expect to find, when I open it? Are there hard-wire connections? Horseshoe-shaped connections? Maybe a little WD40, fine-grade sandpaper and huge quantities of patience would do it. I would prefer being able to do the repair myself, for financial reasons. In the alternative, what could be used in place of the above amp? Is there a market for a used replacement? The amp pushes a Bazooka T82. I am totally illiterate on these topics. If you respond, please use everyday language - simple terms, spelling it out, if necessary. This is an old system, and nothing has ever gone wrong with any component - so I'm not interested in system replacement advice. Thanks to all.

The system is in a 1997 Saturn SC2.

What kind of problems are you having with the amp?

It doesn't work - at all - because all the connections are covered with rust.

Plain and simple English . . . buy yourself a new 400w amp and try to sell that one on craigslist for $10 to someone who might want the heatsinks etc.

This is not a layman project.

I know just enough to be dangerous. VERY dangerous.

Have you tried removing the screws and removing the rust from the terminals?   Have you opened the amp to inspect the circuit board to see how severe the damage is?

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OK - you have determined I am not capable of cleaning it up. A shop wants $65-$75 to do it. If that's a stretch, monitarily, for me, I still have no idea what I'd be looking for in something used. All the details are the book, but there are so many that it would be impossible for me to match up everything with something used. And, that brings up another potential problem: Will a different unit fit the mounting board, and will all the external connections be the same? See where I'm going? I'm not paying someone to rewire just for this. Thanks.

No, I have not opened it;I have a fear of what might happen if I do. I would like an idea of what I might find inside: Will it be circuitry, slip-on connectors, etc. If you will look at my post to the person who posted a comment before you, you will see what I am up against. Maybe I should just spend $65-$75 for a shop to clean it, find someone who knows how to reinstall the thing, and be done with it. Thanks.

Even if a shop "cleans it up" there's no guarantee that the amp will work at all or work properly or work long term.

You're basically taking your chances on it's nornal operation based on someone elses ability to defunk your board and connections.

I've ran more things through the bathtub and dishwasher than I could possibly post here and if I thought this would really be your resolve, I would tell you to take it apart and clean it with the proper solvents.

Let's break it down like this:

1) you say you know absolutely nothing technical about this, so if I encourage you to remove the cover and see if any rust or moisture made it inside, you would at least need to be able to put the screw back in without stripping them.

2) if you accomplish the internal inspection, and find that there is no appreciable amount of rust or corrosion inside, then it might simply be the external connections.

3) if it IS only the external connections, you could pay to have a shop do the cleaning, or clean them yourself.

4) for the whole system to work, even the molex plugs \ spade lugs etc on the wires need to be clean and shiny, so don't forget them, they may have to be scrubbed or replaced.

decisions . . decisions . . .

Why don't you take plenty of pics of the connections and the internals and post them here in decent quality and we will pass on some more accurate info?

Make an imageshack account if you don't have one.

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I know just enough to be dangerous. VERY dangerous.

Remove the cover from the amp, and take and post pictures of the damage.  There is nothing inside the amp that will jump out and get you when you remove the cover.  After removing the screws from the cover, slowly lift the cover in case there are LEDs or meters mounted to the cover, if there are, they should unplug from one end or the other.