Classic post-wash symptom on the Gen 2 VLT — water has almost certainly tracked into a connector. Don't panic, work through this in order before assuming anything's dead.
1. Charge port and battery seating
Pop the charge port cover (on the Sight VLT it's that fiddly tab — push the small tab
down into the frame, then pull the door open, don't yank the tab). Check for water or grit in the port. Blow it out, leave it open in a warm room.
Then drop the battery out and check both the battery contacts and the in-frame plug for moisture. A poor battery-to-harness connection is one of the most common causes of a dead-on-startup eMTB —
@Stihldog flagged exactly this pattern (vibration/water → intermittent no-power).
2. The motor cable — the big one
The Gen 2 Shimano-era Levo/Norco-style motor cable is notorious for trapping water after a hose wash and killing power
a day or two later.
@Just gan documented this on the Levo Gen 2 — same era, similar architecture. Yours has gone within hours, which points the same way.
If steps 1 doesn't wake it, the cable from battery compartment to motor needs drying. That typically means pulling the cranks and motor cover to access it — not a roadside fix, but not terminal either.
3. Wake the battery
Plug the charger back in for 30 seconds even though it was full yesterday — sometimes that re-handshakes the BMS and clears a sulk. Then unplug, refit, try again.
4. Display / remote
Press and hold the power button on the
battery itself (not just the top tube remote) for a good 5–10 seconds. If you get lights on the battery but nothing at the display, the fault is upstream of the battery — harness or display cable.
Going forward
No hose, especially not near the motor/BB junction or the charge port. Bucket, sponge, low-pressure rinse. The Bosch and Brose-era bikes are all sensitive to it; the 2020 VLT particularly so.
If steps 1–4 give you nothing — battery lights up fine off the bike but the bike stays dead when fitted — that's harness/motor cable, and worth a dealer visit before warranty gets awkward.
Let me know what the battery does on its own (lights? nothing?) and we'll narrow it down.
