Bailing out the car

[GB]

The rear footwell was full of water after all this rain. I extracted a few litres of water using the wet and dry vacuum cleaner.

I thought I had it all, but then the carpet started looking sodden again. I have done it a couple more times now, and after 30 minutes, the carpet is wet enough that I can extract another mug full of water.

I assume there is foam under the carpet, and that's saturated. Is there any good way to dry that out?

Ideally, we'd put the car in a warm garage with a dehumidifier, but we lack both of those.

I've cleaned all the rubber seals, by the way, as I think this is where the water is getting in.

[newshound]

Had this problem in my CX days. (That has very thick moulded foam all around the floors). Only solution, remove seats. Remove carpets. Remove foam. Vacuum out as much as possible, dry carpets as much as possible with wet and dry and replace. Leave the foam somewhere sheltered to dry out for days. IIRC with my last one I never put the foam back in the end. (Problem is multiple ingress routes, not just up from floor but down from roof, from heater box, from windscreen).

[alan_m]

a big stack of newspapers on top of the carpet and weighted down. Check every hour and discard the bottom wet layer.

[GB]

Volvo C70.

I've borrowed a dehumidifier from my brother, so we'll see how that goes.

[GB]

I've got the car sitting in the driveway, with an extension lead fed in through the boot. There is scope to cause much amusement for the neighbours if we drive off without disconnecting.

[Broadback]

I thought that I was the only one to do something like that!

[harry]

Park the de-humidifier on the drivers seat.

[Mr Pounder Esquire]

Once had this with a Nissan Micra, the boot was full of water. A weld had not been done very well, if welded at all. Tapped the very small bits of metal back and used a spot of silicone. Problem solved.

[GB]

Another really practical answer from you, Harry. If only I agreed with your political views. :)

[Jethro_uk]

I have no idea how modern cars are built, but certainly 70s and 80s cars had drainage pipes around the front and rear screens which once blocked allowed water in the car.

[ARW]

When that happened to my VH Combo my brother who is a mechanic just drilled a hole in the floor of the footwell and said "job done"

[Jethro_uk]

Certain 70s/80s some cars had drainage holes in the floorpan anyway.

[Chris Bartram]

This is, IME, much more likely than a seal. Cars are generally not watertight, and there are drainage bungs and tubes in various places that tend to get blocked with silt. My A3 had one either side of the boot, behind the trim, and if blocked the spare wheel well flooded.

To the OP- get the foam/fibre sound deadening out and dry it somewhere. otherwise your car starts to smell like pond water.

[Bill Wright]

Always thread the lead through the steering wheel. Also, when using a laptop etc on a desk always run the mains lead around a desk leg.

Bill

[GB]

You are not the only one to say this, but I just can't see how to remove the carpet. It's all nicely trimmed and glued on. I'll have a go in the morning, but I don't have any real hope.

[NY]

I had to do this on my Mark II Golf in the early 90s. The sill which drains the water that runs off the windscreen towards the bonnet is supposed to drain into the wheel arches, but the pipes had got blocked with leaves and the overflowed inside the bulkhead into the car. I discovered this when I got into the car one morning and my shoes were paddling in a couple of inches of water...

I didn't have a wet-and-dry vac, and two inches of water spread over a large area is much harder to scoop up than many inches of water over a small area, so I used every towel in the house - and I didn't have a washing machine to spin-dry them afterwards. I was in a hurry to get to work, so the car sat all day with the water that I wasn't able to mop up with the towels, until I could devote more time to it that evening. It was long enough for the water to start to smell disgusting. I removed the front seats, the centre gear-level console and the bottom of the dashboard, so I could take the carpets and felt underlay out. I had to have the carpets professionally cleaned (*), but I was able to wash the underlay (together with the towels that I'd used when I first discovered the problem!) when I next visited my parents.

It was a lot of work, but there was no residual smell afterwards.

(*) I could have used a wet-and-dry vac / carpet cleaner for this, if I'd had one.

[Brian Gaff (Sofa 2)]

When selling to countries where its just possible it will rain, would you not think at the very least easy ways to dry out the interior might be found. Saw a VW camper van once with fungi growing out of the carpet. Brian

[T i m]

<snip>

Yup. Daughters 1.2 Corsa C had the classic (apparently) leaking seal around the pedal box and that left the carpet and underfelt sodden.

I removed the lot (as you say, trim, seats, centre console, carpets, underfelt etc) and put the seats seat back in so she could use the car.

Left the carpet / felt out for a week, between the garden (when it was sunny) and garage (when it wasn't / at night) to allow it to dry out properly.

To fix the problem I removed the battery and tray, wipers, trim, fresh air intake / filter and wiper motor, loosened the brake servo and then cleaned round and then re-sealed the pedal box plate with CT1. Once cured, checked for leaks and re fitted all the stuff.

It's been dry ever since (now on 202,000 miles). ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[Brian Reay]

Many years ago, a couple of colleagues went on a business trip taking one of their own cars. The car in question was an old Mini, owned by someone who kept several cars, all in a state of disrepair so he carried a comprehensive tool kit 'just in case'. On the journey, the heavens opened and the passenger soon found his feet were in a puddle of water.

The owner pulled over, retrieved a screwdriver and hammer from the boot, and made some holes in the floor, and continued the journey.

A few months later, the owner gave me a lift, the holes were still there.

The owner was quite senior and probably one of the best paid employees in the department!

[newshound]

Ah, the quick fix :-)