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.

On 22/12/2019 14:03, GB wrote:
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.



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).

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

--
----- --
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"newshound" wrote in message
o.uk...
On 22/12/2019 14:03, GB wrote:
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.



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).

Brian Gaff (Sofa 2) wrote

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.

The original landrover had that, no carpets at all.

Saw a VW camper van once with fungi growing out of the carpet.

That was a different problem, that was
his mobile magic mushroom farm, silly.

"newshound" wrote in message
o.uk...
On 22/12/2019 14:03, GB wrote:
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.



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).

On Tue, 24 Dec 2019 01:18:49 +1100, cantankerous trolling geezer Rodent
Speed, the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:

FLUSH senile cretin's latest troll****

01:48 in Australia? And you've been up and trolling for almost HALF AN HOUR
already, yet AGAIN! Can't you even TRY to hide what a clinically insane
idiot you are? But then, which truly clinically insane idiot could do so,
eh, senile Rodent?

--
Marland revealing the senile sociopath's pathology:
"You have mentioned Alexa in a couple of threads recently, it is not a real
woman you know even if it is the only thing with a Female name that stays
around around while you talk it to it.
Poor sad git who has to resort to Usenet and electronic devices for any
interaction as all real people run a mile to get away from from you boring
them to death."
MID:

On Sun, 22 Dec 2019 14:28:28 +0000, newshound
wrote:

snip

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).

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

On 23/12/2019 10:13, T i m wrote:
On Sun, 22 Dec 2019 14:28:28 +0000, newshound
wrote:

snip

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).

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.


Ah, the quick fix :-)


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

Cheers, T i m

On Sun, 22 Dec 2019 14:28:28 +0000, newshound
wrote:


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.

If only things were always still so simple!

After the front to back wiring loom the carpets might be the very next
thing fitted on the production line, often in one piece, and besides
the obvious things like the seats removing the carpet might also
entail the removal of much of the trim, centre console and mind
boggling the removal of the dash, which then might mean the degassing
of the aircon. A two minute install of a carpet on the production
line can easily translate to 30+ hours of work at a dealer and 650
euros for the carpet.

One could for instance back a car into a location on a very sunny day,
wind down a window to ease positioning of the car close to a wall and
then accidentally leave that a window open for a day or two, with
torrential rains overnight and then have a saturated seat and an inch
or two of water in the footwell and then think it's an easy job to
remove the carpets and then find the above situation. DAMHIKT

The running of a dehumidifier for a few weeks was the easiest option
and while that dried things out there was an enduring stench of what
resembled a cross between rotten milk and bubble gum coming from the
carpets and seats. It's hopefully now fixed after lots of repeat
applications of carpet cleaner and upholstery cleaner.

On 23/12/2019 14:11, The Other Mike wrote:
On Sun, 22 Dec 2019 14:28:28 +0000, newshound
wrote:


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.

If only things were always still so simple!

After the front to back wiring loom the carpets might be the very next
thing fitted on the production line, often in one piece, and besides
the obvious things like the seats removing the carpet might also
entail the removal of much of the trim, centre console and mind
boggling the removal of the dash, which then might mean the degassing
of the aircon. A two minute install of a carpet on the production
line can easily translate to 30+ hours of work at a dealer and 650
euros for the carpet.

One could for instance back a car into a location on a very sunny day,
wind down a window to ease positioning of the car close to a wall and
then accidentally leave that a window open for a day or two, with
torrential rains overnight and then have a saturated seat and an inch
or two of water in the footwell and then think it's an easy job to
remove the carpets and then find the above situation. DAMHIKT

The running of a dehumidifier for a few weeks was the easiest option
and while that dried things out there was an enduring stench of what
resembled a cross between rotten milk and bubble gum coming from the
carpets and seats. It's hopefully now fixed after lots of repeat
applications of carpet cleaner and upholstery cleaner.

Believe me, while the odour of once damp carpet is bad enough, the odour
of carpet that has been subjected to milk is in whole different league!

When our middle son was just old enough to hold a bottle and drink from
it himself, he left a half-full bottle, teat down, in the hole in the
seat that the centre rear seatbelt emerges from.

A few weeks later a part-full 6-pint bottle of milk was accidentally
left in the boot for some time. While shopping, we returned to the car
and heard a hissing in the boot. Before I could stop her, my wife
prodded the bottle, which blew the cap off and exploded over the boot
carpet

SteveW

On Mon, 23 Dec 2019 14:15:37 -0000 (UTC), Jethro_uk
wrote:

On Mon, 23 Dec 2019 14:11:56 +0000, The Other Mike wrote:

If only things were always still so simple!

After the front to back wiring loom the carpets might be the very next
thing fitted on the production line

On older cars, I imagined the very first component - around which the
rest of the car was built - was the heater matrix. Or so it seemed when
you had to remove one of the ****ers.

That was the case with the original Range Rover as a mate of mine
found out many years ago. It was the most expensive to run car he
ever had, the subsequent owner found it the cheapest as everything
that could go wrong had been fixed

On 23/12/2019 14:15, Jethro_uk wrote:
On Mon, 23 Dec 2019 14:11:56 +0000, The Other Mike wrote:

If only things were always still so simple!

After the front to back wiring loom the carpets might be the very next
thing fitted on the production line

On older cars, I imagined the very first component - around which the
rest of the car was built - was the heater matrix. Or so it seemed when
you had to remove one of the ****ers.

Newer cars are even worse. My Zafira B snapped the drive from the
hot/cold stepper motor to the flap. Replacement would involve replacing
the entire heater, which would involve removing the centre console,
gear-lever, glove box, instrument cluster, dash, a 2" structural member
that crosses the whole vehicle, much of the wiring harness that is
attached to it, degassing the air-con and draining the coolant and a
fair bit more besides.

I got away with removing the bottom of the heater, squeezing my hand in
to reposition the flap and replacing the drive with a reversed,
long-reach socket that I had turned down to fit the casing hole and slit
to fit over the back edge of the flap.

SteveW

On 22/12/2019 14:03, GB wrote:
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.




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

--
mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

On 22/12/2019 14:03, GB wrote:
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.



is it a dacia duster by any chance? ...

On 22/12/2019 15:28, Jim GM4DHJ ... wrote:
On 22/12/2019 14:03, GB wrote:
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.



is it a dacia duster by any chance? ...

Volvo C70.

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

On 22/12/2019 16:08, GB wrote:
On 22/12/2019 15:28, Jim GM4DHJ ... wrote:
On 22/12/2019 14:03, GB wrote:
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.



is it a dacia duster by any chance? ...

Volvo C70.

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

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

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.

On 22/12/2019 16:19, GB wrote:

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

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.


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

On Sunday, 22 December 2019 16:19:28 UTC, GB wrote:
I've borrowed a dehumidifier from my brother, so we'll see how that goes.
oh right

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.

Park the de-humidifier on the drivers seat.

"GB" wrote in message
...

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

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.

I avoid that possibility by putting something
on the steering wheel to remind you.

On 22/12/2019 16:19, GB wrote:

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

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.


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

On 22/12/2019 16:19, GB wrote:

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

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.



If you are parkedd off road, get the engine running, heater on
full blast in recirculation mode (gets the inside even hotter) and
the dehumidifier will work even more effectively.

GB wrote:
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.

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" wrote in message
...
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.

Its important to fix the source of the water getting in.

I had the same problem that showed up after a new
windscreen had been fitted. Didnt bother to fix it
because at worst it was a damp carpet for a while
after heavy rain and that doesnt happen often here.

Eventually that rusted out the floor and it was no longer MOTable.

On Mon, 23 Dec 2019 04:51:51 +1100, cantankerous trolling geezer Rodent
Speed, the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:


Its important to fix the source of the water getting in.

No ****, Einstein! LOL

--
addressing nym-shifting senile Rodent:
"You on the other hand are a heavyweight bull****ter who demonstrates
your particular prowess at it every day."
MID:

Rod Speed wrote:


after heavy rain and that doesnt happen often here.

Weve noticed,


Shouldnt you be doing something useful like beating out fires with a stick
instead of playing on usenet,
at least you could adopt Nero as one of your nyms while your country burns
while you do bugger all.


GH

"Marland" wrote in message
...
Rod Speed wrote:


after heavy rain and that doesnt happen often here.

Weve noticed,

Shouldnt you be doing something useful
like beating out fires with a stick

Doesnt work with the fires we have.

instead of playing on usenet,

I am doing the annual/semi annual beer brewing run.
Currently got 8 brews on the go, only stopped at 8
because it was getting a bit warm with 45C outside.
Only got to 30C in the beer brewing room, thats fine
at the end of the brewing time. I was 21C in there in
the first couple of days which is ideal.

reams of your even sillier **** flushed where it belongs

On Mon, 23 Dec 2019 08:34:49 +1100, cantankerous trolling geezer Rodent
Speed, the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:


We¢ve noticed,

Shouldn¢t you be doing something useful
like beating out fires with a stick

Doesn¢t work with the fires we have.

How about beating the **** you got for brains out of your senile head with a
stick, senile Rodent?

--
Bill Wright addressing senile Ozzie cretin Rot Speed:
"Well you make up a lot of stuff and it's total ******** most of it."
MID:

On 22/12/2019 14:03, GB wrote:
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.




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"

--
Adam

On 22/12/2019 18:30, ARW wrote:
On 22/12/2019 14:03, GB wrote:
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.




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"


I did that too on one of the citroens, for its last year of life

On 22/12/19 18:30, ARW wrote:
On 22/12/2019 14:03, GB wrote:
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.




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"

My first car was a Vauxhall Viva HB. It had several holes in the floor
which neither Vauxhall nor I put there. The HB was, however, a notorious
rustbucket...

--

Jeff

Only had two leaks in a car, the first was a sun roof which I did not want for that reason but because it was a standard item on that model I had to put up with it. I cannot remember how much it cost but remember at the time it was done by a specialist company and I was pleased with the price and that it never leaked again. The second was the heater matrix on a Nissan Bluebird, what a PITA that was, everything had to come off the bulkhead the matrix itself was the very last thing. Even the steering wheel had to come off to remove the dash, despite having a puller to try to pull it off it would not budge so in the end I had to disconnect a support bracket for the steering column and drop the wheel down but because of the weight it became a real PITA to get back involving a lot of cussing and swearing and involving every deity I could call stopping just short of selling my soul to Old Nick.. I was just glad I decided to do the job myself I shudder to think what it would have cost at garage rates with most of the cost going in removing and replacing everything on the passenger side of the bulkhead the repair itself was only a matter of minutes.

Richard

"Tricky Dicky" wrote in message
...
Only had two leaks in a car, the first was a sun roof which I did not want
for that reason but because it was a standard item on that model I had to
put up with it. I cannot remember how much it cost but remember at the
time it was done by a specialist company and I was pleased with the price
and that it never leaked again.

One of my cars came with a sunroof as standard; I wouldn't have chosen to
have one. One morning I came to my car and found a circular hole in the
glass, about 10 cm diameter, and melting blue "snowball" with a chemical
smell near the gear lever. As I lived under the flight path for Heathrow,
near Bracknell, I reckon it was a bit of chemical toilet overflow that had
frozen and had then fallen off a plane and gone through the sunroof. Luckily
the chemical smell went fairly quickly, and there was no lingering pee/poo
smell ;-)

I was surprised that a car which had laminated glass for windscreen/rear
window had only used toughened glass for the sunroof - so there was lots of
glass "pebbles" all over the inside of the car. But then the chance of that
window being hit by debris is much less than the front or rear windows.

"GB" wrote in message
...
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.

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.

On Sunday, December 22, 2019 at 10:07:50 PM UTC, NY wrote:
"GB" wrote in message
...
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.

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.

Use a dehumidifier and a heater.The heater will draw out the damp and the dehumidifierer will handle it better.

On a side note my father once had a car that under the carpets in the back had a little port hole with a rotating sliding cover. Came in handy when he locked the keys in one time as he was able to poke a screwdriver up through this hole to unlock the door handle. Thjis was all probably circa 1950

On 22/12/2019 14:03, GB wrote:
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.



TOP GEAR Africa special.

Shoot a hole through the floor with a rifle or ?BB Cartridge
in a 12 bore.

failing that, remove all the carpets, hopefully the rear ones
are a separate section and leave the car on fast tickover with the
heater set to recirculate to get the interior really hot, opening
the doors occasionally to let the steam out.

On 22/12/2019 17:42, Jethro_uk wrote:
On Sun, 22 Dec 2019 14:03:58 +0000, GB wrote:

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.

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.

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.

On 22/12/2019 18:59, Chris Bartram wrote:

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

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.

On 22/12/2019 21:09, GB wrote:
On 22/12/2019 18:59, Chris Bartram wrote:

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

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.


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!

On 23/12/2019 10:24, Brian Reay wrote:

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!

You should have impressed him with a show of conspicuous consumption.

--
Spike

On 23/12/2019 10:24, Brian Reay wrote:
On 22/12/2019 21:09, GB wrote:
On 22/12/2019 18:59, Chris Bartram wrote:

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

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.


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 andÂ* probably one of the best paid employees
in the department!
IME, Minis don't need any help to develop holes in the floor :-)