Forgetfullness + Rain = Soaked interior

[John Z]

It`s hot as hell in Houston so I had my windows slightly rolled down while my car was parked in the drive way. It just started raining really hard and I forgot about the windows. After an hour, I realized that my windows were opened. I went out, closed the windows but my interior is really soaked. The cup holders in the middle had an inch of water in them and the seats and carpet are completely wet. What should I do to prevent any problems that this might cause?

[imported_seres]

Do you have a shop-vac so you can vac out most of the water from the carpet & seats?

[Redcar GUY]

Originally posted by Volvo4Me

Do you have a shop-vac so you can vac out most of the water from the carpet & seats?



Ya do this asap! Then try to let it air out ASAP to keep it from gettin all Moldy and smellin nasty! Got a garage>? Put a fan on it, sweep it out many times with shop vac as you can!



Man wish I could help more.................:nixweiss

[C. Charles Hahn]

yes, vac out the water as much as possible - then try and blot some more out with a towel....



afterwards try and leave the vehicle with the doors/windows wide open to air out the interior, do the fan thing that RCG said....



finally, get some fabric "odor remover" (febreeze, although I like the smell of TW Odor-X better) and spray it on all upholstery.





This should take care of most of your mold probs. that could occur, just be sure after the car`s all dried out that you shampoo all the carpets and scrub really well, and wipe down all vinyl/rubber/other porous surfaces with a cleaning mixture (for this, I use extremely diluted [~1/4 oz. per 1 galon H2O] simple green, some tide laundry soap, and oxiclean mixed together in a WARM solution. - this is for both carpets and other surfaces)



use the mixture, and really saturate the interior with the soaps and stuff, just be sure to scrub them really well and vacuum the water out - follow the same airing out procedures.





Hope this helps - sucks when stuff like that happens!!

[louissc]

i use resolve granuals...it comes with a brush...you sprinkle it on...it will be slightly moist..let it dry and vacuum it out...works incredibly well...costs like 3.99 at walmart:xyxthumbs

[John Z]

I don`t have a shop vac. I`ll have to use towels. I`ll use the simple green + H2O mixture for cleaning and I have some febreeze for the odor after everything is dry. What else can I do if I don`t have a wet/dry vacuum?

[C. Charles Hahn]

if you don`t have a shopvac, don`t put extra water into the interior.... and read: you DONT use just simple green and H20. You have to put the other things listed in for it to work thoroughly. But, don`t use anything since you don`t have a wet/dry vac/extractor. It will screw things up to let even more water dry into the interior without extraction. You will want to use the febreeze though. What you might do is look into renting a Rug Doctor or similar machine, which is an extractor you can use to clean up.

[imported_Dude]

The above ideas are exactly what to do!



Don`t freak out about this. Before I became an Autopian, a beater that I occasionally drove had loose weatherstripping. During any really torrential rianstorm, the seats would get absolutely soaked. They dried out with no ill effects. Your interior can take an occaisonal soaking. It`ll be fine once it dries.