How to: dry out under the carpets of a car

Forums › Transport (cars, bikes and boats) › How to: dry out under the carpets of a car

duckDecoy

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#303090 16-Jan-2023 11:21

We recently discovered the carpets under the drivers seat of our new car are saturated. We currently don't know the cause of the problem but are focusing on getting the carpets dry.

We used towels as a first step but it appears there is what feels like foam under the carpet and that is what is sopping, there is a cut in the carpet under the seat which I assume is for wiring or something and I can push my hand into it and feel a foam 'squab'. There was also some puddles under the foam and we got most of that up with towels.

We popped a couple of dehumidifiers in over the weekend but it hardly touched the surface, I think the carpets act as a good barrier.

Ive booked it into Mitsi but friday was the earliest they had so I want to do what I can in the mean time.

Any ideas?

I will be making an additional post with a related question around using a mattress inflator.

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#3021982 16-Jan-2023 11:35

If the carpets feel wet then the dehumidifier should suck the moisture out with the carpets wicking it out from down below. I'm surprised this didn't work.

Is there a chemical smell? A common cause of wet front footwell carpet is the heater core has corroded and leaked coolant. You can smell the antifreeze. Keep an eye on your coolant level and make sure it is not low.

trig42

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#3021983 16-Jan-2023 11:35

Maybe running the car with Aircon on full, pointing into the footwells?

Aircon will remove moisture.

surfisup1000

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#3021987 16-Jan-2023 11:44

We had this happen to us once, the air conditioner was leaking condensate into the car rather than outside :) Some pipe had disconnected or split.

If this is the case, running the aircon to dry it out is not going to help :)

duckDecoy

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#3021988 16-Jan-2023 11:47

surfisup1000:

We had this happen to us once, the air conditioner was leaking condensate into the car rather than outside :) Some pipe had disconnected or split.

If this is the case, running the aircon to dry it out is not going to help :)

That was my concern too

Silvrav

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#3021989 16-Jan-2023 11:48

Industrial wet vac as a first go to suck out as much of the water as possible - see if there is a self service car detailer close by to where you stay.

from there dehumidifier and heated fans (https://www.bestdeals.co.nz/online-industrial-fan-heater-2-in-1-portable-electric-hot-air-blower-carpet-dryer-for-shed-warehouse-workshop-saa-3000w-39021.html?aid=23&aid=23&gclid=CjwKCAiA5Y6eBhAbEiwA_2ZWIYk7R2HKN3bZUcGvNvt13ITfik4_Izu6gs8xYCd6FzM08g0Y6bQPXBoCp6oQAvD_BwE) something like that - might be able to hire one.

Journeyman

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#3022011 16-Jan-2023 13:07

Just fill the car up with a whole lot of those silica gel packs.

Bung

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#3022018 16-Jan-2023 13:10

Is this "new" as in brand new full warranty etc? If so don't take on the responsibility for curing the dealers problem. If you can park under cover until they get it, that's good. They should take seats and carpets out to get it dry.

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duckDecoy

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#3022024 16-Jan-2023 13:25

Bung: Is this "new" as in brand new full warranty etc? If so don't take on the responsibility for curing the dealers problem. If you can park under cover until they get it, that's good. They should take seats and carpets out to get it dry.

It's brand new, Dec 2022

BUT

I have a son. And my son has friends. So at this stage I don't know if any of them dropped a drink bottle of water there or similar and never fessed up.

I've booked it for Friday (the earliest) at Mitsubishi for its first 1 month service and they'll take a look then about helping it dry out, and i'll ask them to investigate further. I guess if we get it dry and it never happens again we'll know it wasn't the car, and if it soaks again we'll know it was the car.

Out of interest, how much water does the air con put out? If there was a blockage is it enough to soak carpets, or not really? At the dealership we left it idling for 15ish mins with the air con on and there weren't any drips under the car. They drove it to the service bay and when they brought it back they said it is dripping now. I don't want to make any accusations at all, but I wonder if it got unblocked in between somehow. Or perhaps 15mins wasn't long enough for the initial drips.

EDIT: clarity

surfisup1000

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#3022042 16-Jan-2023 14:05

duckDecoy:

Out of interest, how much water does the air con put out? If there was a blockage is it enough to soak carpets, or not really?

EDIT: clarity

Our passenger carpet was completely soaked ...From memory it may have been a blocked drainage vent but can't exactly recall .

We get quite a bit of water pooling under our current car .

So many things can cause this though, kids are a good bet too haha.

K8Toledo

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#3022473 17-Jan-2023 03:53

This happen to me on two separate occasions with different cars.

The first time a vapour barrier on one of the rear doors coame unglued, allowing water to run down inside the door.

I removed the back seat and lifted the rear carpet to ensure it dried thoroughly. The front carpet wasn't affected.

The second was from a leaking air conditioner hose on a new Honda. This time both front & rear carpets were absolutely saturated.

We tried a dehumidifier for a while then took the car down to Honda, who fixed it under warranty.

Senecio

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#3022480 17-Jan-2023 06:25

Having gone through this the only way to remove the moisture is to remove the seats and lift the carpet. Anything else is just superficial as you've already discovered.

As for cause, does your car have a panoramic sunroof? Ours was caused by a blocked sunroof drain that runs down the A pillar and exits through the door jam.

mdooher

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#3022517 17-Jan-2023 09:34

I've done this job a few times, when staff put 4 wheel dives (and vans) through fords that were a bit deep. We used to put 2 good industrial dehumidifiers ( hire pool ) in the car for about 3 days. I only bothered to remove the carpet if the water was muddy

Matthew

Bung

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#3022529 17-Jan-2023 10:03

Senecio:
Having gone through this the only way to remove the moisture is to remove the seats and lift the carpet.

Seat removal means the airbags connections are disturbed. Our previous car had something marginal in the connector. In the end the dealer had to replace it to get the self test to pass consistently. Small things quickly go downhill.

If the liquid was spillage, how likely is it that it would be just water?

K8Toledo

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#3022543 17-Jan-2023 10:54

Bung:

Seat removal means the airbags connections are disturbed. Our previous car had something marginal in the connector. In the end the dealer had to replace it to get the self test to pass consistently. Small things quickly go downhill.

In your case the front passenger seat occupancy sensor was probably faulty.

Bung:

If the liquid was spillage, how likely is it that it would be just water?

It's not spillage.....

Bung

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#3022619 17-Jan-2023 11:38

It was the connector that was faulty.

The OP hasn't ruled out possible spillage by his son or friends.

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