[SteveMD]

We had a serious storm last night. Turns out kid #2 left a rear window open and wife didn't garage the car.

Luckily I have leatherette but carpets are soaked in the rear.

I told the wife to idle the car with the windows cracked and heat and AC running.

Any other ideas?

[FotiosF90M5]

park it in the garage and leave a dehumidifier running.I hope it doesnt get musty.good luck.

[MonacoBimm]

I hope it doesnt get smelly.

[NYBMW335]

yeah shop vac your carpets. That is the best suggestion i could give you so you dont get the moldy smell. Yuck!!! It will smell like wet dog everytime you would go in your car.

[nimamilani]

holly carp. sorry man, i think that is the worst moist problem i have ever heard of.
try removing the water intially with paper towels. place them on the carpet and then place a heavy object on top of the towels. the water will be abosrbed into the towels due to capillary action. then try using a blow dryer. also you can purchase some power heat guns from hardware stores (just be careful as they are able to burn both you and the carpet).

[voltron1011]

Put rice on the carpets... I'm not joking either... The rice will absorb all of the moisture.

Also, rice works great if you've immersed your phone/pda in water.

[bronco]

Originally Posted by voltron1011

Put rice on the carpets... I'm not joking either... The rice will absorb all of the moisture.

Also, rice works great if you've immersed your phone/pda in water.

hahahahaha A RICE Cooker.... for 50K....j/k

[Revlis]

Open the Windows, put a fan blowing in and a fan pulling out. Leave it for a little while. If you can get it indoors and out of the humidity so much the better.

Rice sounds like a good idea...

[Spool]

I wouldn't idle the car for long period of time...not good for the engine...


Just use a shitload of paper towels...open all the doors and window and air it out inside the garage...

[montreal_bimmer]

shop vac as much as you can.... then add some rice...

[BK]

Don't mean to panic you any more than you already are, but you need to address this RIGHT AWAY. Once mold sets into carpet padding, it's almost impossible to get rid of it. I suspect BMW and most cars have some sort of mold-resistant padding, but it can only work so well.

Wet vac first. Then air flow is an absolute key. Pull the floor mats and set up fans to blow through the car. Your floor mats can be hung outside to dry. Borax can be sprinkled on the carpet if you like -- it kills mold spores, is gentle enough to use on carpet (unlike, say, bleach), and can be vacuumed up later.

I've never heard of using dry white rice before but it sounds like a decent idea. It's a desiccant that you can easily vacuum. Watch out for accidentally spilling any rice into your air vents under the front seats! As an aside, Borax in the air vents would not be a problem.

BTW - I don't mean to sound like an expert, because I've never had to do this for a car. However, I'm pretty good about knowing how to clean things around the house, and this is the method I'd use to save carpeting in the home after a very large spill or flood.

[user1]

Great ideas in this thread. I agree with others and would not idle the car. Use a wet/shop vac to get as much water out as possible. Open all the windows in the car and place fans blowing in/pulling out air near the opened back doors (leaving the car in the garage). Never thought about the borax or rice but why not try that. Or try those pet urine carpet cleaners. They are a powder that soaks up the spot and can be vaccumed out. As often as you have time use a blow dryer and try to speed up the evaporating process. Its going to be a pain to get the water cleaned up but the alternative of a smelly car is a lot worse. When its dry use a lot of fabreeze or other odor killer - you will have odor no matter what you do. Dont use an odor masker as the smells will keep coming back.

This probably wont help but a similar thing happened to a friend. His sunroof was left open. Not only were the carpets wet but water got into the seat padding through the stitching. Beware of a soggy seat sound even if you don’t feel wet sitting down. The vinyl will keep you dry while holding in the water that got into the seat padding. After he wet vaccumed as much as possible my friend took the car to a body shop and paid the guys to park his car in the "oven" for a couple hours. Better auto repair/paint shops have these dust free rooms where they paint the cars then bake the paint onto the car. They thought he was crazy but it sped up the evaporation. Unfortunately some smell was still there and he eventually sold the car after killing the smell as much as possible.

Good luck.

[nimamilani]

+1 on the mold

[ejazbmw]

try to get as much of the water out with a shop vac then leave the windows open with fans on....never happened to me but thats what i would do...

[kuthair]

I dont know if the BMW has one but my A4 had a rubber plug to drain liquids out incase of spill during an accident. The plug was underneath the car between the front and passenger door.

[DasBlitz]

Originally Posted by Spool

I wouldn't idle the car for long period of time...not good for the engine...

Who the hell told you this? Although it would be dumb to let idle for like an hour. It should not cause any harm.

[Gort]

After you shop vac and blot out all water you can, get some of these puppies and put them all over the surfaces where the water was. They will grab up what's left very well, then just pitch them. I've tried them and they work.

http://www.drytheair.com/xcart/store...gs_page_1.html

[Spool]

Originally Posted by DasBlitz

Who the hell told you this? Although it would be dumb to let idle for like an hour. It should not cause any harm.

Google told me that, that's who the hell told me..

Because the engine isn’t working at its peak operating temperature when it’s idling, the fuel doesn’t undergo complete combustion. This leaves fuel residues that can contaminate engine oil and damage engine parts. For example, fuel residues tend to deposit on spark plugs. As the amount of engine idling increases, the plugs’ average temperature drops, and they get dirty more quickly. This, in turn, can increase fuel consumption by four to five percent. It’s a vicious circle of wasted fuel and needless greenhouse gas emissions. Excessive idling can also let water condense in the vehicle’s exhaust. This can lead to corrosion and reduce the life of the exhaust system.

[esbezee92]

sucks about your car, but the kid #2 comment made me laugh

[lkevinl]

Originally Posted by voltron1011

Put rice on the carpets... I'm not joking either... The rice will absorb all of the moisture.

Also, rice works great if you've immersed your phone/pda in water.

Giving new meaning to the term "rice rocket"?!?

If I were you, I'd take the keys away from your wife and hit the window lock button.

[Zeeman]

the same thing happened to a GTI I had and a few years later to my e46. Both caused by some asshole junkies who decided to break into my cars when they were parked outside during a rainstorm.

I tried using fans, but the GTI was never dried out properly, and it never really got rid of the smell.

In the case of my e46, I insisted that the insurance co pay to have the car properly dried out. They gave in and I took it the BMW dealership and they did a proper job of drying it out by removing the seats and using high powered fans and heaters (I think they may have also lifted the carpets). I never had any further problems with condensation or smell.

Based on my experience, I would recommend you spend a bit of money on this if you can't do a proper job yourself.

[chbrules]

If you had bought the coupe you wouldn't have this prob.