[speedchase]

Guys,

I know most of you all tired of reading about this but I am experiencing this problem with quite a puddle in the rear foot well.

I have been able to remove the rear seat to get underneath the carpet to soak & dry out the foam molded to the carpet. I have been running fans directed to the floor for about 3 days and it is still drying slow due to the high humidity where I live.

My quick question is - is there any way to accelerate the drying process; like some kind of product that absorbs the moisture. I am yet to try running a dehumidifier inside the car but I was wondering if there any tips in getting the carpets completely dry.

Also, I got a quote from the local Indy of $200/door for the vapor barrier replacement (incl parts & labor). I may need to do it on my own but I have a toddler who is keeping quite busy with no time to spare.

Until I can get to fix the problem, I will just park in the garage and leave the newer van out.

 

[AnotherGeezer]

You could try putting down some cotton bath towels down and rotate frequently. It's probably a tad humid in Tennessee in summer so if you can't soak up the moisture, you're idea of running fans is the next best thing.

I used to work for Coit in California and we used high capacity air blowers to dry water damaged rugs. You might even be able to rent a small one if you're really worried about water rot. (overkill?)

I also might suggest a light coating of baking soda under the carpet to absorb any sour odors leftover from the damage.

Good luck my friend!

 

[cn90]

You will find that the best drying technique has been used for 4000 years: the sun.

I understand you live in a humid place. Take the car outside to full sun, remove carpet, crank the windows down 1-2 inches and let the sun bake the interior, it will be dry very soon.
Of course, take the car back inside the garage when done.

 

[AnotherGeezer]

Only 4000 years CN?

That's pretty much how I did it because I was too lazy to pull up the carpets. A black on black car tends to not require much help drying things inside the car. I also used a wet/dry vac to extract as much liquid as possible from the plush side.

 

[doru]

Read this, and here

 

[cn90]

Only 4000 years CN?

Oh,

May be 6000 years since the cave man era hehe!

 

[cn90]

Another way to do the leak repair is:
- Have some clear vapor barrier plastic ready (hardware store carries them, used for laying down on the basement floor before concrete is poured, it is also called a vapor barrier at hardware store!).
- Go to any autoglass place and buy a roll of "butyl". It has a diameter of your pinky finger. The autoglass shop uses this to install windshield glass for older cars.
I just bought a roll of 15 feet for $15 (roughly $1/foot), but I used it for my leaky home skylight on my roof (this is another story!!!).

- Re toddler, place the toddler to bed at lunch time during weekend and you have time to do it. About 1h labor.

 

[AnotherGeezer]

I was thinking of tacking some visqueen around the actual hole in the door versus trying to get the factory barrier stuck back on perfectly.

We'll see how that goes.

 

[hokiehigh]

I'd put a dehumidifier in the garage, leave the windows down and doors open slightly, aiming the dehumidifier to blow into the rear door (dry/warm air blows out). that should dry the carpet faster.

Also if you have to park the car outside before getting the vapor barrier fixed, put scotch tape at the bottom of the glass to keep the rain water from sipping inside the doors. It works!

Personally I won't pay $200 per door. the part costs $20 for both doors. I did the fix a month ago, first door took me 3hr, second one took 45min. My car has rear shades, the hardest thing is to take off the shade for the small triangle window and remove the old glue, rest are easy.

 

[Financeman]

I used the $7 method....which works great. Downside; I will need to cut or destroy the vapor barrier to access the inside of the panel should I ever need to replace a window regulator or actuator. I simply partially removed the door panel, applied silicon sealant to the vapor barrier and reattached and resealed the barrier on the bottom half of the door. Leaks in both rear doors were eliminated. There is a downside for future repairs, but the repair certainly worked....and has for the last year.

 

[Hooray!]

My seats fold down, folded them down, put a 3' 4x4 near the hinge, put a 2'x2' piece of plywood on the 4x4 and the folded down seat, now the plywood is level, put my basement dehumidifier on the plywood, ran it on HI for 24 hours... Dry as a bone in there.

Now I have 12"x20" sheets of aluminum foil over the door jam directing water back out the door with a towel on the floor... going to fix it soon but for now, the foil keeps the water out. Best solution seems to be either buy BWM sealing tape (realoem.com) for $40 or get 3/16" windshield sealer rope at PepBoys for $10. There are some great DIY here, want to get some new door panel clips as I hear they break off when you remove the panel... I NEED to do mine as right now water is beating up the rear of the leather door panel.

 

[bluebee]

I second the motion that the sun god, however many billions of years she be, is the best rear carpet dryer in the world!

BTW, it almost won't rain a drop here until, oh, maybe December or January ... so ... I'll just have to wait 'till then to find out if mine leak in the rain ...