James
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| posted on 29/11/20 at 12:11 PM |
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Drying out a wet tintop interior
Greetings All,
My missus 2016 Focus has been barely driven since March as her offoce has been closed down.
Turns out the vents in/around the boot were blocked and basically its filled up with water and gone mouldy. The water is throughtout the footwells
with the carpets sopping.
Emptied it of everything, de-moulded it with spray as best we could and unblocked and replaced the vents.
Now the hard bit- we've got to try and dry out all the carpets in the footwells etc. The sound proofing under the carpet is like wet sponge. I
really dont want to dismantle the entire interior!
Any advice on de-humidifers or alternatives to dismantling etc? We've borrowed a small car one designed for long-term car storage but in 18hrs
its only collected about 20/30mm in the small container.
Do i just need to rent a proper de-humifier or is there a.better alternative to dismantling?
Thank you!
James
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"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights."
- Muhammad Ali
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coyoteboy
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| posted on 29/11/20 at 01:32 PM |
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Subscribed. Same problem. Teetering on buying a cheap dehumid and plumbing in an external drain.
My concern is the wee ones don't heat the air so they won't evaporate the lying water well and will take forever to clear the under carpet
stuff. I get the feeling it's easier to pull the carpet. Especially as mine now smells.
[Edited on 29/11/20 by coyoteboy]
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obfripper
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| posted on 29/11/20 at 01:44 PM |
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I see quite a lot of these at work, usually the vent under the bumper is the cause, the sealing edge looses it's shape and no longer provides
enough pressure to seal water out. I have stuck them in with pu sealer which seems to last longer than fitting new ones.
Also the design of the sound damping does not help, inside each rear corner there is poly fleece material which wicks up moisture and basically
syphons it into the bootwell area where it can then run under the seats and into the floorpan.
If you remove this, the water can't get into the bootwell unless it gets 5 inches deep.There is a rubber grommet in the base of the rear corner
which you can cut a small slot to allow any water that does get in to drain away.
A dehumidifier will work, but will take at least a month to fully dry the wadding. The best approach is to remove the carpet and wadding and hang both
up under cover, gravity will drain 90% of the water, the remaining 10% will air dry in about a week. The wadding will be really heavy if it's
waterlogged, so you may need to be careful to not rip it apart under it's own weight.
As a comprimise, using a decent wet vacuum will 90% dry the carpet in situ (under the seats there is a pocket where the heater vent comes up, you can
use this area to suck up any excess water in the wadding area), then use the dehumidifier whenever the car's not in use until the wadding
appears dry.
Dave
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rusty nuts
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| posted on 29/11/20 at 01:52 PM |
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Removing the carpet is probably the best bet , then find and rectify where the moisture is getting in . If you haven’t got a dehumidifier use the air
con , a bit slower but it will work eventually
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Mr Whippy
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| posted on 29/11/20 at 04:22 PM |
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Going to have to be careful to dry this out quickly, as my concern is the damp starts going for the electrics and the cost could sky rocket. I think
I'd get a good thermostatic blower heater and heat the inside up to about 50 degrees with one of the rear windows open an inch to let the damp
air out. Then leave it a couple of days like that. Off course take the carpets and sound proofing out beforehand.
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tilly819
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| posted on 29/11/20 at 05:16 PM |
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Just had this problem with a couple of my classics.
I put them under a car cover to stop any more water getting in. One has a leaky sun room and the other leaky door seals.
Then removed all the easy to remove bits of wet carpet.
Put in a fan heater and a dehumidifier.
Only used the fan heater during the first day and while I was around the cars. Just to get the worst out. Seems to have worked pretty well.
Since then I've just used the dehumidifier. They are both getting nice and dry now. Taken about a month.
F20C Haynes roadster 440 BHP/Tonne www.youtube.com/handmadeextreme
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paulf
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| posted on 29/11/20 at 08:39 PM |
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My sunroof drain on my car came adrift and filled the drivers side with water both front and back.The best bet would have been to have removed the
carpets but was too big a job for me to want to bother.I realized that when its parked on my drive the water collected on the driver side near the
front because of the angle my drive slopes , i therefore lifted the carpet and found the deepest area it was sitting in and drilled a 15 mm hole
.water drained out of it for about a couple of months afterwards whenever it was parked on my drive and it is now virtually dry, i just need to rust
proof and seal the hole.
Paul.
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James
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| posted on 29/11/20 at 10:31 PM |
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Thanks all- much appreciated!
quote:
Originally posted by obfripper
I see quite a lot of these at work, usually the vent under the bumper is the cause, the sealing edge looses it's shape and no longer provides
enough pressure to seal water out. I have stuck them in with pu sealer which seems to last longer than fitting new ones.
Also the design of the sound damping does not help, inside each rear corner there is poly fleece material which wicks up moisture and basically
syphons it into the bootwell area where it can then run under the seats and into the floorpan.
If you remove this, the water can't get into the bootwell unless it gets 5 inches deep.There is a rubber grommet in the base of the rear corner
which you can cut a small slot to allow any water that does get in to drain away.
A dehumidifier will work, but will take at least a month to fully dry the wadding. The best approach is to remove the carpet and wadding and hang both
up under cover, gravity will drain 90% of the water, the remaining 10% will air dry in about a week. The wadding will be really heavy if it's
waterlogged, so you may need to be careful to not rip it apart under it's own weight.
As a comprimise, using a decent wet vacuum will 90% dry the carpet in situ (under the seats there is a pocket where the heater vent comes up, you can
use this area to suck up any excess water in the wadding area), then use the dehumidifier whenever the car's not in use until the wadding
appears dry.
Dave
Yes, exactly this. The seals around those vents had gone. I bought new but she also silicon sealed them in place.
Also suggestion the light clusters may be to blame so sealed them with plumbers mate! 
We've taken out and binned the sound proofing behind the bumper and removed the bung.
To take the footwell carpets out its a seats out job right? And a lot of trims? 
Fortunately parking side-on to a slope seems to mean only one side of the car is wet!
Thank you for the advice!
[Edited on 29/11/20 by James]
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"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights."
- Muhammad Ali
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obfripper
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| posted on 29/11/20 at 11:39 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by James
Yes, exactly this. The seals around those vents had gone. I bought new but she also silicon sealed them in place.
Also suggestion the light clusters may be to blame so sealed them with plumbers mate!
We've taken out and binned the sound proofing behind the bumper and removed the bung.
To take the footwell carpets out its a seats out job right? And a lot of trims?
Fortunately parking side-on to a slope seems to mean only one side of the car is wet!
Thank you for the advice!
[Edited on 29/11/20 by James]
Seats and side trims, disconnect the battery as you've got side airbags in the seats, the centre console needs to come out as well to give
enough room to get the carpet/wadding out from under the dash and over the gearstick/handbrake - iirc there is a small section of wadding that is
stuck behind the dash - trim around it and leave it in place for an easier life.
Dave
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coyoteboy
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| posted on 30/11/20 at 10:44 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by paulf
My sunroof drain on my car came adrift and filled the drivers side with water both front and back.The best bet would have been to have removed the
carpets but was too big a job for me to want to bother.I realized that when its parked on my drive the water collected on the driver side near the
front because of the angle my drive slopes , i therefore lifted the carpet and found the deepest area it was sitting in and drilled a 15 mm hole
.water drained out of it for about a couple of months afterwards whenever it was parked on my drive and it is now virtually dry, i just need to rust
proof and seal the hole.
Paul.
You've been watching too much Top Gear, you were just missing a rifle, weren't you?
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Grimsdale
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| posted on 30/11/20 at 10:53 AM |
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my focus rear light clusters were leaking around the screw holes, and condensation was then forming on the outside of the heater/ac unit, making the
passenger side front and rear footwell sopping wet.
I sealed the screw holes with sikaflex and put a dehumidifier in for a fortnight over xmas, which worked nicely.
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steve m
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| posted on 30/11/20 at 03:41 PM |
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My old Mondeo had had a new windscreen fitted before i owned the car, and had a leak in the bottom left hand corner, and the passenger foot well was
always wet, and smelt mouldy
once i mastic the gap, and prevented any more water ingress, and vax wet vacuumed as much, and i found that if i left the car facing downhill all the
time, the water would automaticly run down, and in the early days you could actually sponge the water out, but as the days went on, the carpet was
just damp
Then bought several moisture traps, probably about 30 in all ! and left them on the floor every day and night, also a bowl with salt in will draw some
moisture out, all this was done in the spring so the nicer days probably helped a bit
I, well my wife !! sprayed frabeeze (spelling ?) daily on the area and a good few months it all apeeared to be ok, but the windows did steam up on wet
/damp days, so i dont think i got it all out
steve
Thats was probably spelt wrong, or had some grammer, that the "grammer police have to have a moan at
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James
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| posted on 30/11/20 at 06:55 PM |
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You'd think by now they'd have worked out how to stop a 4 year old car from leaking wouldn't you!
I guess old Henry hasn't been making cars for long! 
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"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights."
- Muhammad Ali
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paulf
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| posted on 30/11/20 at 08:04 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by coyoteboy
quote:
Originally posted by paulf
My sunroof drain on my car came adrift and filled the drivers side with water both front and back.The best bet would have been to have removed the
carpets but was too big a job for me to want to bother.I realized that when its parked on my drive the water collected on the driver side near the
front because of the angle my drive slopes , i therefore lifted the carpet and found the deepest area it was sitting in and drilled a 15 mm hole
.water drained out of it for about a couple of months afterwards whenever it was parked on my drive and it is now virtually dry, i just need to rust
proof and seal the hole.
Paul.
You've been watching too much Top Gear, you were just missing a rifle, weren't you?
Yes a rifle would of made it quicker to put a hole in the floor but its now dry with the leaks repaired and didnt even smell damp, I only run bangers
and keep them on the road with the minimum required. I would rather spend time and money on my locost or workshop projects.
I keep being tempted to treat myself to something like a Jag XF or Audi tt but then see sense when i think about repair costs etc.
Paul.
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