Drying out wet carpets

[clag]

Hi all,

My Leon had the leaking door seals issue.

Ive fixed the leaks and im confident it isnt taking on water anymore, because as time passes they are drying out.

I cannot get an extension lead out to the car to put a heater or dehumidifier in there because its too far from the house and parking is on the street.

I have been putting the the heater blowers on full blast at full heat with the lower vents open every time i drive it and my commute is about 45 mins each way. It is drying out but very slowly.

I was thinking about trying a wet vac at the petrol station but thought i would ask here first if anyone has a good way to dry it out faster.

Thanks

 

[Homer Simpson]

Wet vac will definitely help. If you can take the seat out and lift the carpet to get the moisture out of the insulation underneath, it will dry up a lot quicker. The insulation is like a sponge

 

[chriswales6]

Wet vac may help, depends on how much water is still sitting on top of the carpets.

You’ll need to get the inside of the car hot which will evaporate the water then open the windows to let the damp air out. If you have working air-con then use that as it will help dry the air inside the car. Since you have a long commute run the heater on full, then open the windows for the last couple of minutes to get the damp air out.

You could also try crystal car litter, I use it my car after the air-con stopped working. It helps dry the air and stops condensation.

 

[clag]

My drivers window is always open anyway, i still open it even though i quit smoking 3 years ago. Old habits die hard i guess.

I have a bowl full of the silica gel packets in the car and jt does seem to collect quite a bit of moisture.

Suppose the best bet is going to be to pull the seats out, take the carpet out and let it dry off. The smell is the bit that is really annoying now, the car just smells of damp no matter how many air fresheners i try.

I could probably get hold of a steam cleaner while i have everything out, do you think that would get rid of the damp smell?

 

[chriswales6]

The damp smell should go when the carpets dry out. The stream cleaner will only put more water into the carpets. I've used one on my seats during the summer and it took most of a sunny day for the seats to dry.

Heating and ventilating the car will help along with the silica. But at this time of year it's not going to be easy to dry it out. If a local garage has a wet vac then it would be worth you giving it a go.

 

[Alexis27]

http://www.wilko.com/insulation/uni...gclid=COv1ubzIvdICFciRGwodXVYIpw&gclsrc=aw.ds

No power needed

 

[clag]

Garage hunting in the morning then.

I can imagine those small ones wouldnt make much difference if its already soaked tbh.

 

[Uselesshippy]

A cheap solution might be cat litter

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

[clag]

Been up to the garage today. It was working but slowly so ive put a load of towels under the lining and peeled it back to let air get under it while driving.

The more i look at it, the more i think it just needs the whole carpet pulling out and changing or just drying out

 

[akchappers]

I lifted the carpet up at the side and wedged it up so air could circulate... worked for me! I even left the door open on theat side so a breeze could get through. Of course it was behind my gate on the drive with no keys in it...
Ak

 

[clag]

Theres a scrappy fairly local to me so looks like a friday afternoon job to just go get one out of a leon or mk4 golf whichever is in better condition

I could spend weeks trying to get it dry but by changing it ill be able to do it in a weekend

 

[campbell_p30]

I left a tray of (fresh) cat litter in the footwell for a week after I accidentally (buttons pushed and held in pocket when leaning over) auto opened all my windows and left overnight on a wet January.
Have deactivated auto windows in the new car!

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

 

[Cupra-Paddy]

Easiest way I found was remove sound proofing under seats ( cut it out ) wet vac it and then use radiator or a hair dryer
Worked well for me, just need to put it back in now haha

 

[clag]

I ended up taking it all out. Parts if it were literally wringing wet.

Its been hanging overnight and still dripping.

At least with it all removed i will be able to see where water is getting in

 

[chriswales6]

Sounds like you’d never have managed to dry it out if the carpets had stayed in. As you said hopefully you can now double check there’s anymore leaks before putting the car back together.

 

[clag]

The underlay has been hanging up all weekend and its still damp so you might be right. It would have taken a long time.

Today i found a small pool next to the A pillar. Its not coming from the door seal its tracking down the inside so i had the scuttle panel out

Couldnt see anything obvious but im going to pull the bonnet puller cable grommit up and seal it along with where the wiring loom comes into the body.

I dumped about 100 litres of water over the windscreen and drivers door and it took half hour or so before i noticed it pooling again.

 

[chriswales6]

Leaks from the scuttle are normally on the passenger side from the cabin filter seal. But there’s also a possible way in on the driver’s side through the scuttle. A black plastic cover seals the connector box that takes wires from the dash to the ECU. It’s shown in the cruise control thread at the top of the forum, if the cover or seal is damaged then that could be the source.

Maybe an idea to only put the water on the windscreen or the door, to see if you can narrow down the source. Also you could try using talcum powder or tissue paper on the inside panels to help identify where the water is running.

 

[Headsnap]

Leaks from the scuttle are normally on the passenger side from the cabin filter seal. But there’s also a possible way in on the driver’s side through the scuttle. A black plastic cover seals the connector box that takes wires from the dash to the ECU. It’s shown in the cruise control thread at the top of the forum, if the cover or seal is damaged then that could be the source.

Maybe an idea to only put the water on the windscreen or the door, to see if you can narrow down the source. Also you could try using talcum powder or tissue paper on the inside panels to help identify where the water is running.

+1 for the cabin filter.

http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=340148

Have a look here for some more info. Another important thread regarding leaks is linked in a reply to it, hopefully it will help solve your issue.

 

[clag]

The leak is on the drivers side so by the looks of it the main culprit is likely to be the electrical box, bulkhead seal or the bonnet cable grommit.

I changed the pollen filter a few weeks ago thats all sealed fine

 

[clag]

Just to update, i think i found the culprit.

When i took the cover off of the electrical box i could get my finger under the foam seal in places. Replaced it with the same butyl seal i used to repair the door seals.

Dumped buckets of water over that area and no leaks