Drying out the interior of a Leon

[Chris 103]

My Leon has finally succumbed to faulty door seals, and unfortunately I think I’ve caught it about 3 weeks to late judging from the amount of water in the rear passenger footwell

Last weekend I think I’ve managed to fix the problem, so it hopefully shouldn’t happen again. However, there still remains the problem of a sodden carpet. I have spent a good 30 minutes this morning scrubbing it with several towels and borrowed the missus’s hairdryer (not broken it though!). However, it is still soaking! When you push the carpet down there is a good ‘squelching’ sound. Investigating further I took the rear bench’s out, and a bit of the carpet. If appears that the lower layer of fabric is completely (and I mean completely!) sodden, to the point that it drips. Unfortunately, without taking out the seats and completely removing the carpet I don’t think theres a way this will dry naturally.

What I guess then, is peoples tips for solving this problem before the lower layer goes mouldy! At the moment, I’m thinking take as much up as possible to get air into it and then get a normal household dehumidifier in there and try and dry it out that way- do people think this would be the best way?

Any help greatly appreciated!

 

[Benny]

get a carpet shampooer in there. worked a treat for me as it will also soak up the water

 

[allh2k]

I left mine, sounds about the same as yours, every time I got in the car the heaters went on full and to the feet.... sorted now

O I also just left towels on it then replaced when p*ss wet through!

 

[Chris 103]

Whats a carpet shampooer? A sponge?

I've tried the heating thing, but as its the rear footwell heat doesnt seem to be reaching it, and the top layer appears quite dry to the touch.

Complete and utter pain in the arse!

 

[RikH]

when mine did i removed the foot carpets and used drying towels and shamy's to take up the water
then heaters on the floor

eventually it dried up and then sorted it

 

[Chris 103]

Can you take the carpets out with taking the seats out?

 

[andyj]

best way is to remove the seats, carpet, and sound deadening (which will be soaked in water) and then dry out the floor of the car with a towel.

I left the sound deadening hanging in my garage for a week or two to fully dry out, and then had to take the seats and carpet back out to refit the deadening....

Bit of a time consuming job (about an hour to strip the interior out each time) but the best way of doing it.

 

[Benny]

Whats a carpet shampooer? A sponge?

I've tried the heating thing, but as its the rear footwell heat doesnt seem to be reaching it, and the top layer appears quite dry to the touch.

Complete and utter pain in the arse!

a hoover which cleans your carpets, they tend to suck up water quite well

 

[thekingofming]

I had/have the same issue. The carpet seems dry, but the sound insulation foam stuff underneath is like a big sponge. One thing I did was to remove the side trim (unclip the bottom of the B pillar trim and take it off, remove 2 screws and remove the long trim that runs front to back) then with the rear seat squabs removed and the fonrt seat moved all the way forward you can lift the carpet right up. I used some empty tubs to prop up the carpet and the water drained out into the footwell (over a few nights) and could just be sponged out. Plus then the air can get to the foam and slowly dry it out. Mine is getting there, but probably wont be properly dry until the heat of the summer arrives.

 

[D.K]

Homebase hire out a cleaner called RUG DOCTOR it will suck up the water
or if you've got VAX hover that will do it too

 

[wisejason]

I used to have a Golf GTI (D reg) that always had a puddle behind the drivers seat. I never got to the bottom of the problem and got hacked off with trying to dry it out. So I gave in and put a towel on the floor, rung it out every couple of days. Not a great solution but stopped the car misting up and the general smell of damp.

Maybe this could help you in the short term.