Well, bad storm tonight....the car was under water...

[TODD 2000 V6 CAMARO]

We had a bear of a storm tonight. Something like 4 inches of rain in a little under an hour...reported hundred mile per hour winds , pretty bad. Anyway, I go outside once it let up and the Camaro was under water....well...up to the tops of the wheel wells . After the water receded I went down ( We live in an apartment ) and opened the door and sure enough, the floor boards were full of water. So, after bailing water out for about ten minutes, I got it down to the carpet. My wife's boss let us go out to his place and use his shop vac to suck as much water out of it as we could. But, it was up to where it went under the back seats, and had soaked through the front seats from the bottom. So, now I have all that nasty water that we couldn't pull out still in the carpet and seats. If anyone has any advice for how to deal with this, please let me know. I am just afraid of mildew, and worse case...black mold. The card runs fine, all of the electrical still works, but I am just afraid of how it will smell by tomorrow in the Texas heat. Any help would be great.

[RangerBob]

Park it in the sun with the windows down.

[wolfdogs]

Park it in the sun with the windows down.

and the doors and the trunk lid open

[Dave M]

would insurance pay for a cleaning? It was caused by mother nature - a "flood"

[MN6WS6]

I'd pull the seats out and the carpet and let it sit outside to dry. When you get the carpet out, I'd pull the rubber drain plugs out of the floorboards, let as much water out as possible, then sop up the rest with a towel. If the carpet is left outside, it should completely dry in a day, but the seats may take a little longer since the cushion is like a sponge. You may want to dissassemble the bottom half of the seat and squeeze whatever water out that you can just to help it along. The jute (sound deadening material glued to the bottom of the carpet) will have to be squeezed out as best as you can and try to dry it with a hair dryer. Jute doesn't like water too much, as it tends to start disintegrating once it gets wet. It's also hard to dry, but still possible. I pulled all of mine off and Dynomat'ed the entire car so it's even quieter than before.

[TODD 2000 V6 CAMARO]

I'd pull the seats out and the carpet and let it sit outside to dry. When you get the carpet out, I'd pull the rubber drain plugs out of the floorboards, let as much water out as possible, then sop up the rest with a towel. If the carpet is left outside, it should completely dry in a day, but the seats may take a little longer since the cushion is like a sponge. You may want to dissassemble the bottom half of the seat and squeeze whatever water out that you can just to help it along. The jute (sound deadening material glued to the bottom of the carpet) will have to be squeezed out as best as you can and try to dry it with a hair dryer. Jute doesn't like water too much, as it tends to start disintegrating once it gets wet. It's also hard to dry, but still possible. I pulled all of mine off and Dynomat'ed the entire car so it's even quieter than before.

How hard is it to get the carpet out? It looks like I w ould have to dissassemble the center console as well. That and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get the back seats out. I still need to call the insurance company and see if I am covered. If I am, I may just take it to an auto upholsterer and get them to do it. This sucks.

[Christopherrr]

It's really simple bro.

The back seats come out with one bolt that secures them in the front and middle. Run your fingers and you'll find it...I believe it's a 15mm bolt. The back rest requires you to unbolt it from the sides on the bottom. You don't have to remove the belts since the carpet is cut around the bolt but you will have to remove the latch but a bolt that looks like a star...don't know what's it called.

The front chairs are easy too. Four nuts, I believe they are 12mm and are in the corners of each chair, you'll have to remove plastic covers to reveal the nuts, but it's super duper easy.

The center console is a bit tricky...you have to remove the upper cover first. You do that by unscrewing two screws in the center console lid, under the coin holder. Pull the staple that holds your shifter, pull your shifter into drive (make sure your hand brake is up) so your upper console can be lifted right up, but be sure to unplug your gear indicator lamp. You'll notice the other bolts and screws need to remove your bottom portion of your console and unplug the DC sockets.

You then will need to remove the kick panels and thats done by removing your t-tops and unscrewing the screws that holds the pillar covers on, from there you can wiggle the kick panels off. You'll also need to remove the screws from your door jam panel so you can remove it also.

The seat belts need to be removed...you do this by twisting the bolt cover, it looks like a giant screw, and it'll reveal a bolt that looks like hex but has teeth, like a star. It's a big bolt and you need to unbolt it to remove your seat belt.

Now you can just pull up your carpet! The whole piece goes all the way to the trunk...you'll need to remove your rear hatch speaker panels to get your carpet out.

It's a good 1-2 hour job...but do it so you dont risk mold and odors.

I'd do it myself since it's you doing it and not some punk cutting corners...plus the gratification of doing it yourself. Not to mention the added attention and money savings.

[Dave-S]

Your rear axle may have water in it as well (thru the Vent on top of the axle). Get that fluid changed as soon as you can.

[TODD 2000 V6 CAMARO]

I checked with my insurance. It is covered, but with a $250 deductible. I am going to check with the shop first and see what all they recommend. I am considering taking out all of the carpet myself, but the problem is, we have rain forecasted again for today and so I wouldn't be able to do it today. I just know that every hour I wait is another hour for the mold and stuff to start growing. I am nver parking in that spot again. My car and the car next to mine were the only ones I saw that got flooded. The cars on the other side of the parking lot had water up to about the middle of their wheels at the back, but the lot is slanted from there to where my car was, so I got the worst of it. The crazy thing is, there is a storm sewer opening in the curb right in front of where my car was, but it was completely covered with water, and was just not able to keep up. It's crazy what 4 inches of rain in 45 minutes can do. During the storm my wife and I were looking out this big picture window we have in the living room, which looks out over a pond behind our apartment. The wind was coming from that side and was blowing the rain water through the seams in the window and into the apartment. A few times I was about to tell my wife to grab the cats and head to the bathroom and stay away from the windows becuase I kept seeing it bow in when the wind would really gust. I guess we were lucky because the people who live right below us, with the same window on the same side, had that window blow out into the apartment. I can't imagine how much water must have followed. I could have sworn we were in a tornado for a while there.

[TODD 2000 V6 CAMARO]

Your rear axle may have water in it as well (thru the Vent on top of the axle). Get that fluid changed as soon as you can.

I was kind of wondering what it might have done to the suspension and what-not. Would all of the dirt and mud in the water wreak havoc on the seals and bushings and stuff underneath? I mean, surely they get water in them while driving in rain, but being immersed in muddy water for a period of a few minutes would deposit that dirt in all kinds of crevices and holes. I guess I should get it checked out from top to bottom. That and if it got high enough to cover the bottom of the engine, it could have gotten in the pulleys at the bottom of the engine. There are just too many things it could have messed with.