Heavy rains and Flood

[tirwin88]

My husband had his car parked at the train station today. It rained hard and apparently the parking lot turned into a lake. His car had water inside on the floor only. When he got it home the water was about 5 inches high on the floors. It does not appear to have reached any higher then that. I called the insurance company and of course our deductible is 500. Any chance of since the water was so low that any damage will be done? Any precautions I should take? We used a shop vac and there is still water rising from under the carpet. It appears to be trapped maybe between the floor of the car and the padding but is making its way through.

Neither my husband nor myself are very mechanically inclined but I suggested he take the seats out and maybe lift the carpet and padding out to dry? How difficult will this be for 2 people who have NO clue?

[gonesouth]

Originally Posted by tirwin88

My husband had his car parked at the train station today. It rained hard and apparently the parking lot turned into a lake. His car had water inside on the floor only. When he got it home the water was about 5 inches high on the floors. It does not appear to have reached any higher then that. I called the insurance company and of course our deductible is 500. Any chance of since the water was so low that any damage will be done? Any precautions I should take? We used a shop vac and there is still water rising from under the carpet. It appears to be trapped maybe between the floor of the car and the padding but is making its way through.

Neither my husband nor myself are very mechanically inclined but I suggested he take the seats out and maybe lift the carpet and padding out to dry? How difficult will this be for 2 people who have NO clue?

To answer your questions, can you tell us the model and year. Is the front seat bench type or bucket seats? Are they power seats? From there, I can give you some detailed instructions.

There is a very thick insulation pad under the carpet that will hold a lot of water. If that isn't dried, mold and mildew may form and create a foul odor. For now, keep it parked in direct sunlight with the windows rolled down.

You are going to need tools like a socket wrench and maybe some special sockets. They aren't very expensive, probably under $50 for everything you'll need, but that's cheaper than the deductible.

[oldblu65]

You should have a professional check the engine and transmission fluids for water . If the water was high enough to reach 5 inches in the interior floorboard , there's a good chance they are contaminated .

[j cAT]

you must remove the interior carpet ...these will take a good week to dry out...should also use carpet shampoo with the wet vac to remove the dirt ..

I would also change the drive train fluids ...there will be a good chance in the future that you may have brake problems with the calipers...

[tirwin88]

Thanks for all your advice. It is a 2003 with bucket seats and electric. We decided after finding out the flood definately contained some sewage that it was best to put a claim in with our insurance company. We still have Comp on the insurance. It was taken to a shop where they gutted the inside and will replace the carpet, the entire backseat, the air bag sensor since it was saturated and a few other things. This was just a preliminary check so far. Estimate is up to 1200 as of right now.