2004 jeep liberty interior water damage....need help

[tehflyingdutchman]

On friday of this week I found myself in a very very bad place. That is to say I found myself in my jeep liberty in a roughly 2 to 2.5 foot puddle of standing water that was, apparenlty, resting on mud, not solid ground. I would have checked but it was very dark and the rear view lights didn't illuminate the full distance of the puddle (as I saw it, it was less than the length of the car). After trying to get my stupid self out of the puddle I came to be resting on the frame. Brakes off in drive and 4 low the wheels spun freely. One car ripped a chunk of frame off trying to pull me out with a come along. I was eventually extracted but not before my very much drunk (I should hope for his sake) passenger opened the door to check the water level (as opposed to using that wonderful thing we call a window). At this point the passenger side, which was sitting around 6 inches lower than the driver's, flooded. I didn't notice too much damage at the time, and was more focused on extracting myself before things got ugly, but looking at the small pond that awaited me the next morning I knew something was very bad. The spongelike lining under the carpeting on the passenger side was and still is soaked, after a good deal of just plain old squeezing and some stepping on it with rags underneath. The small channel with wires in it was flooded, and most likely still is. My concern is water inside the body creating rust. The floor panel is two peices of sheetmetal with air "sandwiched" in between and I'm concerned about that rusting badly. My friend, an automotive enthusiast unlike myself, beleives i have about a year before that rusts through. Not a good thing on a new car that probably won't be paid for by then. I'd like some input on if his estimate is correct and if it is, what I can do to solve the problem. I'd hope that solutions would be short of metal work because the car isn't mine and may still be under warranty, so they shouldn't violate that either.

[GTP Dad]

The best thing to do would be to remove the seats and carpeting. Allow the carpet to dry along with the insulation under the carpet. There should be some rubber groments in the floor that you can pull out to allow the water to drain out. And I doubt it will rust out because the manufacturers do put drains in these vehicles to allow the water to drain out in case water does get in.

[fredjacksonsan]

Yep, take it all up and get it dried out. If there's no rubber grommet to let the water out, siphon it however you can.