Cleaning Your Carpet … Hardcore!

[cao226]

I just acquired a 2000 Ford Windstar and one of the "must address now" maintenance issues was this foul smell coming from the carpet. Apparently the previous owners spilled some coke or something and it got trapper under the carpet and festered. If this happens to you (or your carpet just stinks) don’t even bother wasting time/money on that carpet cleaning foam…it won’t even touch the problem (which is lurking under the carpet).

I just did the following this weekend and it worked beautifully!

1) Remove all the back seats.
2) Remove the front seats, there are 4 bolts for each (driver’s side is under car, passenger side is under seat). All bolts are easy to get to and you don’t need a jack, just a socket set.
3) Pull both sections of carpeting out (front and back).
4) Bring the carpet to one of those self-service car-washes
5) Pressure wash the crap out of them using the soapy-pressure washer
6) Rinse them using the clean water pressure washer
7) Hang them out in the sun to dry (COMPLETELY DRY)
8) While the carpet is drying clean the floor of the van with a pine-sol solution and sponge.
9) When dry, vacuum the carpets before you put them back into van
10) Put everything back together

Also when you remove the carpet from the front you will see the black intake ducts for the air conditioner going under both seats. This duct sucks air from the floor and squirts it out in your face, explaining why the smell gets worse when you turn the air on. I removed the duct and cleaned it out (there were batteries, crayons, cards, candy, make-up, and dried coke in there….yuck).

This whole project took me two hours on Saturday and two hours on Sunday, with the carpet drying in between (it takes a while to dry).

I highly recommend it!

Chris

[DRW1000]

Originally Posted by cao226

I just acquired a 2000 Ford Windstar and one of the "must address now" maintenance issues was this foul smell coming from the carpet. Apparently the previous owners spilled some coke or something and it got trapper under the carpet and festered. If this happens to you (or your carpet just stinks) don’t even bother wasting time/money on that carpet cleaning foam…it won’t even touch the problem (which is lurking under the carpet).

I just did the following this weekend and it worked beautifully!

1) Remove all the back seats.
2) Remove the front seats, there are 4 bolts for each (driver’s side is under car, passenger side is under seat). All bolts are easy to get to and you don’t need a jack, just a socket set.
3) Pull both sections of carpeting out (front and back).
4) Bring the carpet to one of those self-service car-washes
5) Pressure wash the crap out of them using the soapy-pressure washer
6) Rinse them using the clean water pressure washer
7) Hang them out in the sun to dry (COMPLETELY DRY)
8) While the carpet is drying clean the floor of the van with a pine-sol solution and sponge.
9) When dry, vacuum the carpets before you put them back into van
10) Put everything back together

Also when you remove the carpet from the front you will see the black intake ducts for the air conditioner going under both seats. This duct sucks air from the floor and squirts it out in your face, explaining why the smell gets worse when you turn the air on. I removed the duct and cleaned it out (there were batteries, crayons, cards, candy, make-up, and dried coke in there….yuck).

This whole project took me two hours on Saturday and two hours on Sunday, with the carpet drying in between (it takes a while to dry).

I highly recommend it!

Chris

Great information. I want to add a word of caution though. A while back I wanted to remove my front seats and I started to loosen the 4 bolts. They thread straight to the underside of the van and were rusted from the bottom. I eventually snapped the head off of one of the bolts. I then had to drill the stud out and using a nut and bolt I reattached it. I just want to ensure that this is a possibility.

[Blue Bowtie]

The last Windstar I did was similar, but different. I removed all the rear seats (fairly easy via the latches), removed all the mats, opened all the doors and hatch, and turned the hot water on my hose. (I have hot and cold softened water in the garage, or anything between with the mixing valves.)

Going full hot, along with a bucket of hot water and laundry detergent mixture, and armed with a scrub brush, thick sponge, and wet/dry vacuum, I went at it. I sprayed hot water on the area to be cleaned, spread some soap with the sponge, scrubbed the dirty or stained areas, then rinsed with hot water from the hose while vacuuming up the excess. I rinsed and vacuumed several times, then vacuumed as much water as possible. With the mats and seats still removed, and a towel in the driver's footwell, I went for a drive with the heat on full and a few windows cracked to draw moist air through. After about a day of drying, the carpets were clean and completely dry. The mats and seats went back in, and the carpets looked like new.

I've done several vehicles like this with no problems. It all started when trying to clean out antifreeze from carpets after heater core failures, and it worked so well that just leaving one area of carpet looking like new seemed a shame. Even the pile springs back after drying to refresh the texture and feel. I think the combination of the hot water to soften the nylon fibers, removing the dirt, and vacuuming them back up aggresively helps restore the pile. Allowing a complete drying before use also helps.

[cao226]

Originally Posted by Blue Bowtie

Going full hot, along with a bucket of hot water and laundry detergent mixture, and armed with a scrub brush, thick sponge, and wet/dry vacuum, I went at it. I sprayed hot water on the area to be cleaned, spread some soap with the sponge, scrubbed the dirty or stained areas, then rinsed with hot water from the hose while vacuuming up the excess. I rinsed and vacuumed several times, then vacuumed as much water as possible. With the mats and seats still removed, and a towel in the driver's footwell, I went for a drive with the heat on full and a few windows cracked to draw moist air through. After about a day of drying, the carpets were clean and completely dry. The mats and seats went back in, and the carpets looked like new.

In my case the smell was coming from under the carpet so cleaning the top side would not have helped. It looked like a spilled drink seeped underneath at the seam just behind the front seats. When I lifted the carpet at this seam the stink radiated. There is a rubber lining between the carpet and the padding so once something gets under there it isn’t coming out! I really had no choice but to pull the carpets completely out. The good news is it was pretty easy.

Also just a FYI – the bolts holding my front seats in were not rusted at all. So luckily I didn’t have to go through the pain DRW1000 did. I don’t know, maybe the previous owners kept the thing in the garage all the time.

Chris

[dobermankid]

Is this done the same way on other vehicles?