Car Crisis Situation: Help/Advice Needed ASAP!!!

[nk_zhp]

Park the car somewhere where you have access to an electric outlet. Buy one of those portable dehumidifier. Place it inside the car and crank it. You can blow fans all you want but nothing sucks out moisture like air that has none in it. Periodically empty the water bin out of the dehumidifier.

At some point you will need to clean out the carpers using various carpet cleaning solution an a shop vac.

Good luck.

[webster]

thanks for all the responses guys.

i don't have the garage space to take the car apart myself, and it's gonna be dark soon. gonna let the experts handle it at the shop. they are going to pull the seats, carpets and door cards and have them cleaned and disinfected for mold. they are also going to inspect, dry and treat all the electrical wiring, harnesses and connectors underneath (starting to sound $$$). i was told whatever i do not to reconnect the battery due to potential threat of frying a module.

the carpet cleaner i rented ended up being a POS. went back to Home Depot and swapped it for a mini shop vac. tried to get as much water out as possible. the dehumidifier is a good idea, wish i had thought of that.

gonna let the carpet blower run for the next 3 hours or so, then run it back to HD. my plan for overnight is to leave the windows half cracked and keep fans blowing from the outside. can't leave the windows fully open or run the risk of stray alley cats using my car as a hotel.

[johnrando]

GL Wes.

[Sockethead]

thanks for the replies guys.

from googling and searching it seems as the culprit is the driver's window module/lock assembly that gets corroded and sends fried signals. that seems like an easy enough fix.

more concerning is the carpet/cloth. one guy who had the same thing happen said he ran the heater with the doors closed for an hour. another person recommended pulling the entire seats/carpet out to dry off.

also i'm hoping no water seeps into any of the electronics (like MRS module right under center console). last thing i want is an airbag deploying in my face driving down the road.

We had this same issue in the 135 last fall.... We'd come out and the windows or the sunroof would be open. Replacing the driver's side lock assembly fixed it but not before the interior got soaked with rain water. I just pulled it into the garage wiped everything down and ran a fan for day or two.... probably didn't have as much rain water as you though...

[Imola.ZHP]

Do you have full coverage insurance?

Your car has essentially now been in a flood, electronic components corrode over time after they have been wet. Think about a cell phone that gets wet, sure, you can let it dry out and it will work fine for a few weeks, but then the copper inside starts really corroding and it usually dies...

I would hate for a safety component to stop working... You should call your insurance company, make them aware of the situation and take it to a shop where it can be looked at and determined if there is any permanent damage... Power mirror controls, power seat controls, radio, HVAC, power window controls, etc, etc, etc, with the windows down and sunroof open, there is no telling what all has been exposed to copious amounts of water...

Best of luck!

[webster]

update:

the car was towed yesterday AM to the shop. they immediately removed the seats and carpets to examine the extent of water saturation. John the shop manager sent me pics as progress was made showing the work. he said the foam was not completely soaked thru which is good. some areas were pretty wet as expected. the car has been drying for the past 24 hours. i don't yet know if any of the electrical components are screwed up. overall he said it's not as bad as they feared and he is hopeful i won't have to involve the insurance company.

fingers crossed. hoping i get the car back today.

here is the last time i saw her. looks as if nothing's wrong. had to roll the windows up cause it was raining as it was being towed

[johnrando]

Promising. Fingers crossed.

[Ryans323i]

Wes, it sounds like the shop is going to be able to handle things and it's going to be ok. Really great to hear.

[Sockethead]

Don't delay in fixing the door lock, you don't want to have to go through that again...

[Stu]

That is a terrifying scenario. Is there any way to prevent this? Can you disable the "all windows down" function on the lock mechanism?