Flood: under the carpet is like a waterbed

Don't give up just yet. The carpet can be saved if you remove it. It's not difficult as I have done it myself but it is time and space consuming.
1.Remove the carpet and wash it with soap on the interior side and you'll get out all the stains you had if any in the process. I washed mine on a blue tarp because of step 2.
2. After rinsing throughly, flip it over and hose it down with water and soap but avoid scrubbing as it's not really possible and really unnecessary.
3. Try and squeeze out as much water as you can by hand and then use a wet vac to soak up as much water as you can from the back side first. Do it it small sections to avoid tearing the matting. Once your happy flip to the interior side and do the same. It should be easier since this side is thin and has a hard rubber backing so vac away.
4. Set the carpet with the the matting side up facing the sun on an open surface for a day or two or more. Allow to dry and flip as often as you want but I only did it twice for each side over two days if direct sunlight. I used my other cars roof rack as the drying table.
5. Remove the interior sound deadening and honestly discard it as it will not be worth saving. You can replace this with junk yard pulled pieces or none at all but noise inside may increase. It's worth at least installing some carpet backing from Lowes, home depot etc. I opted for a junkyard pull for all the above parts because I had a huge hole in it from the previous owner. See sound deadening picture.

The results were fantastic and no mold has grown in the last 2 months or so.



SM-G935P ?

 

Have posted this info before, but water in the car can get into the traction battery and cause terminal corrosion. It happened to me.

Suggest you make sure that's dry inside too. But don't ask me how!

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Nice pictures IH. Lots of work. I think it's a basic decision. If your keeping the car the carpet has to come out
And if it was my car I would buy a new carpet kit too after all that work. Btw if I took that carpet kit out I would also buy some dynomat on eBay and dynomat the floor. It really helps deaden the sound. They sell a cheaper version of dynomat on eBay that works really good. I matted the entire soare tire well and it helped deaden a lot of sound. It's easy stuff peel and stick.

Or just dry it up and trade it in or sell it.

 

If water entered the passenger compartment you will need it to have risen at least 10" to reach the area of the traction battery. If it entered the trunk area then you'll need at least 12" to reach the traction battery. When I bought my Prius I had no idea water had gotten to the passenger area until I removed the carpet. There was no sign water had made it to that area as I repaired the source of the leak allowing water into the trunk area. As I cleaned up around the rear trunk and traction battery, fan, 12v battery, etc I lifted the rear drivers side carpet to find it was soaked under the visible carpet into the matting and sound deadening material. Once I found this I decided to replace the entire carpet to also resolve the huge hole in the drivers floor carpet although the way through the sound deadening. I missed that huge hole during the private purchase because it's not something I had looked for... Except know I will. Please don't be afraid to at least tackle a job as basic as this which is simply cleaning a material. No one that has been in the car has ever said anything about smell and actually complement it for its fresh clean car smell despite its 225k plus miles. There are only 3 tools required if I remember correctly and note the seat belts don't get removed as there is cut out in the carpet to allow it to come out. Wish I was near the original poster to offer my help.

SM-G935P ?

 

Just telling you my experience. It happened. Water came in through a leak in the "trunk" door as you call it, stayed in the spare wheel compartment, and then when driving down hill and braking, the water must have surged into the battery compartment.

Just sharing my experience in the hope that it helps!

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

I agree with you and it's probably how I ended up with water in the passenger area. The OP I think had their car stationary at the time and it was a one time leak vs our slow leaks.

SM-G935P ?

 

Alot of G2 Prius have roof leaks. Where the roof meets the quarter panel in the hatch valley corner you can see where the rivet and weld is puttied over and painted. Look for hairline cracks in that area. Its a main body flex area. You can just pop off those black plastic strips on either side of the roof and look for cracks in that hatch corner running up under those plastic strips. Classic water leak area. Drips down inside the car and fills up the back hatch well. Lots of posts on that one.
Doesn't help slamming the hatch hard I would imagine.

 

This was my source of water. Behind the rear lights on booth sides.

SM-G935P ?

 

Sometimes the challenge is trying to figure out how much a person wants to DIY.
Some people actually ENJOY challenges like this, and will take it as a opportunity to dismantle 3/4ths of the interior. When they put it back together it's dryer than the Sahara, and has been sound proofed like a recording studio.

Others just want the problem fixed. And to NOT get mold. And they don't necessarily want to spend weekends on a major project.

IF...you are of the latter? Then it might cost you some money.
I might call around to more body shops and detail outfits. See what they say, and how much they quote you.
If it comes down to picking someone to do it for you?
I'd want to know exactly what they are doing. How long are they airing it out? What tools do they have to assist in the drying process?
Do they have any experience dealing with similar flooded vehicle situations?
If I felt good about those answers? Then I would go with that option. Assuming you don't want to dismantle all your interior yourself.

Personally? If someone else was removing and drying my carpet and pad? I'd want to inspect it myself BEFORE they re-installed it. Just to make sure they had REALLY let it dry and weren't rushing to get the job done.

 

Congrats on taking on the challenge yourself! Your brake lights should go off on there own with a few drives which should remove the surface rust that has accumulated and since your mechanic checked I would be to worried. There is an OBD2 paper clip trick that can reset that light for you. Congratulations again.

SM-G935P ?

 

Surface rust on the rotors will NOT cause a brake system failure light.

But a wheel speed sensor that is ruined by being submerged in water might.

If the light stays lit, it is likely that all you have lost is the "fancy" features of the brakes......like ABS and Traction and Stability control.

Disconnecting the 12 V battery for a few minutes probably will reset the fault to see if it comes back again.

 

Disconnecting the 12 V battery will not reset brake or ABS/VSC/TRAC DTCs. You need to repair the problem and then clear with a code reader.

 

Check. Thank you.