Car Full of Water Underneath Carpet - How to Clean?

There might be some info on that AC water line (likely the humidity drain line) in the attachment. It's a pretty dense document though, maybe towards the end, in the reassembly section?

Also, @NutzAboutBolts has a video about AC cleaning, and maybe it shows that drain hose connection. His videos are all linked in a thread, pinned at the top of the 3rd gen maintenance sub-forum.

This hose drains to the outside, so you should be able to trace it back that way.

What a bloody mess! maybe a body shop would have some ideas, how to thoroughly dry, clean and seal everything, halt the rust. Try to get some compensation from the stereo installer, or collision repair? Or hopeless?

 

I was the one who originally replied the 1st thread about this, to check your ac drain. Once its no longer clogged, inspect for no punctures then reconnect it. The hole leads outside underneath the car thus called ac drain.

 

The water's collecting inside the AC unit, basically like dew forming on a glass of ice water. I'd look for some sorta spigot on the underside of the AC unit, that's what the hose would push onto.

 

The car'll dry out ok once you have the absorbent carpet and insulation out, bail out the gross water and get some ventilation going.

Drying out the carpet and insulation is going to take longer, and the smell may be stubborn. I've had surprisingly good results tossing such stuff up on the roof of the house on a sunny day, and other-side-up the next day ... check the wind forecasts first. If the smell isn't well taken care of, there's always chlorine dioxide. Might get the carpet back in the dry car, but not laid back down flat, but up on tall blocks for good circulation, with one or two ClO₂-generating packets (MDG is one source) tossed on the floor beneath it, and the car sealed up for several hours.

The good thing about A/C condensate is it was nice distilled fresh water. You've got to contend with whatever grew in it while it was sitting there, but be very happy it wasn't salt water, or carrying any of the gunk that you'd find in flood water.

As you were unhooking all those electrical connectors, how did they look?

 

Search for the expression "drain cooler hose" in the pdf I attached above.

 

Hmm, now seeing "cooler drain hose", page 49:

 

There's a chance some of the hoses internal to the AC unit are even missing?

 

Should be doable, either with proper Toyota replacement hoses or a trip to Home Depot, if that's the case. It'll take some study though, to figure out where the missing hoses connect.

 

No clue. Still, I'd be inclined to remedy the smoking gun: the AC drain line.

 

It's a gas, so you don't have to put it 'onto' anything, you just stick a generator packet inside the car somewhere, and close up the car and spend your own next several hours somewhere else, or maybe longer, and just let the gas go everywhere in the car. Then you come back and air the car out and throw away the packet.

I've written more about it here. Starbrite / MDG are brand names you can look for.

I didn't mean anything special by 'blocks', just that I would look for some stuff to put under the carpet temporarily to hold it up, say, half a foot off the floor of the car. That way, you could drop a ClO₂ generator down there on the floor of the car and let the gas easily circulate around the under side of the carpet and mats.

ClO₂ can have a bit of a color-bleaching effect. There generally won't be any trouble if the generator packet itself isn't right near something you don't want to bleach (if you're just treating a car for random odors, say, you could tie some string between the headrests and use it to hang a packet sort of in midair in the car, not near any upholstery or surface).

In your case, I'd be thinking of having the carpet sort of suspended, and the packet underneath.

But you might be surprised how decent a job a good old exposure-to-strong-sunshine will do, and that's free.

Is there any discoloration/staining from the biology experiment in the carpet?

 

If you got leaks get a smoke machine it makes finding pinholes and seal failures straightforward and easy no hunting involved which is frustration.

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Nope!

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I might start with the smoking gun, then see if the car takes on any more water, and take more elaborate steps only if needed.