Technical Car/Motor Issues > Mazda MX5 - 03 1.8 Drying out a wet car Miscellaneous
Thread Author: bathtub tom Replies: 19

 Mazda MX5 - 03 1.8 Drying out a wet car - bathtub tom
Daughter turned up yesterday in her MX5, with about an inch of water slopping around inside.

I found the rear drain tubes and unblocked them. They only seem to be used with the soft top, she went back with the hard top on.

Most of the water was baled out, but the carpet's still saturated.

Any suggestions I can give her to accelerate the drying (that she's likely to listen too)? The car's eighty-odd miles from me and left on a road all day, so there's no chance of getting power and a de-humidifier to it.
 Mazda MX5 - 03 1.8 Drying out a wet car - No FM2R
For that amount of water, not really. Heater on and windows open when driving, I guess.

But heater on and windows closed is not a solution; as well as evaporating the water, you then need it to go away, not just settle into the seats as soon as the car gets cold again.
 Mazda MX5 - 03 1.8 Drying out a wet car - Falkirk Bairn
Sponge carpets with cloths & paper towels.

Dry with fan heater blasting 1 kw at floor level and windows open to let moisture out.

Son needed to do this with BMW 316 he had bought new.

Just out of warranty a crack appeared in the bulkhead which shipped in masses of water from the road. BMW & dealer were no help -

Now a confirmed Japanese car buyer of 8 years - Lexus, Honda & Toyota
 Mazda MX5 - 03 1.8 Drying out a wet car - MJM
Look for plastic bungs in the floor pan, ideally one each side of the transmission tunnel. Pop the bung(s) out to give the water somewhere lower to drain to. Use something like a clean paint roller to squeegee the water in the direction of the bung hole. The amount of spray likely to enter the car via the bung hole is minimal. Leave some newspaper in the car to help soak up the water. Change it frequently.
If you are sure that the original cause was the blocked hood drains (Check the door cill drain holes are clear as well) and the car is now watertight with the hood up, then remove the hard top and drive with the hood down and heater on as long as the weather is suitable. The MX5 heater is quite powerful and will cope with low temperature. Ventilation is an enormous help with drying things and hood down is good ventilation.
Replace bungs when necessary.
 Mazda MX5 - 03 1.8 Drying out a wet car - Bromptonaut
As others suggest, absorb as much as possible using old towels, newspaper etc.

If you can lift carpets and get newspaper underneath that will help too. If areas of carpet can be removed bring them inside to dry - did this with our Xantia's boot carpet after it started to ship through a join in the plastic tailgate.
 Mazda MX5 - 03 1.8 Drying out a wet car - -
I don't think those carpets will dry out at all this winter if left in situ.

I think you have no choice but to remove them and hang them out to dry for a week under cover, then several hours with a carefully sited fan heater warming the interior should see the floor and damp upholstery dried out, windows ajar to allow steam to escape.

If the carpets are too difficult to remove then prop them up as best as can be done with sticks to allow air circulation, then the fan heater might do the job over a weekend.

If it isn't done properly she'll have the unenviable situation of constantly steamed and iced up windows inside the whole winter and the inevitable stink of decay that may prove impossible to remove.

edit...notice i've addressed this to you BT, i have a daughter too and you might as well talk to the wall..:-)
Last edited by: gordonbennet on Mon 29 Oct 12 at 17:52
 Mazda MX5 - 03 1.8 Drying out a wet car - -
Sorry i missed a bit out...BT you'll have to get her to visit and do it proper like for her, unless she's lucky enough to have a real young man who's not averse to getting his mitts mucky?
 Mazda MX5 - 03 1.8 Drying out a wet car - Number_Cruncher
dehumidifier?
 Mazda MX5 - 03 1.8 Drying out a wet car - TeeCee
At this time of year, parked outside there's not a lot you can do.

Leaving a convertible parked with the roof down in warmer weather dries 'em out very quickly. I should know: MGB + tonneau cover + monumental cloudburst over office carpark! As we stand right now, parking in a warm garage is the only thing that'll do the trick.

Sponge it out as best you can and live with the damp until spring. If it has airconditioning[1], run that with the heater to dry the incoming air as much as possible whenever it's used.

[1] No. 1 on a list of 1 reasons why you might want airco in a sports car.
Last edited by: TeeCee on Wed 31 Oct 12 at 10:02
 Mazda MX5 - 03 1.8 Drying out a wet car - madf
Go to a caravan retailer. They sell chemical dehumidifiers designed to dry out caravans. No power needed and a pour out the water jobbie.

Just the job.
 Mazda MX5 - 03 1.8 Drying out a wet car - L'escargot
>> Go to a caravan retailer. They sell chemical dehumidifiers designed to dry out caravans.

>> Just the job.

They have a very low rate of water extraction compared with electrical dehumidifiers.
 Mazda MX5 - 03 1.8 Drying out a wet car - Fullchat
GB sums it up real well. She isn't going to get it dry this side of next summer (if we get one). Those carpets will have to come out and dried well indoors. Otherwise its going to be minging and mouldy.
 Mazda MX5 - 03 1.8 Drying out a wet car - Runfer D'Hills
I've come to this late BT but if the car has aircon and your daughter (or someone) takes it on a longish run with both the heater and the AC on ( roof up of course ) it'll dry out fairly well. Might need a few hours. Doesn't sound like too much of a hardship in a fun wee car like that though...

Last edited by: Humph D'Bout on Mon 5 Nov 12 at 19:45
 Mazda MX5 - 03 1.8 Drying out a wet car - VxFan
Isn't there some 'trick' involving putting an open bag of cat litter under the front seats, or am I thinking of something else?

Could have sworn I read somewhere (in the BR?) about it being a good moisture absorber and that's what people do who store their cars for long periods of time.
 Mazda MX5 - 03 1.8 Drying out a wet car - bathtub tom
We're talking about a lot of water, not a little dampness.

She's reported that by running with the heater and fan at full belt whenever she uses it, the situation's gradually improving.

Thanks for all the suggestions.
 Mazda MX5 - 03 1.8 Drying out a wet car - Robin the Technician
Hi,
I would suggest removing the carpets and using something like a VAX or suitable carpet cleaner type machine to suck out the majority of the water. Alternatively (and I know someone who actually did this), go to a boot sale and buy a cheap vacuum cleaner. use that to suck out the water and then throw it away as it will probably be useless afterwards.

Hope this helps

Robin the Technician - I fix, therefore I am
 Mazda MX5 - 03 1.8 Drying out a wet car - VxFan
>> Alternatively go to a boot sale and buy a cheap vacuum cleaner. use that to suck out the water and then throw it away as it will probably be useless afterwards.

Not a good idea, unless you like electrocuting yourself. Wet & dry vacuum cleaners excluded.
 Mazda MX5 - 03 1.8 Drying out a wet car - Dave_
>> >> Alternatively go to a boot sale and buy a cheap vacuum cleaner. use that to suck out the water
>> >> and then throw it away as it will probably be useless afterwards.

>> Not a good idea, unless you like electrocuting yourself

Nah, run it through a circuit breaker and only hold the plastic bit of the hose, you'll be alright. It's good enough for lawnmowers / hedgetrimmers used in damp conditions.
 Mazda MX5 - 03 1.8 Drying out a wet car - VxFan
>> It's good enough for lawnmowers / hedgetrimmers used in damp conditions.

That's because most of them are double insulated and designed with dampness in mind. Some hoovers aren't.
 Mazda MX5 - 03 1.8 Drying out a wet car - Gromit
Yes, cat litter is (usually) a form of montmorillonite clay, which is good at absorbing damp.

To remove the last traces of damp, a large flat dish of table salt does the trick too, but first you have to remove the bulk of the water as suggested above.

We had a bulkhead leak on an old Vectra, which was impossible to dry out without removing the carpets. Best bet might be to remove the carpets completely and dry them indoors, meanwhile put a caravan dehumidifer (i.e. a large box of silica gel) in the passenger footwell whenever the car is parked up.

Once the gel (or salt dish) stop absorbing any more water, and the carpets are completely dry, then its time to reinstall them in the car. Or else replace them with a new set if you can pick them up at reasonable cost?
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