Expert: Rob Painter - 5/10/2009

Question
My 98 Cad. DV was flooded after heavy rains.  There is no leak - the back door was not shut tight.  The water can be bailed out, and I can get the carpet dry, but there is a well under the passenger seat that houses an electrical harness and this is flooded.  Is there a plug underneath that I can drain the water out without removing the seats?

Answer
Hello,

We did flood repair for a number of years and were always successful never having any smell, electrical problems.

First, here is the bad news--You have a lot of work to do here. If you don't do it right, you will have not only electrical problems, but bacteria and a hrorrible smelling car, especially on hot days.

Unlike the dealers that would just shop vac and throw "Bounce" in the car, we werre always concerned about safty.

Most floor wells have plugs. Look under the car at the floor and see if you see one. It will be rubber or plastic and you pop it out with a screwdriver.

I am sure you won't want to take my suggestion here because it is a tremendous amount of work, but otherwise there is no point in doing anything.

You will need to remove the front seats and sill panels. The bolts are commonly located under decrotive plastic covers at the base of the seat. You will need to run the seats forward to remove the rear bolts and seat belts. Then you need to run them to the rear and remove the front bolts.

Remove the seats. The rear seat cusion either has bolts holding it at the bottom or you can just hit the bottom of the seat towards the trunk and it will pop up.

You may have to remove the pillar plastic. It depends if the carpet will slide out. Now you need to remove the carpet. Remove all the wet jute (backing). Once it gets wet it is junk. Throw it all out where it is wet. It will never dry--ever!!!

With the carpet out, shampoo and let sun dry. Now, if you have a plug in the floor and have not removed it, remove it now. If there is no plug, take a 1/8 drill bit with battery operated drill and drill 4 holes. Make sure you don't drill into something underneath.

Remove the wet harnesses. Disconnect any connectors and spray with die electric grease. This prevents corrosion.

Take some anti bacterial soap and scrub the floor pan. Let air dry after rinsing. Use some silicone to plug any drilled holes.

Install new underlayment (you can get this from upholstry store).

Reinstall carpet and seats.

If you do not do this whole procedure mold will develop in the underlayment. Everytime you close the car up on a warm day you will see moisture on the windows. This moisture will get into all your electronics and then you have big trouble. I know it is a lot of work, but this is the only way you can prevent further damage.

Rob