Car Window left open...A little wet!

[Mr Obertshaw]

Having not driven my car for 4 days I had to move it earlier as roof tiles were falling off in the wind and the fence was coming down! Imagine my surprise on getting in to find the car absolutely soaked and the passenger window was fully open! It's rained and snowed non stop here for the past 4 days and the wind blows directly in through the window! Water was gurgling out of the air vents when I started it!


So what's the best way to approach this? I'm thinking of going for a long drive with the heaters on full when the wind dies down sufficiently and then buying a de humidifier first thing tomorrow and leaving this running in the car for a day or two.

Any better ideas?

[Mr Obertshaw]

Buff Mchugelarge said:

Try and get a wet vac in there and suck up as much water as you can, towels will help too.
then get it nice and warm leave a window slightly open to let it breath or it'll go all mouldy.

I've tried the window open trick!

[Mr Obertshaw]

On another note is the water gurgling out of the vents going to damage anything inside the dash? Is there a way of draining these somehow?

[Mr Obertshaw]

Fastdruid said:

AC probably wont work, most if not all shut off when it's only a few degrees outside.

If you buy a dehumidifier you need a desiccant dehumidifier as while they use more power they work down to lower temps so you can leave them overnight (and tbh at the moment in the day!)

I don't have aircon so no worries there. This one seems to fit the bill, seems pricey though, but is desiccant. http://www.airconcentre.co.uk/meaco+junior+8+litre...

[Mr Obertshaw]

Bibbs said:

When I had a heater matrix split I ended up with all my coolant in the foot wells.

I took the seats and carpets out and put them in the house next to radiators for a week.
A washing up bowl full of cat litter in each foot well to absorb as much of the damp air, Took the dash out, put the car in the garage, and (once I'd replaced the matrix) ran the car with the heaters on full and the windows open for 30mins each day.

After a month I put it all back together.

I did consider taking the seats out and bringing them inside, sadly I need to be using the car as it's my daily driver. It had only been sat for a few days as I've been ill. DO you think the cat litter worked? I have a bag in the house somewhere.

[Mr Obertshaw]

Thanks for the offer of the absorbent stuff, sadly I'm in north Wales so a trip across the bridge might be a bit over the top. I'll get the passenger seat out in the morning and take things from there.

This all came as me doing a neighbour a favour and jump-starting their car. Thankfully it's only a Micra.

Thanks for the advice everyone. Seems like a definite excuse to trade it in for something more PH worthy.

[Mr Obertshaw]

I bought one of the meaco 8l junior de humidifiers this morning. It's been in the car around an hour and has taken about a litre out so appears to be doing the trick. Might take a couple of days, but it seems to be the solution.