Kids have left all car windows open over night...

[Stupeo]

And now the car is wet through!

It seems that someone has messed with my keys and managed to open all the windows. Luckily the car is still there!

Anyway, what's the best way to dry out the car? The seats, door panels and floors are soaked!

Tar.

[hardcorehobbit]

Can you rent one of those wet vac hoovers?

Or, keep soaking it up and then put many bags of rice, cat litter, de-humidifier in there.

[kentmotorcompany]

If its a petrol car leave it running for a while with heating up and air con on. Don't do this if its a modern diesel, they don't like being left ticking over too long.

Other wise a small fan heater with little gap in the windows will help.

[rallycross]

Wipe it down with some towels, drive around with the windows open and the heater on full, use 2 black bin linners to cover the drivers seat so you dont get wet. If carpets have puddles use sponge/cloth to soak up/remove water.

Will take a couple of days to dry out make sure to leave the windows open a fraction over night to allow the water to get out - otherwise it just turns to condensation inside.

[Riley Blue]

kentmotorcompany said:

If its a petrol car leave it running for a while with heating up and air con on. Don't do this if its a modern diesel, they don't like being left ticking over too long.

Other wise a small fan heater with little gap in the windows will help.

^^^^ This - I've dried a car out with an electric fan heater, works well if you check once an hour and move the heater around a bit.

[Mr-B]

Riley Blue said:

^^^^ This - I've dried a car out with an electric fan heater, works well if you check once an hour and move the heater around a bit.

Don't try this at home! My sister's MX5 got caught in a heavy downpour while sat on the drive with the roof off. They put it in the garage with a fan heater on inside, it fell over set fire to the car and burned half the house down. 1/4 of a million pounds worth of damage.

You have been warned.

[DonkeyApple]

Drying carpets out slowly is usually a recipe for a stinky car going forward.

If everything is soaked then I would definitely rent a vax and clean the carpets while also sucking out the water and then use a fan heater to dry it all.

Also worth noting that kids may have put the windows down but it was an adult who left them down.

[Fubar1977]

Once you get the worst out of it rent a commercial dehumidifier (Avanta/Chemdry) near us rent them and it will remove the rest of it.
You`ll probably need to sit it on the rear seat as they are around the size of a mini fridge and run mains power to it.

It would be a hassle but it will get the rest out, may take a couple of days though.

[singlecoil]

A small dehumidifier is a worthwhile investment (£100ish) for situations like this. You will need to get some warmth in there as well for it to work well, though.

[Motorrad]

I can't see a car in your profile- possibly my stupidity.

However if the vehicle was mine I'd remove the carpets and possibly the seats and clean and dry them indoors.

[dave_s13]

DonkeyApple said:

Drying carpets out slowly is usually a recipe for a stinky car going forward.

If everything is soaked then I would definitely rent a vax and clean the carpets while also sucking out the water and then use a fan heater to dry it all.

Also worth noting that kids may have put the windows down but it was an adult who left them down.

But kids being kids means you would never realise or think to check.

A long press of the unlock button on my car drops all the windows. My 3yr old has been known to pinch the keys and play with them, nor pain of death I might add.

Bloody unlucky.

[DrDeAtH]

try sweet talking the local car body shop into renting the oven out to you for an hour....

just put the car on full bake will the doors open....

will dry out nicely

[dxg]

Remember to push down on the carpets to check they really are dry. The carpets themselves will dry quite easily, it's the sound proofing underneath that's the challenge

Ask me how I know...

[Shaw Tarse]

dxg said:

Remember to push down on the carpets to check they really are dry. The carpets themselves will dry quite easily, it's the sound proofing underneath that's the challenge

Ask me how I know...

How do you know?

[BruceBogtrotter]

I once left the lid down on my MX5 and it rained heavily. I put the lid up with heater on full blast and the windows slightly open for a couple of hours and it soon dried up nicely.

[Willy Nilly]

Put the heater and air conditioning on full. I dried a tractor out like this last week.

[Grenoble]

Dehumidifier for several days.
Gentle heat.
Bags of silica gel...

[falkster]

singlecoil said:

A small dehumidifier is a worthwhile investment (£100ish) for situations like this. You will need to get some warmth in there as well for it to work well, though.

Did the same on my ML after muddy water went everywhere - thought I'd save money on a skip.

Asda do small dehumidifiers @ £1 each. I bought 10 and 5 sorted it.

[Prof Prolapse]

Mr-B said:

Don't try this at home! My sister's MX5 got caught in a heavy downpour while sat on the drive with the roof off. They put it in the garage with a fan heater on inside, it fell over set fire to the car and burned half the house down. 1/4 of a million pounds worth of damage.

You have been warned.

And the Pistonhead award for most paranoid poster goes to...

[fatboy b]

Prof Prolapse said:

Mr-B said:

Don't try this at home! My sister's MX5 got caught in a heavy downpour while sat on the drive with the roof off. They put it in the garage with a fan heater on inside, it fell over set fire to the car and burned half the house down. 1/4 of a million pounds worth of damage.

You have been warned.

And the Pistonhead award for most paranoid poster goes to...

Why is that paranoid? It did happen after all.