Drying out a cheap 22yo interior?

So I hadn't realized how wet it had gotten in my car until it was too late. At first, it just seemed damp inside, then the windows would hardly defog and there was a musty smell. This has been over the course of the last 10 or so days while my car has been parked under a tree and it's been pouring rain here in the PNW. Today it became glaringly obvious that I had waited far too long to look into it. I didn't have a minor leak, I had somehow gotten nearly two quarts of water pooled in the side pockets and spare tire well of the trunk, as well as soaking the backs and bottom of my rear fold down seats. It looks to me like tree needles/branches/leaves/goop had built up around my old and cracked trunk seals to the point where it was wicking the water up and over them.

In summary, I'm a bone head.

Now to my question, the foam seats are soaked and molding a bit already. The seat belts had molded a bit, so I unbolted them and scrubbed them out with dish soap so they're good to go. If it were the summer time, I'd just use some foaming carpet cleaner on the seats, scrub them out good, turn my pressure washer on and hose them out. I can still do that, but then what do I do with them? It's 150,000% humidity here and anything that sits outside pretty much stays wet until May. I don't want to bring the seats inside because I don't want that 1000 butt/mold/wet poly foam smell in my house while they dry.

I know someone in the GRM community has dealt with this before, so please hit me with your vast knowledge!

So I took the fabric off of the foam and am washing it so that at least I can keep it from staying wet and moldy, but the foam is still soaked. I tried walking a towel across it and that helped some but there's still so much water in them and they still stink of course. Any thoughts so far?

Do you have a shed and a space heater?

Time to strip down the interior, pull the carpet, and let everything sit out and dry with a fan pointed at it.

later, matt

What about asking your friends if they have a dehumidifier you can borrow. Wouldn't a dehumidifier be standard household appliance right outside the largest temperate rainforest in the USA?

I bet if you tarp the car and run that for a few days it would be pretty much dried out.

Yea, I've had to dry out a few cars, and the answer really is to pull everything, leave it out in the sun or with fans and towels on it. I've tried lesser methods, and none of them will ever get the water out of the carpet padding, which will then probably get moldy.

Vacation time.
Drive south to a warm, dry desert. Stay there for about a week and run the AC (evaporator) all the time.

I've already pulled everything, then put the drivers seat back in. I came to the same conclusion as all of you guys, looks like I'll be rolling gutted for a few days. Really didn't want to have to do that.

I've been driving with the back seat of my E46 gutted for about 10 days. The seat cushions and floor were totally soaked from plugged sunroof drains. I propped the cushions up near the furnace, foam-side-to, and they seem pretty dry now.

It's going in to the dealer tomorrow for a safety recall. I can't wait for the phone call asking what's the deal with the interior.

Duke wrote: I've been driving with the back seat of my E46 gutted for about 10 days. The seat cushions and floor were totally soaked from plugged sunroof drains. I propped the cushions up near the furnace, foam-side-to, and they seem pretty dry now. It's going in to the dealer tomorrow for a safety recall. I can't wait for the phone call asking what's the deal with the interior.

"My interior looks like WHAT?"

When they call, tell them the car was fine when you dropped it off.
Edit: beaten to the punch by Taiden

Time to sell the car? Smells like that are very hard to get out if you don't catch them RIGHT AWAY.

The wet will dry, but mold can be nasty.

Don't know what kind of car it is, but any likelihood of finding seats in a junk yard? I did that with our old Tercel and it worked out great.

1. How much Damprid can you afford? Seal the car off as well as you can, and buy three of these so that you get free shipping. Purposefully neglect it for a few days.
2. Do you like smoking cigars? Pour yourself a Scotch, put on your finest tweed, turn on some talk radio, and smoke a few cigars in the driver's seat. Parked, of course; ideally in the garage, where you won't get any strange looks. Cigar smoke overpowers just about any other odors.

+1 on harris tweed, cohibas, NPR, a copy of nytimes, a cup of pg tips, and confused neighbors