I just got my tC a month ago and I love it. But unfortunately I came home the other day and left my sunroof down. And I woke up the next morning to find out that it rained. Really bad luck. It's the only time I left it open and it happened to downpour pretty bad. I feel so stupid for doing that to my new car. Ack.

The water wasn't really that bad except the carpet\footwells got owned. I did not start the car for 2 days to let the electronics dry out and everything is functioning okay. The footwells had about an inch of water in them and I dried it out the best I could using the shop vac.
I took the seats, center console, and carpet out and cleaned out all the moisture I could. I also let the car heat up in the sun for 2 days with the windows and sunroof down. But here's the problems I really need help with:

The carpet doesn't seem to stay down like it should anymore. My guess is this is either because the carpet is damaged somehow from the moisture or because it needs to be glued down to the body. Some parts of the carpet seem to stick up a little bit and other parts seem to move around too easily.
Like in the corners of the footwells of the backseat. This isn't a major issue really, just a slight cosmetic annoyance.. But I think the solution might be to get some adhesive\glue the carpet down to the foam\body. Anyone have any recommendations on what to get or do?

The other problem is when I drive around I can hear fluid moving when I drive.. This is scary. It's been two days since this happened and if I slam my breaks or accelerate I can hear fluid moving around in the back somewhere. I cannot locate where it is coming from though unfortunately.
It's not in the footwells or anywhere in the trunk as it's too high for water to get in from the sunroof. I would have to guess it is in the beams that hold the roof up.. and it go in there through the corners of the sunroof. Any advice on where to check? I don't want anything to get rusted.

I really don't know anything about cars but I've been able to take the interior apart pretty easily from reading threads on here about gutting the tC. Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated. Such a bonehead thing to do

_____

 

You should take care of this ASAP, it can result in lots of rust and thats not good at all. I would recomend gutting it fully and checking things out. Maybe driving with the whole thing gutted and pinpointing where the water is...

 

Use a wet dry vac and suck all the excess water out. Then, I would steam clean the car to get rid of all smells and molds, it can get harmful. I am sure if you take your car to the upholstery (sp?) shop, they will know what to do. But definetely, I would put old tshirts and such so it can suck up the water.

Goodluck man, and ____ happens...we all learn and move on.

 

the fluid you hear in the back somewhere is your gas tank with gas in it. It will move around since the gas tank is right underneath the car under the rear seats.

 

Dry it up as best you can and then get a DampRid closet dryer. Just hang it from the mirror and it will absorb the rest of the moisture from your car. My wife left her Ford Escape open and it got soaked... the DampRid worked great!

http://www.theairfilterstore.com/all...rfreshener.htm

 

You will have to replace the carpet. The water weakened the molded shape of the carpet. It will not ever be like it was. You can glue it down but that would be a bad idea imo. Just got to a custom car shop and they can order OEM carpet replacement for it.

 

If you get the premolded carpets they work great, I have replaced a couple. I wanted to change colors and they where awesome. Just dont try to make your own.

 

Thanks for the advice guys. And that's good that the fluid moving around was just the gas tank.. so it doesn't seem that the problems are so bad.

I would have to say nfiniti9 I think you are right on the carpet.. it seems to be molded out of shape in two spots.. How much do you think replacement carpet will run me?

 

hmm.. there's also circular rubber pieces underneath the car.... you can remove those and let whatever drain out if there's still anything in there..

 

OEM carpet's usually start around $200.

 

Call your insurance company and find out if they'll cover, you might be surprised.