I just took out the driver's side carpet so I could stuff newspaper under the foam pad that covers the floorboard. Darn sticky coolant!

It is below freezing here, so getting a brush and soap to clean the carpet is not feasible. I was thinkiing about taking it to the selfserve car wash and wanding it down with soapy water and rinsing. Then letting it drip dry in my garage for a few weeks.

Is that a good idea? Or am I getting in trouble by getting the backing out of shape and never fitting the car again. Remember, this is a molded carpet!

A spray carpet shampoo will not do it, a vacuum cleaner will not get into all of the creases/valleys, and I do not have a shop vac.

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My name is Klaus and I am a V♂lv♂holic

Go to Newpig.com - they make absorbant materials for chemicals

They make tubes for spills ( they call them pigs ) and flat sheets to absorb spills and catch leaks.

For instance, they make materials that float on water, but absorb gasoline and oil.

Perhaps they make some thIng that will absorb antifreeze well.

An oil company or similar business may be willing To sell you a small amount of the sorbants that they use.
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'96 855R,'64 PV544 driver, '67 P1800 basket case, '72 Yamaha Rd400, '68 Honda 350-4, '12 XC70, the first 5 are mine, heh, heh, 525,000 miles put on 10 bricks James A Sousa

If I lived in Texas, this question wouldn't even come up. I would just get out the hose, brush, and Simple Green and go to it. I have a water in the garage, but cannot use the hose this time of year. Any water on the driveway would turn to ice instantly.

As for absorbing antifreeze, newspaper does a good job of that, this carpet is also disgustingly dirty! It NEEDS soap and a brush, both of which I have. I just can't rinse it here. Spring is in April/May, making it 4-5 months away. I don't want to wait that long.


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My name is Klaus and I am a V♂lv♂holic

Don Foster would probably have that carpet hanging in the shower, giving it a good old scrub-down. While the wife out Christmas shopping of course.

What a great idea! The bath tub would be a perfect fit, and there is a flexible shower hose there to rinse it off. My wife did kind of say "WHAT!"

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My name is Klaus and I am a V♂lv♂holic

And once you get it all rinsed, you can squeegy the excess water out with her rolling pin - that way the rolling pin is in YOUR possession, if you catch my drift.

he he he

+1 on the Shop Vac. You can totally saturate a carpet and suck it all out with this tool. Just gotta beat jack frost I guess. Buy a small one; KC a kid like you needs this anyhow!

Speaking of car washes maybe you can do the same with their vacuum. Bring a jug of warm water to the place and go to it, just make sure you got a good one first.

From success at keeping the shape of laundered ball caps by stuffing with clean rags, I'd agree with the principle of shaped blocking if you remove the carpet inside to dry.

Short of getting a wet/dry vac and doing it all in the convenience of your home (this time of year is a good time to get one Small one at Lowes for $15 or a large one for $40 . While you get a new tool, you continue to go over budget on this car.) the car wash will be the best option. I can't recall how difficult pulling the padding is too, but doing that will help. Don't spray it directly though! If Mrs. Klaus will allow it, dry them all in the house. This time of year it is usually quite dry inside, and much warmer than your garage.

You can use some some wire to keep the carpet formed so it doesn't lose its shape (if you don't have good wire for the job, tie wire is quite cheap and will do the job .)

Soap will help a bit, but really just rinsing it will do the job.
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If you're not driving it "like its stolen," are you really driving?

As it is my job to clean the bathrooms, I convinced my wife to let me try washing the carpet in the tub. The angled end away from the faucet was perfect for the front of the carpet. Before I started, this was even dirtier than it looks because of the antifreeze coating:


After copious amounts of Simplegreen and a lot of elbow grease with a scrub brush, this was what it looked like when it was still a little damp:


I was surprised how little water remained in the carpet. I hung it over the tub for only a few minutes to drain the water off and then carried to the garage floor.

I have plenty of time for the drying process. I haven't noticed a leak from the heater core or pipes yet. I guess it is time to get liability and drive the car for a bit and find out.

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My name is Klaus and I am a V♂lv♂holic

Actually, I asked Santa for a mini shop vac. Tools are not part of my car budget, unless it is a brand specific or one use only.

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My name is Klaus and I am a V♂lv♂holic

If you've been really good, I recommend you amend your request to Santa to also include an upholstery attachment for that shop-vac. They aren't expensive and have multiple uses in the house as well (spot cleaning carpets, great for sofas and the like).

I have done some "emergency" subzero (C not F) clean-ups of upholstery and carpets when my kids were small using very hot water with antibacterial dish soap and a scrub brush, followed by a quick but thorough vacuuming. Keep the windows cracked a centimeter or two overnight.

Good luck!

so in attempting to answer your question I guess I learned something...the carpets are separate?

I'd be of the mindset that yes, taking it to the self serve car wash is the best bet. Soapy water, followed by cautious high pressure rinsing will surely clean the antifreeze out. let it drip dry in the garage for 6 hours, then take inside, place on a makeshift clothes rack if possible and put a box fan on it (put towel below to be safe). Warm dry winter air will have that thing bone dry in 18 hours total (if even that)....not sure if you may loose some form, i think you will be much happier knowing the antifreeze chemicals are out of the picture all together. As a point of reference, i've done this in other cars and had no issues. Rapid drying is the key, which, the above process is best bet. Worst case you can do the self serve car wash, then put in warm/dry air with box fan to accelerate the drying.

On a side note, it would be geat to see some pictures of this new project :-)

Regards,
Steve

"...Rapid drying is the key..."

I agree with Steve. I had to do this to an old 140 when the heater valve sprung a leak. Liquid dish soap and warm water does just fine at removing the anti freeze and most other greases that are in the carpet. Wringing the rinse water out and getting it dry before it mildews is the trick. Squeegy or vacuum as much water out of it as you can and then hang it to dry in a way that a fan can circulate air across both the front and back. I'd almost be tempted to wash it out and then go throw it a laundry mat dryer - unless there is some rubber backing that would flake apart. Personally, I wouldn't worry all that much about it losing its formed shape. I think it will re-conform once it's back in the car.

The carpets come in 3 pieces, 2 front and one rear. The rubber underlayment with the foam underneath is one piece and does not come out of the car without removing the dash, console, seats, etc.

The carpets aren't hard to get out, I had to loosen the rear seat bolts about 1/4 inch and then take out the front bolts to lift the seat enough to get the carpet away from the heater ducts under the seat. The hard part was pushing down on the plastic foot rest and pulling it out - I forgot if it was pushed up or down first.

As for pictures of this POS, it had been parked outdoors for the last 2 years or so. The rear deck lid has a booboo but also a spoiler. The LR door had been pushed in and back out again. And it was never washed. The insides are caked with dirt. I did find over $3 under the rear seat, plus a box of crayons, Skittles, and other things unknown to science.

I stopped by a carwash on the way home, but didn't vacuum it out. It needed to be de-littered first, and it is amazing what was under the seats. Another 13 cents were found in the rear seat post when I loosened the bolts. Six cigarette lighters! A can of air freshner. Bobby pins, long brown hair is every where. Spilled coke/coffee in the window lifts and down the sides of the console. And every piece of plastic is smudged with something black. The spots of blood are mine!

It is just a plain jane 854, white, with a spoiler, a NA engine, and a 5 speed. The engine is real quiet, the PS stopped making funny noises once I added Lucas stop leak - I will be adding more after driving it a bit.

I didn't put the rear seat back in place yet, as it needs to be washed down first! The dash kick panels are in the dirty trunk.

Maybe I will take a before/after pics of the carpet????
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My name is Klaus and I am a V♂lv♂holic

I like your idea.
What've you got to lose? I doubt it will do irreparable harm.
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"Differences of opinions should be tolerated, but not if they're too different" - Sharon Craig