E30 Zone

Banjo1981 wrote:Hi Guys,

I have a slightly damp (ok, rather wet) passanger footwell carpet due to a perished door seal.

What's the best way to dry this out now that it's fixed? It's not soaked just a bit moist around the edges. Am I going to need to take it out?

The optamist is always a fool in hindsight.

Thet'll be the last time I use that garage!

I've just had a rather nasty suprise after dropping the missus back at hers, I've had about a pint of steaming hot water litterally p*ss into the passanger footwell. Good thing she wasn't in the car as she'd have probably been quite badly hurt.

I assume that this is the heater matrix or should I be looking to something else? Is there a detailed step by step for swapping it out? Is there anything I can do to prevent it leaking in the short term until I replace it?

TIA

Taken it out would be the best way.
I never had any time todo it so i managed to lift the carpet by the door, (need to take off the black thingie) Then i put a blower under the carpet.

the only way to properly dry it out is to remove it, which involves removal of front seats, sill trims , kick panels and centre console.

There is loads of foam backing to the carpet which is for sound deadening, this acts like a sponge. So whilst you could put your bird's hair dryer on the carpet with it in the car and it feels dry to the touch, there will be a couple of litres of water in the backing.

Take it out, hang it somewhere dry and warm if possible, will need a good few days.

Cheers guys.

Not thrilled about the prospect but I guess needs must.

Good luck with it! Im not looking forward to this either

I took my carpet out, thoroughly cleaned it, jet washed and then dyed it from light grey to black (well very dark grey), that was a few weeks ago and even now it still feels a little damp on the thickest part of the sponge backing, it's been in a cold conservatory but i have had a heater underneath now and then, my suggestion is to suck as much out using a vac and hang so the water runs out, keep squashing the sponge to help the water out too, or if possible place near a radiator.

Thanks for the input guys,

It's gonna have to wait for another week or so as I was let down this morning by the place that said they could get me some seals for it. On the plus side it'll mean I have a chance to get the full interior pimped up a bit whilst I'm at it.

Last carpet that I removed and cleaned was in the 'summer'...
Came up a treat after a shampoo and jet wash.Left it outside to dry off and three weeks later it was almost there.Then we had the mother and father of thunderstorms
Next time I will dry one under cover....

Just put the carpet back in the missus tourer, once you have removed the seat's and trim,put back speaker grill's on, this will stop the carpet damaging your front speakers. You will also find that the carpet is very tight underneath the heater box, it's one thing pulling it out with brute force, it's another thing trying to get in back under!
If you look where the center console cover's the transmission tunnel under the box, you can very carefully cut the carpet around the heater box and save yourself alot of aggro, also you will need to cut the carpet where the steering column goes through the bulk head, throttle pedal needs to be disconnected as well.The carpet is a large heavy object, especially wet!, easier if you have someone to help!.
I put an amp wiring kit in whilst I had her carpet out for the future.

I found a cool way of keeping things dry in my cabbie, I had some leather sofa's delivered and when i took the packaging off there were silicon sachets everywhere, they were about 4in x 4in and crammed full. I layed them on the floor of the cab and thought 'i could do with more of those'. As luck would have it (or not), the sofas were returned and replaced and the new ones came with another bundle of sachets. Now almost the whole carpet is covered in sachets while she's parked up and the floor is now bone dry after a previous soakin'

Hmm, I had considered that for when it was being put back... Might give it a go now.

Had a squishy carpet to dry and no patience, time, or space to pull it out, so I simply lifted it up as much as possible, propped it up with bits of wood, which also helped squeeze some of the water out of the foam, and set a 1600w hot air gun on it for a while. Prodded and squeezed it a bit every now and again.

Did it on a dry day and made sure plenty of air got circulated around it, and whilst it's not bone dry, dumping a ton of heat into it helped evaporate off the worst of the squishyness. Running with full heat into the footwells also helps.

Hmm, i'm in the midst of sorting a wet passenger footwell too - after reading this yesterday i decided to get cracking and I too was dismayed at the gallons of water held in the sponge and how hard the carpet is to remove.

I''ve gone for the propping up with bits of wood, done lots of sponging out and wringing of the carpet backing but it is clear that it will take some time.

However, i am going to try another approach as i have a de-humidifier which i previously brought to cure a damp problem in the house (so a similar method to the silica gel as alrady mentioned). My plan is to sit the de-humidifier in the car for a couple of days and see how it gets on, i may also stick a blow heater in their on low heat just to get the humidity going and speed up the process. I am going to start it on Monday so will let you all know how i get on next week. It might prove to be a handy idea if wet footwells are a recurring problem.

Also, out of interest, how do you get those sill trims off? I managed to get the carpet clear without removing it but am not looking forward to getting it back in!! Couldn't see how to remove it without breaking it!!

Cheers

Mat

Taking an E30 carpet out (and putting it back in) isn't the least bit difficult, although it's not a five minute job. I've posted many times how to deal with the sill trims.
Get it out, so that you can see, and deal with, all the leaks. Jet wash it while it's out, and hang it up so that one corner is at the lowest point, to dry it.
99% of the water will quickly collect in that corner, and needs to be regularly wrung out to aid drying.

Brian,

Just searched for your sill trim post and found it - thanks for the tip off. I'll pop the bad boys off next week. I've got to get to the heater control as one is sticking so centre console is coming out anyway, so i might as well go ahead with the carpet removal as you suggested.

Sounds like a top plan

Thanks again

Mat

Banjo1981 wrote:Hi Guys,

I have a slightly damp (ok, rather wet) passanger footwell carpet due to a perished door seal.

What's the best way to dry this out now that it's fixed? It's not soaked just a bit moist around the edges. Am I going to need to take it out?

The optamist is always a fool in hindsight.

Thet'll be the last time I use that garage!

I've just had a rather nasty suprise after dropping the missus back at hers, I've had about a pint of steaming hot water litterally p*ss into the passanger footwell. Good thing she wasn't in the car as she'd have probably been quite badly hurt.

I assume that this is the heater matrix or should I be looking to something else? Is there a detailed step by step for swapping it out? Is there anything I can do to prevent it leaking in the short term until I replace it?

TIA

The optamist is always a fool in hindsight.

Thet'll be the last time I use that garage!

I've just had a rather nasty suprise after dropping the missus back at hers, I've had about a pint of steaming hot water litterally p*ss into the passanger footwell. Good thing she wasn't in the car as she'd have probably been quite badly hurt.

I assume that this is the heater matrix or should I be looking to something else? Is there a detailed step by step for swapping it out? Is there anything I can do to prevent it leaking in the short term until I replace it?

TIA

I had this a little while back and was the heater valve, worth getting upsidedown and checking as pretty easy to replace (but not find one second hand)[/quote]

Banjo1981 wrote:
I've just had a rather nasty suprise after dropping the missus back at hers, I've had about a pint of steaming hot water litterally p*ss into the passanger footwell. Good thing she wasn't in the car as she'd have probably been quite badly hurt.

This was the subject of a safety recall in 1996. Check that the coolant pressure cap has been replaced by a redesigned one. If it hasn't, get a new one FOC from your dealer.
The damage will probably be that the electric heater valve has blown apart.

Brianmoooore wrote:

Banjo1981 wrote:
I've just had a rather nasty suprise after dropping the missus back at hers, I've had about a pint of steaming hot water litterally p*ss into the passanger footwell. Good thing she wasn't in the car as she'd have probably been quite badly hurt.

This was the subject of a safety recall in 1996. Check that the coolant pressure cap has been replaced by a redesigned one. If it hasn't, get a new one FOC from your dealer.
The damage will probably be that the electric heater valve has blown apart.

Is this the cap on the radiator expansion tank Brian?

Cheers

Yes. Look up BMW safety recalls on the VOSA website.

I'll check it directly.

Cheers Brian, you're a legend.

Tight, just had a look and the cap has a yellow tab on the bottom with "140" stamped in the middle and was made by reutters(?).

Is this one of the faulty caps?

If it has a yellow disc on its base, it is the new type.

Ok, I guess it'll just be the heater valve then.

Cheers for your help Brian, it's amazingly useful to talk these little niggles through, especially with someone who knows what they're on about.

Me again

Just to clarify, the heater valve is the Black length of pipe kinda bolted to the matrix? Do I need to pull the whole lot out or can this be done with the matrix in etc still in the car?

One end of the heater valve projects through into the engine bay and has the hose connected to it. The other end is a flanged joint sealed by an O ring and held together by a couple of bolt, near the matrix. Comes out easily enough without removing anything else.
Biggest problem is a cross head self tapping screw that is obstructed by the brake servo bracket. Wouldn't be a problem if BMW had used a hex headed screw instead, so this what I always use when I put it all back.
Hold the square nuts on the flange in place by wrapping PVC tape around it when you refit it.
Too late if the valve has leaked over your carpet, but if it hasn't, take off both heater hoses, tie them up to the wipers so that no coolant comes out, and place a garden hose on the bottom stub pipe to flush all the antifreeze out. This avoids staining your carpets with antifreeze when you take the valve off.

Finally getting my carpet back in tomorrow! Been drying 4 day now! Managed to sort out the electrics while the carpet was out (Much Easier) Might try worming the carpet up before i fit it back in hope this makes it easier.

If there was a leak from the heater core/valves wouldn’t there be a noticeable difference in the reservoir and loss of heat from the heaters??

KSP_E30 wrote:
If there was a leak from the heater core/valves wouldn’t there be a noticeable difference in the reservoir

Of course there would - and since the OP's passenger has had her legs sprayed with superheated water, I was assuming there is!
Heater performance won't be affected until the coolant bottle is completely empty, unless the leak is such that air is drawn in as the engines cools.

Brianmoooore wrote:

KSP_E30 wrote:
If there was a leak from the heater core/valves wouldn’t there be a noticeable difference in the reservoir

Of course there would - and since the OP's passenger has had her legs sprayed with superheated water, I was assuming there is!
Heater performance won't be affected until the coolant bottle is completely empty, unless the leak is such that air is drawn in as the engines cools.

Fortunately she wasn't in it at the time, but a minute earlier it could have been very nasty.

Bit of an update: I'm getting to the point now where I'm ready to pull the carpet out. I'm having a bit of touble figuring out how to get it out around the accelerator pedal, any advice?

Cheers

Ant

Accelerator pedal and its stop have to be removed. The short piece above the steering column will need cutting (to avoid having to remove the column), and consider cutting the carpet around the underside of the heater box. It comes out, but is very difficult to get back in.
Don't cut the wiring loom under it!

Cheers Brian.

Is there anything I should be careful of/avoid when removing the accelerator pedal or is it all fairly obvious?

I've got the whole day to get it out so there'll be no need to rush.

The accelerator pedal is actually intended to be a one use item, and to be replaced by a new one!
In practice, a bit of rocking from side to side and a bit of levering around its base with a flat screwdriver, and it will come out. Remove the circlip and slide it off at the top first, of course.

Finally put my carpet back in!!! Took quite a bit of force getting it to sit right, got there in the end. As mentioned...

The short piece above the steering column will need cutting (to avoid having to remove the column), and consider cutting the carpet around the underside of the heater box. It comes out, but is very difficult to get back in.

If you have electrical issues or messy wiring like i had, now is the time to sort it. Much easier with the carpet out!

Ok, time for an update:

Carpet is out, found it remarkably easy thanks to all the helpful hints and tips in this thread, not quite as wet as I feared but more than wet enough! (thanks all)

Heat valve pipe, thing, replaced with a second hand one. (This was definately the problem as it looks like the rivets had failed on the old one allowing it to push up on one end from where it sits.)

I'm now in the process of bleeding the coolant system but am having a slight issue. The top hose into the top hose into the rad is hot, so is the pipe going into my newly replaced valve-pipe (no leaks so far...). BUT, I have no hot air and the pipe running from the other matrix pipe is cold. Any suggestions? (It's an M40 btw)

Just a thought, I couldn't have pluged the temp control into the heater valve the wrong way 'round could I?