Flood: under the carpet is like a waterbed

welcome!
you probably won't get any mold in this weather, but yeas, it is certainly worth checking with a detail shoppe.
did you press down as hard as possible with the wet vac?

 

Most any body shop should be able to show you how to remove the carpets without too much damage.
There may be "drain holes" under there.

 

Ultimately you will need to remove the seats and the plastic trim at the doorsills so that the carpet can be removed and dried. In the meantime it sounds like you are getting rid of as much of the water as possible.

The area under the front seats may have electronic assemblies and if so, they need to be dried out as well.

 

i just saw pics online of lynn and wollaston, looks like hurricane harvey! meanwhile, 10 miles away, it never rained.

 

Yes probably.
But you will likely NOT get out all the water without removing the carpet and pad.
Just because it may start to feel dry on the top is NOT a good indication of what might remain underneath........and places like under the seats that you really can't get to.

 

In order to dry everything you will need to move lots of air. Back in the days after Hurricane Gloria (Sept 1985) my Toyota Tercel had been flooded up to the tops of the wheels. My garage took the seats out, opened all the doors and directed a couple of industrial fans to circulate the air through the cabin for a couple of days to get the damp out of the carpets. It took about a week, but seemed to work, since I never noticed any moldy smell thereafter! Good luck!

 

Don't forget the trunk. It's probably a swimming pool back there.

Take the hatch out and take the spare tire out and under that tire is a rubber plug that you can push out if any water in there. If it had a lot of nasty water I would get some soap and water and wash that out. Get a flashlight and Look in the bottom of the 12 volt battery well it's on the passenger side in that hatch area. Look in there and see if there's standing water in the bottom of that well. There's a rubber drain plug in that battery well also.

Be aware if you do not garage your car to replace those rubber drain plugs as many many reports of mice infestation in g2 Prius. They will easily find those holes. And I would check cabin filter right now as I would not be surprised your not seeing mice activity right now. Mice love the Prius the wires are very tasty.

 

Here’s the video where Prius carpet is removed to get rid of flood water. But to remove most of water it’s easiest just to pull the rubber plugs. Also remove all the water from trunk. Electric contact cleaner is best for cleaning the electric plugs that were under water.

If you don’t want to do that yourself get somebody to do it as you don’t want mold or electrical faults in your car.

 

remove all the carpet and pad as soon as possible, throw it out and order replacement from e bay.it will never fully dry so you will have mold to deal with. buy or rent a dehumidifier and leave it plugged in and running over night windows closed.. might have to do this for a few days.. you will have to clean all the electrical contacts that got wet... remove the air cleaner cover in the motor and check for water, if it got into the car it might have been sucked into the engine. good luck, Prii don't like swimming

 

Great video, very timely for many folks, thanks for sharing!

 

This is one person's opinion and not fact.
I'm sure that Service Master would have some different information.

Given enough heat and air flow, ANYTHING will dry out.

 

and they will start to mold in a few days.. 12 year old carpet and pad isn't worth saving.. new carpet will make the car look better and add to its resale value, once its wet and removed odds are it will not fit properly anyway after its dried and stretched, but do as you like its not my car.. Id just spend the $200 bucks

 

This might actually be good advice........IF it also came with the necessary replacement padding AND it fit perfectly like the original.

I strongly suspect that for $200 neither of those things would be true.

And you would still have to be sure that the floor pan and other components are thoroughly dried first.

 

It is very location dependent. In FL, you just look at carpet the wrong way and it moulds. In places where the humidity is lower and temperatures don't hover between bake and broil all year long, it is much less of a concern.

To the OP, sounds you like did everything correctly and good quick thinking. On the Gen2, even 2 inches of water above the floorboards on a level surface shouldn't have reached any ECUs. So gladly, you are not in electrical gremlin land. Your problems will be actually moisture related. Do as edthefox suggests, and get in the back. Remove the false floor where the spare tire is and the compartment where the 12v battery is. Make sure no water is pooling there.

If you can rent some of those industrial dehumidifyers, do that. Otherwise high heat on the HVAC controls with the AC on (high heat defrost) in non-recirc mode should help dehumidify. It will take many many days though. Renting pro equipment is much easier. After all that is done and it is finally dry, a fogger can of smelly stuff does wonders. Most of them can sanitize, sterilize, and make it smell less like a rotting swimming pool.

 

Yes 2K your right many a stinky car down here. A wet Prius without a carpet kit pulled out would be undriveable it would soon stink so bad.
But that's here.

 

your mechanic didn't have any advice?

 

I'd go for the $300 option. Ask a few more questions first, get a sense of their plan.