I left a gallon of water in my trunk and it froze, busted the jug, and then thawed and now there's about gallon of water all over my trunk floor. What should I do? I don't want my trunk/car to smell like mildew or anything. I soaked up what I could with towels, but it's still pretty wet in there. Any suggestions? Will it be okay to just dry?
Don't you have a shop vac? I would take it to the dealer and have them park it inside in a heated area to dry out.
Definitely take the liner and everything wet out of the trunk and let them dry inside. Then you just have to remove the plug to let it drain if there is still water in there and then dry off the hard surfaces.
I had water in my trunk after getting it back from a body shop. Long story. Anyway, this is what I did and there is no mold or moldy smell.
I had a leaky trunk once and recommend that you do not try to just let it dry out. There is not enough air circulation in the trunk for that to happen without mold and/or mildew. The moisture has to be able to evaporate out of the trunk.
Do you have a dehumidifier that you can plug in and leave in your trunk for a while? Or a fan to blow on it on high?
You could use a shop-vac to get as much water up as you can. Take out the trunk liner if your vehicle has a removable one. Otherwise, leave it open, in the sun, big fan blowing on it if possible. At least it's just water! A few years ago we forgot to close the sun-roof during the summer when we came home late one night. The next morning when I was leaving for work, someone had poured dry laundry detergent all over the inside of our car.
Most cars have a plug on the bottom of the trunk to let out the water. You will need to remove the spare to access it.
Take out the mat and board that cover the spare and let it dry inside or in the garage if you have one.
Then towel off the trunk as good as you can.
If you still have moisture in the trunk or see condensation, get a container of silica gel at the home depot or Lowes. They make them especially to dry out cars or moisture riddled rooms, they come in different sizes, a small one should be fine.
If it is currently dry or you have a garage you can also simply let your trunk dry out while leaving it open...
Purchase "Damp Rid" it is in in the section where they sell closet stuff it works great.
use a wet vac or a carpet cleaner to suck more out of it. The towels will not be enough and it is not hot enough out right now to let it dry out,
I would leave the trunk open and blow fans on it. You can also rent one of those carpet cleaner vaccs from Home Depot or place like that to get the water out.
You could call either the car wash or the dealership to see if they could do it. Car washes normally have an area were they shampoo carpets so they might be able to help.
find someone with a wet/dry vac, or call a carpet cleaner and ask them to suck the water up. That would be best against mildew smell.
