Todays project--getting rid of the soggy carpet underlay

This afternoon I decided to tackle the carpet. My XJ had a water leak when I bought it, and even though I fixed the leak and the carpet dried out, the underlay "jute" stuff was still sopping wet and squished every time I stepped on the floor. If you have a water leak, or ever had a water leak this crap will be SOAKED even once your carpet is dry. The only way to take care of the problem is to pull the carpet and either let it air out or just put new underlay altogether. Since it's the middle of winter I chose the latter.
This project took me about 4 hours of sipping beer and working at a leisurely pace. If you need to repair your floor or what have you, obviously add more time...lots more time.
I could have just removed the sogging underlay, dried the factory carpet off then put it down on the floor without anything underneath, but I still wanted some soundproofing since my muffler has a big hole in it and this is my DD so I wanted it to be semi quiet. Down the road if I ever turn it into just a trail rig I'll just pull the carpet and rhino line it, but at least I'll know what kinda shape the floor is in.

Materials:
-6' by 5' section of carpet underlay(from your local carpet store
-basic hand tools to remove seats/console
-tuck tape or duct tape
-rubber gloves and lysol
-beer
-knife and scissors

The carpet underlay cost me around $20 CAD. They had some fancy stuff there for around double the price that has way better soundproofing but like I said I'll probably pull the carpet down the road when it goes trail only so theres no point spending money if I don't need to.

I started by removing the seats and console(that white powder is baking soda to absorb smell):


After reading alot of posts about rusty floors on here, I was really nervous as to what I'd find. Luckily, things were in good shape. I scrubbed everything down with lysol to try and kill any smell or bacteria:



I did find that a few of the drain plugs behind the seats had started to dry-rot and were probably letting water in. I carefully pried the plugs out, dried them then put them back in with generous amounts of silicone to keep everything waterproof. Why jeep put such flimsy drain plugs into a vehicle with carpet is beyond me. There was a little bit of rust around one of the drain holes which I sanded down and hit with some "rust mort" and primer before applying the silicone:


Here is a shot of the soggy old underlay and stuf that I pulled out. The white things remind me of some kind of medical waste. Seriously, they smelled horrible and every time I looked at them I thought of gross old gauze pads and my stomach would start to flip:


I drank a few more beers and waited for things to dry out, then started laying out the new underlay. I used a few layers where the muffler would be to keep heat/ noise down. If I find it gets too hot and starts to melt or smell I'll pull it up and put some kind of thermal insulation there below the carpet:



Made some cuts and patched everything back up with tuck-tape:


Around this time I realised I put the underlay in upside down. Guess I shoulda slowed down on the beers. Oh well, it should stay bone dry under there and if it got wet, I don't think it would matter what side was facing up.

I didn't take any pictures after this because it was getting dark and I just wanted to finish up. Pretty much just put it back togethre and call it done.

I had to scrape all the crap off the rubber side of the factory carpet to be sure that I'd eliminate all the odor I could. I found that using hitting it with carb cleaner and letting it sit for a while worked best, then I scrubbed it off with a wire brush. I didn't bother getting it all off, it was getting dark and I was tired and half cut with a pretty good buzz going on from the carb cleaner fumes too. I just sprayed the remainder down with lysol again to kill any odors or bacteria, let it dry then fitted it back into the jeep.

As long as I actually have gotten all the water leaks covered on the jeep, it should stay dry and this should stop the stench from coming once it starts to get warm, and should keep the floors nice and dry, keeping any rust at bay.
I'll probably tackle the rear cargo area next week, but only if I pull the carpet back and find that everything is soaked. I don't want to go through the hassle unless I have to.

Nice work man, this is a project I need to tackle too but I've got a lot of nasty wet rust under there, nothing through yet...but I'm gonna have to do some sanding. Anyway I'll probably follow your lead with the carpet pad...that's a pretty cheap way of doing it it looks like. Again, good job.

looks like if this was done in the summer, it would be a great opportunity to realy hose off and scrub the carpet and let dry.

i just ripped out the carpet also to inspect the floor and even though it's winter i started to herculine it i may put the carpet back in i may not i don't know i've been driving around without it now to see if it's annoying or not as far as noise goes and it doesn't really bother me so i just may finish the herculining and say forget the carpet... oh by the way same scenario as you soaked floor padding but great sheetmetal underneath

RenixPower said:

Nice work man, this is a project I need to tackle too but I've got a lot of nasty wet rust under there, nothing through yet...but I'm gonna have to do some sanding. Anyway I'll probably follow your lead with the carpet pad...that's a pretty cheap way of doing it it looks like. Again, good job.

Click to expand...

I'd really stress doing the job ASAP, it's really not that hard. After seeing some of the pictures on here of people floorboards, or lack therin I wouldn't waste any time if I was you.
If I had slowed down on the beers and sped up on the work, it would have only taken me an hour--two hours tops...but that wouldn't have been too much fun.
Now that I know how easy it is to pull the seats and exactly how to pull the console out without damaging it, I'll probably pull the carpet and let it air out really good this summer. I kinda like having the carpet in there, I don't see any need for pulling it out completely unless you regularly drive through large amounts of water or something.

stewie said:

looks like if this was done in the summer, it would be a great opportunity to realy hose off and scrub the carpet and let dry.

Click to expand...

Or take it to the dry cleaner.

Clunk, I'm going to be doing this soon myself (just waiting because I'm concerned about having the whole thing apart and needing it to get through snow), and have a couple of questions:

- I noticed in your pics that you didn't unbolt the front seatbelt buckles - did the carpet actually have holes for those to slip through, or did you mod the carpet to do that?

- You said some of the drain pulgs "dry rotted" - you mean they're rubber? Interesting. I need to get my carpet out too, and didn't know to check this.

- What kind of shape were your seat bolts in? Mine are a little rusty, and I'm worried about snapping them when I try to take the nuts off. Did you have any trouble getting yours out?

Oh, and Blaine - dry cleaners will do auto carpets? I've never heard of this, and will have to check my local establishment.

rob

I need to just pull mine out and have the carpets cleaned. The portable steam cleaner doesn't work all that great as it is and I like clean carpet.

Side note, does anyone know where I can pick up new carpet for the cargo area? I've got the stupid metal rails back there and I want just plain carpet!

Rob Mayercik said:

Clunk, I'm going to be doing this soon myself (just waiting because I'm concerned about having the whole thing apart and needing it to get through snow), and have a couple of questions:

- I noticed in your pics that you didn't unbolt the front seatbelt buckles - did the carpet actually have holes for those to slip through, or did you mod the carpet to do that?

- You said some of the drain pulgs "dry rotted" - you mean they're rubber? Interesting. I need to get my carpet out too, and didn't know to check this.

- What kind of shape were your seat bolts in? Mine are a little rusty, and I'm worried about snapping them when I try to take the nuts off. Did you have any trouble getting yours out?

Oh, and Blaine - dry cleaners will do auto carpets? I've never heard of this, and will have to check my local establishment.

rob

Click to expand...

In answer to your questions:
-I didn't have the correct size torx to remove the seatbelt buckles. There are holes in the carpet there, but getting the carpet out without making some cuts would probably be difficult. After I had removed the console, I made two cuts with an exacto to give a little more room. Watch for the wires underneath when you make the cuts. I almost sliced them. Once the carpet is back in and the console is on, there is only a 1" long cut visible, and you don't notice unless you are really looking. I'm the only one driving my jeep, so I never sit in the back seat and inspect the carpet although if you have a nice interior, you might want to just unbolt them. I paid $1500 for this XJ so I'm not too fussy.

-the drain plugs are metal with a flimsy rubber gasket to seal them. The drain plugs are really, really poorly designed. The rubber gasket had started to dry-rot off, and one was pretty much non-existant. I just cleaned them off and gooped a ton of silicon over the area to waterproof it. Chances are you will never pull the carpet to drain the jeep unless you really swamp it, so I had no qualms with completely closing them off with silicone. The less spots for water to get in the jeep the better.

-The seat bolts in mine were pretty good, they came out with little effort. I sprayed them with penetrating oil before I started. They were in no way rusty though, but I thought it wouldn't hurt. The last thing you want to do is snap one of those suckers, so to be safe soak them in penetrating oil for a few days.

oh, and another thing I forgot to mention. In the front footwells, below the dash you'll see a black mat with foam underneath. This foam will be soaked.. it seemed like a huge hassle to get it out so I stuck a few towels under there, and stepped on the top of the mat to squeeze any water out. I did this a couple times then propped it up so it could air out for a bit. it dried really quickly since it is open cell foam.

Hey clunk, Where was most of your water coming from? Mr drivers carpet is soaked. I'm thinking its just from my snowy feet, smells like a swamp, I'll have to pull er up soon and check. I just recently finished sealing up my brothers 93 xj, basically had to replace most of the metal from rear seat bottom/jack area to the gate striker. Lotsa welding! Thats a pretty nice job you did. That underlay may eventually stick to the floor,I just put laminate flooring in my house and had to do a fair amount of scraping to get the old underlay off.

The outer rear bolts on both of my seats both snapped. But Grade 8 directly behind the origional fixed that!

I thought dry cleaners can clean any fabric or material. Don't they do throwrugs and such? This isn't much different than a house rug.

bcmaxx said:

Hey clunk, Where was most of your water coming from? Mr drivers carpet is soaked. I'm thinking its just from my snowy feet, smells like a swamp, I'll have to pull er up soon and check. I just recently finished sealing up my brothers 93 xj, basically had to replace most of the metal from rear seat bottom/jack area to the gate striker. Lotsa welding! Thats a pretty nice job you did. That underlay may eventually stick to the floor,I just put laminate flooring in my house and had to do a fair amount of scraping to get the old underlay off.

Click to expand...

I had many leaks, the majority was coming from the "no draft" windows on the front. I siliconed them shut and that stopped the leakage from that area.
On the passenger side, the blower fan had a hose had been knocked loose at some time. The hose was just resting on the firewall, so every time I turned the fan on, the hose would suck up any water resting on the firewall and spray it all over the carpet. I happened upon that and plugged it back in and that solved the leaks.
The final leaks were from the drain plugs, which I just discovered yesterday when I tore out the carpet. The only way to find those will be to tear the carpet out. I'd silicone around all of them just to be safe, as you'll never actually use the train plugs unless you tear all the carpet out first.
I know that the shroud drain is known to leak as well as the gutter or windshield. Also the A/C drain or something can condense and drip water all over the place. Mine doesn't seem to leak from there so it isn't a problem, but you actually run the A/C when you use the defrost feature(go figure that one out), so when you use the defrost you could be causing more water problems. If you have sagging headliner feel if it's moist or damp. If it is chances are it's leaking from a roof rack or rail attachment. Just pull the bolt out, dry it out and gob some silicone in there and crank it back up.

Yeah I know the carpet underlay will probably stick to floor, but it may take a while. The stuff in your house was probably 15+ years, and they sometimes use a pretty strong glue to stick it to the floor. I plan on tearing it all out in the future anyways if I hang onto the jeep and turn it into a trail rig, so if that happens I'll just wire wheel it all off.

Clunk - thanks for the info. I'll try to wrestle around the belts before I strip another Torx bit (I killed two on one of the LR door bolts two months ago).

Blaine - makes sense. When I get mine out, I'll make a couple calls. Backup plan is the Rug Doctor machine.


Thanks.

Wow! Wicked thread! I have a '91 XJ Ltd. with a sunroof. What a frickin mess that has caused...it leaks like a bastard! I will have to pull my carpet to clean up the mess and get that unholy smell out. Those pics were great!! Makes me feel a little more confident about doing the job. Thanks clunk.

Kris

no worries, another canuck don't see too many on this site! Williams lake eh, good wheeling over that way? I'm in the kootenays, might have to make a trip over some time.

Prince George, dude!! About 2hrs. north of Willy's Puddle. I just got my Xj and haven't had any time to do any wheellin yet....but there are great places to go around here!!

I was wondering how hard it was to remove the center console? Also, what year is your rig?

Kris

Lysol does magic. Although don't put it ON stains.....clean them first then lysol! Watch out, it is flammable.

canadian_xj said:

Prince George, dude!! About 2hrs. north of Willy's Puddle. I just got my Xj and haven't had any time to do any wheellin yet....but there are great places to go around here!!

I was wondering how hard it was to remove the center console? Also, what year is your rig?

Kris

Click to expand...

damn I don't know how I got that wrong!
Mine is a 1990.
Removing the center console wasn't hard. There are an assortment of screws to remove. I started by removing all the screws I could see, then removed the shift lever(pull up firmly--carefull not to punch yourself in the chin lol). Remove the plastic shifter/t-case bezels by unsnapping them. Theres a few other screws holding the console on that you can only see once you pull the bezels off. If you have power mirrors, remove the control unit by snapping it out of the console then undoing the wiring harness at the back. the black "insert" of the console comes out next, it's a little fiddly...keep the parking brake lever all the way up(fully applied), and shift the transfer case lever into low. You should be able to wrestle the black insert out--it's made of brittle plastic and snaps easily. Next pull the console itself off. There will be a long heat vent thing which just rests there, pull it out. Lastly you'll have to undo another 2 screws to get the heater vent out completely. Sounds complicated but just take it apart, it's not hard. Theres only one way to take it out and only one way to put it back together.

How do you remove the shift handle? Just pull on it?