handyman john

I should have known better than leave my 3 year old son alone with a garden hose. He decided to do Mommy a favor and wash the INSIDE of her '98 E320 Wagon !!!! He used the hose full blast for 3-4 minutes and jetted water across the console, radio, climate control, etc. There was 2-3" of water in all 4 wheel wells.

Yikes !!

So after some disciplinary action....

I immediately disconnected the battery. The radio was doing a LCD illumination video game and a deep bass popping sound was eminating from the speakers. Grabbed the shop vac. Vacuumed all the fronts of the electronics, speedo cluster all the possible water from the floor. Pulled the wood panel off the shifter and vacuumed that clean.

Then I pulled the front dash speaker/side-vent grilles. Speaker cones were damp but not saturated.

Have subsequently vacuumed the carpets 4 times more.

I could not figure out how to remove the radio, climate control or speedo cluster so they are still in place.

I have all doors open and a fan running in the back and one running in the front.

There was water under the battery in the rear passenger compartment under the seat, but not high enough to reach the fuse panel or the central locking vacuum pump. Vacuumed it all up.

My plan is to let the fans run for 2 days before returning battery power.

Did I miss anything?

Any suggestions ?

Time for a new car ??

i_am_amused

i am so sorry to hear about the loss of your son. Oh wait, he survived? That's great. Must be a tough kid.

sounds like you are hosed

waybomb

When mine was around 6 decided to clean one of our cars. Comet and scrub brush.

Good Luck! Maybe wait for more than 2 days to get all the moisture out of everything.

socalsounds

Does the car go into gear? The TCM may have fried with that much water into the console... Hope not, but could be bad...

01BlackE320

some good hot sun would be helpful. Hope the weather is in your favor

ohlord

cluster with mb hooks and you remove the radio and climate control with mb radio keys that slip into the slots below the auto buttons on the cc and same place on the radio.
Get some crc maf cleaner and spray it down the pen hole in the shifter that is at the base of the slide for the shifter. Look in the owners manual for stuck in park to see the spot.
Then keep airing everything out.
Get a big dehumidifier and put it in the car.
Give it fans and that for several days ie more than 2.
Before you even think about lighting it up.

Hirnbeiss

Sorry to hear you have a future Duke student in your family.

handyman john

Thanks for the feedback gents.

I ran fans all night. But it rained !!!

I read the owners manual and I cannot seem find any reference to how to get the shifter out of park (override)

Does anyone know ?

RichardM98

There are four body drain plugs (rubber grommets) located near the jack points on the underside of the car. You might check them with a chopstick (or similar) to see if they are plugged. They are mostly for water from the outside but a 3yr old doesn't always aim so good.

I did a search of my online copy of OM and found no references to 'stuck in park' or similar. You might try doing a search on this site or benzworld_dot_org for those terms and also check the DIY's on benzworld_dot_org for references to TCM replacement.

Re: Pen trick. OK, see post below -- "HELP! Stuck in Park". I don't think we have that hole on a 98. Illustration shows a different shifter gate.

Keep drying even after you think it is dry. Your enemy is mildew.

michakaveli

Like Ohlord stated.... you NEED to dry that thing out. Get a solid de-humidifier, something like they use for homes when they flood due to a pipe break or something, and let that thing run for a few days. Your best bet is to let everything dry out as best as possible.


Worst case, hopefully you have comprehensive coverage as they may apply, based upon the policy wording.

Good Luck!!!!

SLOPESTAR

let me know when you part it out. sux for you...

handyman john

Tues night update ....

This AM I placed a dehumidifier and a box fan in the interior to the car.

I made a tea of Tri-sodium phospate (TSP) and OxyClean and some organic soap in a spray bottle, and applied to the carpets to head off any mildew problems. Soaked the carpets down and let sit for an hour. Shop vac-ed again. After about 2 hours the small of dampness was gone and the carpets were really starting to dry out. The dehumidifier creates a lot of heat that is helping the progress significantly.

I will keep the dehumidifier in place until Sat and power-up the starship and see if we are successful or going to need to go car shopping !

waybomb

That humidifier will generate quite a bit of heat. Be careful not to melt or burn up anything.

FraKctured

Right on--put a few dehumidifiers in there ASAP--that will get it dried out quickly. If you can get your hands on a crawlspace dehumidifier unit, that would be better--industrial strength, very fast, and thorough.

K-A

That's awful.

Hopefully you're in a decent enough financial position. If it were me I'd most definitely go lurking for a new car..... Unless the car is just a "beater" to you or something.... Which in that case I'd still be paranoid of mildew/future problems.

All the best to ya.

C280 Sport

Where do you live? Is the interior dark? If so I say leave it outside if it is hot and leave the windows down if you can and let it dry itself out. Good luck.

michakaveli

So you think the steam room effect will work in this application? High moisture + closed environment + heat = mold breeding ground

I like where you are going with this parts car thing...

SLOPESTAR

Not enough donor wagons out there!

ohlord

pronounce it dead. Clean water and he cleaned it out quickly is going to be not more than a good shampooing.Worst case, new radio if it does not work,new climate control module same thing,new shift module if it is toast. The rest is all drying it out and pray.










I hope

boltonblue

you can get chemical dessicants and put them in a funnel and into a jar as well.
camper retailers frequently will have them.
that way you can leave the car closed up as they work.
good luck, ran me ~$900 when #1 son left the sun roof open.

tpowel2

As Michakaveli noted, believe it or not, this sort of thing might be covered by your insurance company. The company I work for has covered far more unusual things! We've covered engines where the insured put regular gas in their diesel engine and drove it until it stopped! I'd be calling!!!

boltonblue

I second the contact with your insurer.
I advised my agent that we might have be making a claim pending further investigation.
If you don't notify them within a few days you lose a lot of options.

bigben320e

This will make my memory book so when I have kids, I can avoid this.

Hope for the best man. Get it dry.

handyman john

Thanks to all for their helpful postings, and to the omnivores that wanted to part my car out !!!

Fired up the wagon this weekend and all is well. We have a slight musty smell occasionally, but we are running one of those air purifiers (Ozone) in there and that seems to be helping.

Insurance does cover it by the way.

If the smell prevails I will seek out a new front/rear carpetset and install it.

Any ideas on where to get one? Thoughts on having some carpet cut to size at the local carpet shop instead ??

JM

I see what you did there