Need some Help Removing Upholstery - Water damage

[iwkauralain16]

So i am in a bit of a bind...
the other day when i was driving to work, i heard the sound of water and it almost sounded as if i were on a boat... well i looked at my water bottle and that wasn't what was making the noise....

I feel underneath my passenger seat to see if there were more water bottles down there and low and behold, my car was flooded on the passenger side :-/ So i turned around, called into work and told them what was up, and took out the cushion(becuase I wasn't strong enough to unbolt the entire seat... heh) and used hte shop vac to vacuum the carpet and get the water out. WEll, it was PLENTY wet underneath the carpet, and I couldnt get to it all.

I have no idea where the leak is coming from, i did get hit on the side not too long ago but the other vehicle only brushed up against me and you can barely see the damage. I want to just unbolt my seat, and pull up the upholstery so i can find out where the hell the water is coming from but have no way of knowing how to do this. can anyone give me a little help here? My car is still wet underneath the carpet. Meldew... I don't want to have any of that. I had my sister spray my car with a hose and i did not see the water seep in from the edges of the door, so it is coming from somewhere else...

Thanks!!

-Val

 

[neoturner]

What kind of car do you have?

Do you have airbags in the seats?

 

[iwkauralain16]

What kind of car do you have?

Do you have airbags in the seats?

No air bags in the seats.

I have a 2001 mazda protege 2.0 LX.
I took it to the shop today and they said from the looks of it there should be no leakage from the door, which there isn't. Its coming from somewhere else that I can't see. My boyfriend told me he thinks that a water bottle busted open and thats why it was wet last time(Even though i tried explaining to him that it was an inch deep in water on my passenger side after the last time it rained).

I know its leaking, it wasn't a water bottle or something stupid like that. I just want to pull the carpet up so i can figure out what is going on and obviously I'm going to have to do this on my own since I am not being beleived. :-/

I am worried about the cushioning underneath getting mildew, and also rust. :-/

thanks!

 

[neoturner]

You are in luck. I have the exact same car and currently it is stripped to the bone so any piece that comes out of the interior I've done it recently. I'll send you some info in a pm that will answer any questions I can't.

Seats come first then there is a bunch of panneling depending on how much carpet you need to pull up before you find your leak. probably best to start with the front stuff.

Pass seat - 4 bolts, find em. one on each corner. Requires a 14mm socket. Losen each starting with the back two and then the front two. Slide the seat all the way up and lean it forward with the lever. The bolt closest to the door is the hardest so losen the other one and you will get used to how hard you have to turn the wrench to get that b**** off. You will probably need some sort of extension for the door side one cause it's inbetween the track and the door.

pull hard and it will come loose. once it does move on to another bolt cause it is cake after that.

Slide the seat back. Move to the front two and do the same. Then slide the seat up again. take the back two bolts off, the seat will stay there it's got a hook. then slide the seat midway forward (important for when you take it out) reach under and unscrew the front two bolts.

Snag your sister. have her sit in the driver seat and help you lift the seat up and work it out the door. should be able to keep it level the way it sits in the car and inch your way out. You should lean over the back and put your hand in the crack between the top and bottom part of the seat.

Then you need to take off the front step pannel that is on the bottom of the door sill. It has 4 snaps on the door side of the bracket spaced equally apart. Take a flat head screwdriver and cover it with masking tape or something that won't scratch your car. Slide it under the lip on the end towards the back. Work your way towards the front and you will see where the snap starts to take hold. Pry up ever so gently till you hear a pop, it's violent but supposed to happen. Work your way down till you get all four.

There are some white tie downs that might be holding the carpet down. I cut mine cause I knew i would be replacing them but you probably just want to cut your carpet where the ring goes around those tie downs. not a big deal, on my drivers side they didn't even bother putting the carpet under those.

Take the glove box out. Open it and then push on the sides till the knobs that stop it opening further slide out. Open it all the way down till it doesn't feel like it will go any further. Pull the left side off the bar it is attached to. It's like a crab claw. Then slide it to your left and the pin that holds it on the other side will let go.

Remove the plastic pannel where your right foot would be if you were sitting in the seat. Should be a couple screws that might be covered by a little plastic top. a butter knife or a small screwdriver should pop the cap off till you see the screw. It might have some snaps. Just feel around the edge and if it's not coming off and there isn't a screw it's probably a snap. Give a good tug at the point you think the snap is but don't force it too much.

Another kick pannel over where your left foot would be. Same exercise, get a flashlight.

After that you should be able to get a good portion of your carpet up. Might be some hooks holding it where it goes under the dash but that should be easy enough to take car of.

Phase two would be taking out your center console, rear kick plate, back seat cushion and i believe you might need to take the pillar piece off in between the doors but you might be able to slide the carpet under that.

There is a gian rubber piece up under the dash on the passenger side that could be the leak, though i doubt it. anyway you should definately be able to see where it is coming from.

Lemme know what you find.

T

 

[Maxx Mazda]

Under the carpet it's basiccally a rubber mat. I spilled a coke on the passenger side once and it never went through to the underlay cause it's a sealed mat. Unless it made it down through the seat mounting holes, it's probably from somewhere else.

 

[neoturner]

I thought about that too but unless you can see the stain or something like that she won't be able to tell where it is coming from even if it is up high unless the carpet is up.

 

['87 Turbo II]

I remember seeing your car all bare neo. Listen to him ,he knows what he's talking about. How's your interrior now that you added all the sound deadening?

 

[neoturner]

Jesus dude it is so frustrating not to cut corners on this crap. I finished the deadening and was glad to be done with that. Got the new carpet in which was also a b**** and I have painted the lower side of my dash so I can hopefully keep my seats in there at least.

I got a MSP ecu with my turbo so I can't finish the interrior till I put that in and I can't do that till I figure out how to avoid a CEL because I don't have ABS brakes. Haven't even looked for a solution on that so it might not be bad but I can't put the ecu in till i put the turbo in which is another thing i gotta do and I can't put that in until my MAM midpipe gets here so I am trying to get in touch with them.

So long story short I can't finish my interior till I get my midpipe.

I took this week coming up off from work so I can get a bunch of crap out of the way like painting, amp rack, fiberglass, wiring and hopefully the intercooler. Gonna research all the crap I need to do for the turbo too.

I do have a boatload of pictures on the process thus far, mostly demo, and I need to get those up cause a few folks are wondering how the interior is turning out. For the most part the colors look good my painting sucks on some pieces so I have to paint them all over again. I am getting sick of paining.

Anyway thanks for asking cause none of my friends have any clue why they haven't seen me for the last two months and I needed to get that off my chest.

 

['87 Turbo II]

no problem. Good luck with that, it sounds liek a major PITA to me. I know it'll be worth it though. Post your progress pics and then when you're done I'd love to see final assembly.

 

[neoturner]

[QUOTE='87 Turbo II]I'd love to see final assembly.[/QUOTE]

you and me both

 

[jmc94gsx]

Me too, I have the exact same problem. This seems to be a problem with the 2003 body style cars. I already narrowed it down to the same corner area, either the water evac clogged or water getting passed the intake cowl. It has been 6 months now since this post has been opened up.

For those who already had their car fixed:
For the record what was the exact problem?
Secondly, if you did pay for this out of your own pockets, how much is the fix?

Anyways this isn't an isolated occurence and it may be worthwhile to eventually get a VFAQ for this site. I am just trying to piece together as much information before handing it over to a shop with my factory warranty up.

Thanks