I had LOTS of water on the floor of the front passenger seat due to a clogged and loose sunroof drain. Long story short, there is now a very strong smell in the car. To get rid of the smell, the dealer wants $400 to take the seats, carpet, and padding out; dry the carpet & padding; and disinfect the floor. $400! Is there an easy way to get rid of the moisture/smell myself - or should I just pay them to do it? My car skills are limited (as in nonexistent). Thank you in advance for your ideas. I will report back.

 

The only way to get it all out is to remove the carpets and let them air dry. We see it all the time.

 

Arm & Hammer baking soda claims to remove smells. Remember the commercials where they show an opened box in the refrigerator to remove food odors? Realistically, you need to remove the floorboard mats and scrub them with carpet cleaner then rinse and hang to dry outside the car. With the mats removed also scrub the carpet with carpet cleaner then allow it to fully dry. No secrets here. Clean then allow to dry. You do it or you pay for someone else to do it. Your choice.

 

Just removing the mats won't do it. The carpet has several inches of foam under it that absorbs water. The only way to effectively dry them out is to pull the seats and remove the carpet. Leave them out until fully dry and reinstall.

 

Thanks for the replies. I decided to have the dealer do it - it seemed too involved for me to do it myself. The frustrating thing is that I was told at the dealer that the sunroof drain could get clogged again! He said that it happens to all kinds of cars, not just Volvos, and that checking the drain is not part of any of their check ups. How does that make any sense?!

 

is actually very easy to remove the carpets since the adhesive will fail with the water. you'll have to remove the center console, back seats and front seats (which are the most tricky, but once you know how to do it it's really easy). the front seats are pretty heavy so you'll have to get someone to help you. I removed mine about one month ago, but they haven't fully dried yet (it's winter here, so there's no much sun available), the foam seams ironically hermetic. the leak was happening through the moon-roof frame due to the draining holes being clogged.