Heavy Duty Car Washing...

[fishy]

There's really not much point to this post but I wanted to share the fun with some like-minded folk.

My buddy and I were breaking in his new-to-him 03 Impreza TS wagon today. We were doing some soft-roading with it and wandered into a water hole that was a wee bit deeper than we thought and the bow wave came back up over the hood and several inches up the windshield...

 

In fact as proof that water got that high some of it actually trickled down through the HVAC system onto my feet in the passenger footwell.

The car appeared to suffer no ill effects and did a couple hours of highway duty right after we wet/dry vacuumed the footwell out. . 

That's just one of those things that makes a Subaru a Subaru I guess

 

 

[torxxx]

sure it didnt come thru the hole where the AC system has the drain hose?  I've had water come in there before.   If you had it that far up the windshield it could have ran down the air ducting.   Blower motor might not last as long as usual since it prolly got wet

[monstaru]

On top of the fact. The under-carpet footwell is not dry anymore.. Really, really need to look into that. Just sayin.....lol

Edited April 7, 2013 by monstaru

[fishy]

sure it didnt come thru the hole where the AC system has the drain hose?  I've had water come in there before.   If you had it that far up the windshield it could have ran down the air ducting.   Blower motor might not last as long as usual since it prolly got wet

 

I'm pretty sure I heard the fan slapping water around in there for a minute afterwards... As for longevity, you're probably right. Thankfully it wasn't my car

[fishy]

On top of the fact. The under-carpet footwell is not dry anymore.. Really, really need to look into that. Just sayin.....lol

 

Good point. I should remind my friend to pull the carpet up on that side and do some more drying out.

[torxxx]

if you can find a small carpet drier (like the big ones they use to dry off industrial carpet, you may be able to get it under the lip by the door trim, and get that foam dried up.  that insulating foam can get one hell of a nasty smell to it after a week or two.   I had to completely rip out my carpet out of my old lifted loyale after playing submarine.  we tried cleaning the carpet, drying it left the doors open for a week and it still had a nasty mildew smell to it

[WoodsWagon]

The ECU for the newer subaru's is down in the passenger footwell. It's a really stupid place for it in my opinion.

 

When we got a friends WRX stuck in some deep ruts in the bottom of a pond it filled up flush with the seat cushions, and yes it was running because we were still trying to get it to drive out and we knew the air intake was still above water line. It shut down though because the computer shorted out. I had to drag it out with my truck, then take the ECU out and apart and wash the board off in a clean brook, dry it off on my dash with the defrost on, then reassemble it and plug it back in. It fired right back up, though the evap purge solenoid driver circuit had it's traces fried clean off the board.

 

If you plan on spending any time in water, take the ECU off the floor and mount it up behind the glove box.

 

He also pulled the seats and carpet out when he got home and hung them out to dry. There's thick insulation under the carpet that works like a sponge and it will never dry out if you don't take it out. Mold will grow and the car will smell like an old sock if you let it sit still wet.