The evaporator drain hose failed, and with the heat and humidity around here, that means it soaked the floormat and carpet on the passenger side. I took everything out to dry, and the floormat and the carpet itself both dried well. Unfortunately, there's still a bunch of water in the foam padding underneath the carpet. It seems to be coated with some kind of non-permeable layer -- so how can I get the water out? With how hot things are around here, it'll mildew and stink within two days if I don't get it dried out, and this is still the original stuff, so I'm loath to lose it.

Any suggestions?

Lay some towles over it and under it and wolk all over it to squeeze the water out...or as much as will come out...lay them in your Air conditioned house for a week or so...the air is dryer than it is outside in many cases aiding in complete drying.

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Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Got a sunbaked driveway? Press the excess water out and flip the mats on a hot sunny weekend every few hours..

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Over 21 years I owned several:
w108
w110
w111
w115
w116
w123
w124
w126
w212

I have this EXACT same problem on my 6.9. Take out the pad, flip it over so the bottom side is up on the driveway. According to my infrared thermometer, my pad reached 180 degrees. It dries pretty quickly!!

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MB-less

Thanks for the tips. I've now done the "walk on it between two towels" bit and propped it up over an AC register in the house. I'll try laying it out in the sun tomorrow, but we may get some storms, so I'll have to be careful not to make it wetter!

There's another problem, too. The sound deadening mat at the front of the footwell is also wet. I've been able to pull a fair amount of moisture out by capillary action (I smushed a towel right up against the non-rubberized edge), but I fear it's still damp inside, and I'm afraid of both mildew and rust. Is there any reason I shouldn't just rip this stuff out and replace it with dynamat or something similar?

I replaced the failed drain hose with 1/2" ID heater hose and a hose clamp -- no way this is ever failing again! The heater hose is a nice tight fit in the grommet -- much tighter than the part it replaced. One thing I noticed is that the old drain hose has this odd balloon end on it. Anybody know what the story is with that peculiar design?

Keeps the bugs out

I don't like the sunlight thing becasue unless you have mildew (sunlight helps kill it) the UV will hasten its demise...but its better than doing nothing...

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
---------------------
Section 609 MVAC Certified
---------------------
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche