What to do about water in the cab

[SumterFJ]

Against my better judgement the other day I decided to back my Jon boat in the lake on a beach with no ramp. Anyway I hit a hole and the rear pass side of my fj went down and I ended up siting on an angle with the rear pass side the lowest and my passenger side slider on the sand in three feet of water. The entire rear diff was submerged and the cabin filled with about four inches of water mostly in the passenger side back seat area. I've already drained and changed the the oil in the diff and done the scuba mod (learned the hard way I guess). All the electronics are fine but water got al the way up to underneath the back seat, should I just let it all dry and don't worry about it or do I need to do anything else?

 

[TGCruiser]

Sorry to hear that. I've had water in the cab before and all I did was soak it up, clean it out, and let it air dry. Some recommend pulling up the plastic liner of the floor and cleaning the sound deadening material under the floor, because many times that can collect water and if not cleaned, you'll get a nice musty/moldy smell going. I don't think you had yours submerged deep or long enough to really warrant that, but its your call.

 

[SumterFJ]

It was under for about thirty minutes but there wasn't much water so I'm gonna try to go with the air drying approach if I can get away with it. Thanks for the advice!!

 

[TGCruiser]

no problem, just leave all the doors open for a bit, and just see what it does, if you get a dirty sock smell, then I'd consider more drastic measures.

 

[Mtbcoach]

I would ask...how was the water? Clean, brackish, salt, etc... I think you'd be surprised how far the water can wick into the material. What I might suggest is see if it got wet into the driver's side and/or rear. The easiest access is the from the rear compartment and see if you can find moisture into the rear/driver's compartments.

If its still wet, yes, remove the floor and air dry, use a fan since moving air dries much faster. There are a number of household products I'd recommend to preemptively spray in hopes of stalling/inhibiting any potential smells...

 

[SumterFJ]

Well I checked and there's definitely water under the floor. How should I go about getting it up so it can dry?

 

[SumterFJ]

Well I got everything up and it's soaked, that's my girl sitting in the passenger seat in the yard haha

 

[Mtbcoach]

Sorry to hear it was worse than expected, glad you took the proper steps to prevent more issues.

Moving air is your friend, if you can, let it hang until its dry. You could always install the seats back in and drive it around bare until it dries completely...

 

[SumterFJ]

I have one seat out and the plastic with the insulation attached propped up with a fan running on it for now because i didnt have time to figure out how to get the console out. I was thinking of doing it one side at a time and just letting the fan run 24 hrs a day till its done. Think that'll work and how long did it take y'all to dry everything?

 

[TGCruiser]

hahaha, I like her humor!

 

[BMThiker]

Center console is not too difficult to remove. Remove the bolts from the bottom of the big pocket at the rear of the console. Remove the knobs from the trans shifter and t-case shifter. Wrap the threads with masking tape to prevent them from scratching the plastic. Then lift the console piece starting at the rear and tip it up. The front edge just slides out from under the button console on the dash. There may be a couple of plastic button rivets at the front now that I think about it. To remove them, you push the center part inward and then the plastic rivet should pop out if you can get a fingernail under it or a plastic spatula.

I didn't realize the seat belts were contained within the front seats on the newer models. On the older 07-09 models, they were contained within the suicide doors. This has made for some interesting moments when trying to let someone out of the back seat before you undo your seat belt.

 

[SumterFJ]

Thanks for all the help guys! I got everything out and it should be ok. Advice to anybody with this problem, go ahead and take the floor out if you have any water in the cab. It's really easy to do with basic hand tools and just a tiny amount of mechanical knowledge.