Deep cleaning molded carpet to remove brake fluid.

[Narayan3]

Hi All,
My Clutch pedal spring's plastic mount broke and sheared the 45 degree plastic fitting connecting the line from the reservoir to the clutch MS. Fortunately it happened while I was in the car and pressed the pedal down. The molder carpet was removed immediately and I dodged a bullet as the car's floor pan paint is still pristine. Unfortunately about 2-3 ounces of brake fluid is now soaked in to the foam padding under the molded carpet. That was Sunday, Sept 22nd. The carpet is now dry. There are no stains. Carpet looks dry and perfect, but I would not want to reinstall it without removing the dried up remnants of the brake fluid for fear of it corroding my floor pans.

I cannot find an upholstery shop or detailing shop that wants to risk steaming/shampooing the foam side of the carpet, saying that they cannot guarantee that the foam will not disintegrate. What are my options? Since the brake fluid is now dry, am I 'on the clock' to fix this? I was thinking of just getting a large tub and soaking the carpet in soap water and then clean water alternately a couple of times to remove the brake fluid. Anyone deal with this before?

Too bad a new carpet is NLA. Willing to pay DEARLY for a NEW Natur Carpet!
Thank you,
Narayan

[Dave @nz]

Hi Narayan
I think you idea is perfect solution and easy fix.
Dish washing liquid and water then rinse down with fresh water would work wonders for the carpet, I take it is still in the car.
If it is out of the car wash down with the garden hose, brake fluid washes away easy with water.
Dave

[Narayan3]

Thanks Dave. I just got a 200 gallon inflatable pool off Amazon. I'm planning on filling it with soap water and give the carpet a good rinse without dragging it around on a rough concrete slab.

Quick question! What's better to remove the brake fluid residue? Dish soap or carpet shampoo?

[jwbavalon]

I'd stick to dish soap as it doesn't have bleach or other colour killing ingredients. A power washer on low pressure works wonders to rinse You want to make sure you get all the soap out of the carpet. A wet vacuum is key to remove most of the water. Then the bigger task of finding a place to dry the carpet as when it is wet, it is heavy. When you are done it will look like new.

[Dave @nz]

Pool sounds ideal and dish washing liquid and what John mentioned would work best, if you haven’t already I would recommend replacing the heater core and original tap/pipes as they would be the next thing to cause havoc to the carpet.
Dave

[basketcase]

Ha I've been using dish soap on my carpet only because it is easily accessible. Guess I chanced on the right solution for my carpet! It has got most of the coffee stains out of the passenger floor.. but I got in trouble for using the house vac as it smelt after due to the damp... I need a wet and dry vac.

[Narayan3]

I vacuumed the carpet, inflated the kiddie pool, cleaned out and prepped my 2hp craftsman wet/dry and and then.... chickened out! I realized washing this was going to be easy! But drying is another matter I had not fully thought through! The carpet is already dry and the car is at the shop, so I have time. So I ordered a 5.5hp wet/dry and a few 900cfm air movers. This way, I have a better chance of drying it out after the wash. Next weekend will be about 80F. This weekend hit almost 90F and would have been ideal had I been better prepared.
Narayan

[Narayan3]

Do you guys think heat lamps will help too?

[jwbavalon]

The carpet will dry fast when the air can get to all sides (don't leave it on the ground expecting the underside to dry) but the foam underside will hold the water if there is any separation of the skin on the foam. I've dried a M3 carpet when the temp was a high of 20C (68F) and it was bone dry the next day. The more water you vacuum out the faster it will dry.

[L James]

Have you thought about renting a carpet cleaner from the supermarket, Lowes, or Home Depot with the hand attachment? I've used those with success to clean dirty carpets in cars. Afterwards use the carpet cleaner to get the water out. Then it would dry faster since you didn't have to soak the carpet.

[Narayan3]

Thanks Jwbavalon.

L James,
The carpet is clean! It's the foam under it that has soaked the brake fluid. I'm trying to be gentle on the foam as it is 32 years old!
Narayan

[L James]

Thanks Jwbavalon.

L James,
The carpet is clean! It's the foam under it that has soaked the brake fluid. I'm trying to be gentle on the foam as it is 32 years old!
Narayan

Gotcha. Just re read your post.

However, since it's in a isolated area, you could use the steam cleaner as you originally thought. Soak the foam where the fluid was and then use the steamer to vacuum out the cleaning solution.

From there, you could use some of the suggested drying solutions above.

Sorry, not much help, but you can attempt the above yourself and control the process.

[Narayan3]

It's done! The washing part was a lot harder and labor intensive than I expected. The drying part went a lot faster and smoother than I expected, but I did it on a 75F-80F degree, 50% humidity and sunny weekend, so your results may vary. It was worth it to wait until I had a proper plan and gathered all the equipment I needed before attempting this. The good news, it came out nice and clean! The bad news, I couldn't avoid some crumbling of the rubber backing at certain points... here's what I learned-

a) The 5.5 hp wet/dry was overkill. My old 2.5bhp wet/dry would have dried the carpet side just as well, and neither worked for the foam side.
b) The air movers were worth every cent! I bought 2 and that was the perfect number of units. I flipped the carpet every 8 hours so both sides dry.
c) Best way to dry the foam was to lay car drying towels on the foam and step on them barefoot with just the heel or the ball of the foot to compress the foam. Then pick the towels up, wring the water out and repeat until not much water was coming out. I did this one section at a time. This idea was from Ramon @ Bavarian Motorsport in Milpitas CA! They rebuilt my S14 9 years ago and do amazing work on E30s and S14s and other BMWs!
d) The foam was never going to dry fully without 6 hours of direct sunlight. That did wonders to get that last bit of dampness out!
e) The inflatable pool was essential. The foam does not suck up water if you just hose it. I soaked the carpet in soap water for 2 hours, walking all over it to compress the air out of it and then suck soap water back in and cycle soap water in and out of the foam. Then I soaked it in fresh water for 5 hours, changing the water every hour, walking all over it to squeeze out the old soapy water and suck in new clean water. Yes I wasted about 500-1000 gallons, but it was necessary. I spent extra time focusing on the foam near the pedal box and am 100% confidant it's clean!

Thank you,
Narayan