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How do you get water out of the Seats

Put my 02 TJ in deep water xmas ( made it across the river just fine, but coming back I found the deep spot ). Anyway... Changed oil in tranny, transfer , motor and axles, bearings, and cleaned all the sand/grit from brakes , joints etc.. etc.. everything is working like new except ....

I took the seats apart ( Very happy with the way the seats dismantle all way down to the foam cushions ) but I can not get the water out of the foam. I thought it would be a pretty simple thing, mash out as much water as possible and then a day or so hanging and the foam would drain/dry. The bottom of the rear bench seat was completely water logged and nothing I tried squeezed enough water out of it to make a difference and after 3 days hanging in a heated room with a fan on it, it does not appear to have lost a single ounce of water. They should make mops out of whatever these seats are made of, I can not get the water out of even the small front foam cushion. I have mashed, squeezed and heated these things for 3 days and they still have as much water in them now as they did 3 days ago... Any ideas ?

Thanks

Farrell Christeson

Reply to
Farrell Christeson
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well my TJ was in the water also up to the bottom of the seats .... i did not take off my seat covers...i just took a few towels & pressed it on the seats for quiet a few days but had the heater running on high for a long time also. the heat must be on high & the vents pointing towards the seats. when i was not driving ...i closed all the windows & still kept the heater running on high. once it dryes still put dry towels on the seats when you drive. I didn't worry about my seats when they felt dry already i just vacumed it very well & its been fine since.

Reply to
IGotADisneyJeep

The problem here is that the seats are something Jeep called " UltraHide ". They are some type of synthetic leather or something and they are pretty much watertight ( on the top anyway ). There are no problems with wet butts when setting in the seats the problem is odor and rust. I have not pulled the drivers seat apart yet and already , after a few days of doing pretty much just as you suggested, the river water stew cooking away under the water tight ultrahide cover is starting to have an odor. I guess before I do any more deep water river crossing I may want to think about just getting different seats . Any suggestions ?

Farrell Christeson

Reply to
Farrell Christeson

"river water stew" -- EEEW! Sounds pretty bad. I agree with your conclusion that water-tight seat covers are a bad idea if you take your jeep swimming with you...

PLM

Reply to
Patrick Mills

If you have them dismantled, put each of the components into a large thick plastic bag...arrange so that the opening of the bag is at the bottom, get a wet/dry shop vac and seal the nozzle at the opening to the bag on the bottom .... turn on the shop vac and let run for about

20-30 minutes. This will get most of the 'free' water from the foam. The rest of the drying process is by evaporation .... although you can speed up the process by 'repumping' the foam a few times in the following days.

Then ........ go to

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and buy some paraformaldehyde crystals (MildewGasz, etc.) put the crystals in the bag with the seat and let it sit a few days in the sun, then pump down a FEW times so that the gas enters allthe pores of the foam. This will prevent mildew from growing ***inside the foam****. If mildew begins to grow inside the foam it will make your seats smell like a wet, long dead dog. You may have to repeat the paraF treatment a few times .... by simply putting a large plastic bag (plus paraformaldehyde) over the seat when youre not using the vehicle. Beware that Paraformaldehyde is a very toxic gas and you should thoroughy 'air' out the vehicle/seat if you use it.

Reply to
Rich Hampel

The following worked for me:

Place the seats in a small room or closet along with a dehumidifier. Turn the dehumidifier on high and stuff what you can around the door to seal the room. Check it once in a while to empty the reservoir. This process dried my seats out in about 2 days.

Reply to
JeePenn

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