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News & ArtsFriday, November 7, 2008
??!! / Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz / Enviro Seattle: It Rains Here!
Posted by Lindy West on Fri, Nov 7, 2008 at 12:18 PM
Well, it sure did rain last night. It rained everywhere. From the sky, on the roof, on my head, on cats, on dogs, on squirrels, on the homeless, on pretty ladies, on smokers, on public art, on trees, on lakes (redundant), on fugitives from the law, on any pies set outside to cool and then forgotten. It rained, rained, rained!
Apparently, it also rained in my car.
This morning, unsuspecting, I went out and I dunked my dainty toe right in there. In that dirty puddle! IN MY CAR! It is deceptively deep. Who could have anticipated a deep, dirty puddle where my driver's side floor used to be? What is a dirty puddle doing in my car, anyway? The window wasn't open. The door wasn't open (or was it?).
After the jump, please enjoy* the arduous process of bailing out my vehicle.
(*PROCESS** NOT ACTUALLY ENJOYABLE.)
[**NEITHER THE BAILING PROCESS ITSELF NOR THE PROCESS OF READING ABOUT THE BAILING PROCESS.]
Step one: Sopping towel!
Step two: Squish, squish, squish.
Step three: Um, I didn't take an "after" picture, so if you need closure, just imagine this one but without the water.
Step four: Ta-daaah!
Step five: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Christ, that was boring. Are you still here? Wow, even I didn't read this far, and I wrote it.
3
It might just be the angle of the photo, and I'm by far no car expert, but in my experience, if there's a problem with the door seal, you get water, and it looks like there's a big flat spot on your seal from whence the troublesome water may have entered the picture...
4
Option 1: Can you please go and take a picture of your car now if it's still dry?
Option 2: Can you please photoshop the wetness out of the last picture?
5
It might just be the angle of the photo, and I'm by far no car expert, but in my experience, if there's a problem with the door seal, you get water, and it looks like there's a big flat spot on your seal from whence the troublesome water may have entered the picture...
10
hey your car looks like my old car! it would rain in my old car too!! but on the passenger side. i discovered this when a passenger said "youre car is raining on me." i thought they were lying. but no! from then on... rainy passenger foot area car. hooray!
12
You'll also want to check the windshield seal, as those can also leak down behind the dash and water can end up on the floor.
The picture for Step 2 could be a new sub-genre of pedal porn.
13
wow, following your hard hitting post on the odor of toast, I bet the NYT will come calling soon enough. How's it feel to be a professional muckraker of the first order?
17
O Lindy West! How I want to towel you off, take you home, dry your adorable shoes, cuddle you up in a big warm blanket and feed you soup far far away from the mean ol' water-logged world!
22
If your car sits under a tree, leaves can get in there and clog some of the drains. If this ever happens when it's NOT raining, it's probably a clogged drain/condensation from your air conditioning unit.
24
Look, I don't want to scare you, but generally speaking, if it can rain in a place, that place can also have tornadoes. I just hope one doesn't spring up in the back seat when you're travelling 55MPH on Aurora.
25
maybe it's just me but it seems that you've been posting a lot more lately lindy west. and i love it. if i lived on the same coast as you i would demand dates and marriage. which i'm sure you would refuse as those are not demandable things.
26
This happened to my old car. Solution? Find the deepest spot of the puddle, see what's underneath the car in that area and make sure it's nothing important, take philips head screwdriver and hammer it through the floor for a drain and voila! No more puddles!
29
Also, it could be the vents that are just in front of the windshield (on the outside of the car) are clogged. Mine does that, tree shit gets in there - I don't know why that would make something leak, but it does.
30
Either (1) your door seal is fucked or (2) your window seal is fucked.
Whichever, you need to get it fixed, pronto. Otherwise your floorboard will rust out and your car will forever smell of mildew (once the mildew starts, you can never get rid of the smell). Even if you don't get the seal fixed immediately, get that carpet dried immediately.
I once had a friend who spilt a carton of milk on the floor of his car. He halfheartedly cleaned up some of the milk, but left enough there to putrefy. The rancid smell remained until he eventually sold the car. Plain old mildew isn't as rank as rotted milk, but you get my point.
31
This morning on the bus, we were talking about floods, and the topic drifted to cars - one woman said the problem with the rains is her used convertible gets mildew and puddles, whereas another man has rust problems with his door seals.
The vents usually clog from leaves and other tree detritus (flowers, seed pods) - try reverse blowing them out, and see if the vent is removable.
32
@20: It's a Volvo, so, obviously, OK.
And ditto @12--have you ever had your windshield replaced? They almost always fuck up the sealing goop or gasket or whatevs.
35
Now that it's November, good luck getting that carpet dry before June. And @30 is right ... that mildew smell is rank and forever. Fix it and dry it thoroughly ASAP!
37
You need to put a fan down in there for a good 24 hours to dry it out--otherwise you're going to get mold and mildew in the car, which is NASTY. You can mitigate a bit it by cleaning that area with a ton of white distilled vinegar (or bleach, if you dare--but not both), but try to get it good and dry again. (The voice of experience.)
38
hey lindy, i'm curious...and i'm just throwing this out there....how would you feel about me jerking off into the puddle inside your car? would that be cool? and maybe a little bit on your feet? thanks in advance, jim.
39
@29 has it: look under the hood where the air intake is - there's a tray there that's probably full of water. and the drain for it is full of crap.
i have a scirocco, i know about these things.
40
If your car has a sunroof its drain may be clogged. That can cause a puddle on the floor in rainy weather. The underhood drains are also a good thing to check.
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