Ok so a few days ago I get in my RX-7 and I notice a weird smell. I start to wonder what it is so I look in my trunk since it seems to be coming from the back. Well... in the back near the lights on the inside it is a little damp and the carpet around that area seems to be a little damp. It's been raining recently so maybe there's a leak somewhere where the water is getting in. But that doesn't seem to be the smell. So I look on the forums and search for water leaks or something and I see that some guy had a problem in his bins. So I look in the bin behind my driver's seat. No water there or anything. PHEW. Then I look behind my passenger's seat. CRAP. There was an oil bottle in there in a bag and I guess it must have leaked or something (even though it seemed like it was closed) and the water around it was yellow. So the smell was coming from the leaked oil. Now I have a puddle to get rid of. I get a roll of towels and soak up mostly all of it. Now its just wet at the bottom and I'm wondering what I should do. Should I take off the carpet and clean the whole trunk (drying everything) and then get to the passenger seat bin and clean under the carpet there... then shampoo it? Or what? What should I do? Help!

 

If you open the storage bin, you see around the lip there are like 6 screws. Remove the screws and work the storage bin out. The bottom is a flexible fabric like a carpet, and it needs to be crushed into the bin sort of. I don't know what year your car is, but on my 85 GS there are illumination lights on each bin. You kind of have to carefully push the top side down to get the light out, remove the bulb on the top, and then disconnect the bullet type wire connectors at the switch on the side of the bin. That's all there is to the bins. Remove it completely out of the car then scrup it to your hearts delight with anything you think will get the job done. Hell, soak it in your bathtup with dishsoap or laundry soap, whatever. Maybe a very small amount of bleach to kill any mold. Be carefull with the plastic hinge on the cover as these like to crack and break. I reinforced my hinges with a strip of duct tape on the inside. Air dry it out overnight, maybe use a hair dryer, but not too much heat. While you are at it, take out the driver's side bin and check for rust under there too. Good opportunity to tear out the stock Clarion amps if you have them and want to upgrade the stereo, or to add a cutout switch to your fuel pump for theft deterence, and you'll want to clean the sound deadening material under the storage bins too, as I'm sure that gunk leaked through the passenger bin onto this too. That stuff I'd maybe go a little heavier on the bleach to kill mold, and make sure its totally dry before you put the storage bins back in.

No worries, easy work.

 

depends on how badly you want it clean! the interior of my car is only average, so i would just Mop it up, and leave the windows open for a day, but if the interior was in top condition, i would remove it and get it steam cleaned.

 

I had a little pool under the passenger side compartment...no goldfish though I just vacuumed the water out and let it air out for a day. No big deal

 

I have an 83 RX. The bottom of my storage bins is carpet. So I guess I'll have to take off the entire rear carpet. That's alright... this is an excuse to detail my interior.

 

Yes, the bottom of the storage bin IS carpet. Just remove the entire storage bin and the carpeted bottom comes with it. It then becomes very simple to clean it and dry it, as well as clean under it.

 

The storage bins have a carpet-like bottom that comes out with the bin. Underneath the bins, there is a frame, where the bins screw into. If you take the rear hatch (thin) carpet out and the bins and frames out, there is another piece of thicker carpet or sound proofing material that you may want to remove also for cleaning. At this point, you should be at the inner body of the car.

 

I had the back of my car get wet like that one day...I later discovered that my rear wiper fluid resivor was leaking .

~T.J.