Well, I got hella stuck in a mud hole that was a little deeper than I thought. I wasn't even out wheeling. Wish I had some pictures but I didn't have a camera with me. I was just trying to drive down to the river to pick up my canoe and gear. Anyway, I was trying to skirt this one big hole and I ended up sliding into it at a pretty bad angle. The left side had muddy water up to the door handles. Luckily there were some kids wheeling nearby and they had a chain. One kid was driving an early eighties Power Ram or something with 37's and solid axles.

After scratching our heads for a bit on the best way to get her out (it was a bad angle and it almost flipped over into the puddle/hole when we tried to pull it from the front) we were able to get her out by pulling at an angle from the rear.

There doesn't seem to be any damage except for the muddy water that came in through the doors on the left side. Both floorboards on the left are pretty much trashed with muddy water. My plan it to take out the drivers seat and anything else I can remove, hose it down, and then suck it up with a vet vac and repeat. Does anyone have a better idea or any experience with cleaning out trashy muddy water from their interior?

Strangle enough the only thing that doesn't work anymore is the key less entry. It won't lock or unlock but it will roll the back window down. The back window also won't roll down anymore from the button on the dash though.

 

As for the keyless entry, you probably fried the "brain" which is usually under one of the front seats or below the steering column.

I would pull your seats out then remove the carpet and padding and let it air dry. If you just vacuum the surface water, the padding underneath will still be wet and start to mold.

 

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. On my 92 I think it was under the passenger seat but they may have moved it on the third gen's. I looked and it was not under the drivers seat.

 

Ya definately scrub the floor pan and carpet with some cleaner real good or that mud will start to stink!

 

Ive always took dirty seats and carpet out and taken them to the car wash. It will get them nice nd clean!!

 

for the keyless entry...you need to look under the drivers seat, there should be a black box with wires, disconnect them and put the black box in a ziplock bag with dry rice for a day or so, that should take care of it, do you have an auto or 5spd? If you have an auto, Check your tranny fluid, if it looks like strawberry milk, you are gonna want to flush the out of it. I am currently dealing with the same issue(stupid beer and mudholes), and I do know the rice trick works for the keyless, and Im hoping the flush will take care of the tranny....good luck dude, muddy water sucks!!

 

Dry rice huh? Thanks for the advice. I never would have thought of that. I also just noticed the rear defrost doesn't work. Might just be a fuse though.

I wish I could blame it on beer but we ran out on the river about 2 hours before all this happened.

As far as removing the carpet and lining goes, how hard is it to get it out and back in? Is it all one piece?

 

Hey Team420 (nice name btw). You responded to a post of mine about wet interior and key less entry not working. You asked if my truck was an auto which it is. Did the tranny flush work for you? Did you have to flush it more than once? Is there anything else mechanically I need to worry about? Brakes, bearings, etc? It sat in the mud for about an hour or more. I'm more worried about the tranny now than I am the carpet and keyless entry. Planning to rip the carpet out tonight.

 

dry rice will work a bit, but silica packets will prob be better. the rice doesnt actually wick up that much moisture. in salt bottles and stuff its really in tehre more for agitation than anything else. to remove the carpet and lining, take out the front seats, unbolt the rear ones from the bottom, and it should pull out from under all the panels and what not pretty easily. its all one piece. getting it back in may require removing some panels and what not to get it to fit under them again. gl with everything
lucky you didnt sink the right side in the hole, or by the sound of your story, your truck might have ingested some muddy water and caused you a big headache.

 

where are you located? i have a whole carpet forsale from a 97 with tan interior

 

Im still working on the tranny flush, right now it wont start..so, i have to wait for things to dry out...did you have the strawberry milk in your tranny? From what i hear, you have to flush at least twice (im doing 3...45+ quarts fluid), to get all the water out, and might get lucky. Ill let you know if it works for me, but it'll prob be a couple weeks before i know for sure; unless it does not help at all, in which case Ill know very soon.

 

I haven't checked my tranny yet. I tore out all the seats and carpet last night and pressure washed everything. Hoping the sun will come out today so I can set everything out and let it dry.

I would think the tranny would be sealed up pretty tight. How would the water have gotten in?

I also didn't find the keyless entry box under the seats. I'm not sure where it is. In my 2nd gen I think it was under the passenger seat but the rear heater fan was under the passenger seat and there was nothing under the drivers seat. Someone mentioned that it might be on the steering column somewhere. I will do some searching and see if anyone has posted about it's location. Where can you buy a bunch of silica packets?

Hoping to put everything back together tonight.

I've got Grey interior so the brown carpet probably wouldn't look so good. Thanks though. I think the carpet cleaned up pretty good anyway. It will probably look better than it did before I got it all muddy once it's all said and done.

 

If you have an auto tranny it has a breather on top and water will get in there if you don't have an extended breather on it.
About two years ago I went through the same thing and by the end of the day it really stank in the truck. Also ended up blowing lots of seals on the axles and so on. The rear end even had water in it. Now I have extended the breathers on everything. It sure won't hurt to drain your tranny and check it for water. You don't need a total flush unless you have water in there. Mike

 

I've never flushed it so it's probably a good time to do it anyway. I'm going to re-grease everything I can get to. I think I may also have my brake lines flushed. I've heard it's a good idea. Oh well. It's turned into a PITA but at least I will have a freshly steam cleaned interior and new fluids all around when I'm done.

I blame the whole ordeal on my slick crappy tires. I have no choice but to buy some new BF's now

 

similar thing happened to me. I took the seats out, the carpet out, and the carpet pad out then took it to the car wash and removed the plugs on the body and sprayed out all the mud and scrubbed with brush. the water drained thru the plugs and I wet vac'd the rest out. I bought a new carpet kit cus it was beyond steaming. I later used Driz-air from wal-mart, they use for drying out boats in this lil can with beads, shut all windows and let it soak up all moisture.

I don't believe the brain for keyless is under the seat.
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Good Luck!