Water under passenger seat - should I remove seat, and if so, any gotchas?

[ImInHeavenInMy987]

Hello everyone, and than-you for checking our my inaugural post on 986forum.com!

To make a long story short, the rear passenger-side drain in my '07 987 got plugged, resulting in some flooding under the passenger seat . Fortunately the master alarm module is under the driver's seat.

I've cleared the drain, vacuumed out as much water as possible and have space-heater going, however the foam under the carpet is still quite saturated.

My thinking is that if I remove the seat, I could pull the carpet up and get better air-flow under there. I have seen a video for removing the seat, however in that video, they did not mention disconnecting the battery prior to unplugging the seat's wiring harness.

If I do remove the seat (after disconnecting the battery), can I reconnect the battery with the seat out, and drive the car?

Lastly, I saw on a post somewhere (Pelican parts perhaps), that the proper torx spec for the seat rail bolts is 48 ft-lbs. Can anyone confirm that? I don't currently own a torque wrench, so do I buy one to achieve the correct torque, or do I just wrench them good and tight?

Thanks-so much for any help, it's really appreciated!

Jon

PS - go clear your drains

[lkchris]

If it's like a 986 (and why wouldn't it be) turning on ignition with seat wiring disconnected from seat will set an airbag light. This will not self correct later, but must be reset with Durametric, etc.

[madmodz]

Don't move or reconnect your car with the seat out. You will get a code for sure

[old911doc]

Hi! I've dealt with this problem in all three of our Boxsters, from different water entry causes, and have removed carpet from 986's five times.
I have bad news.The closed-cell foam on the back of the carpet will virtually never dry out without the carpet being removed from the car.
I have tried propping up the edge of the carpet with a spray can lid, hair dryer, etc; utter failures. There is no successful way to dry the car without removing it from the car.
The floor carpet is a single piece, with the rear floorboards joined but the front floorboards not joined to each other. Removal is tedious but straightforward. First, DISCONNECT THE BATTERY. Then remove the seats, center console, parking brake mechanism, lower center dash, shifter mechanism, gas pedal mechanism, right side umbrella pocket, rear side upholstered panels, and fuse panel cover.
With an assistant, the entire carpet can then be lifted out. This is best accomplished with the top down. The carpet weighs about 80-100 pounds, largely because of the weight of the closed-cell foam that deadens sound well but holds water tenaciously. The carpet can the be laid over two sawhorses, or similar, for cleaning and drying.
Now is the time to clean it, preferably with running hot water, detergent, and scrubbrush, with the carpet face up. Wet-vacuum the carpet as dry as possible, then turn it upside down. The wet vac will pull water through the fine foam for little more than the nozzle's area of contact so this will be tedious. Bear in mind that the water in the foam is settling by gravity toward the carpet bonded to it, so you will need to turn the carpet right side up overnight to allow the water to settle back to the foam's surface for vacuuming a second, and maybe a third time.
Spread the damp carpet, right side up, on a slanted broad surface in direct sunlight. The roof of your house works perfectly for this purpose, especially in Alabama in July!
Place the carpet on small wood strips or PVC pipe to allow air under the carpet to dry the foam.
I suggest:
a) While the carpet is out, drill 3/8" holes in the floor in both sides, at several points, corresponding to water collection points with the car in different positions. Low tech, but highly effective.
b) Fit the waterproof immobilizer box made for this purpose by Specialized ECU Repair in Florida (Specialized ECU Repair, Replacement, & Testing - Restore or Exchange your Electronic Control Unit (ECU)).
c) keep an extra carpet set in dry storage, so the next time it gets wet, your car is not down for days while your carpet dries out. I have a gray and a black carpet and am looking for a savanna one, one for each car.
d) Even though you carefully DISCONNECTED THE BATTERY before you disconnected the seat wiring connections, you may still get an air bag (SRS) warning light. At this point you use your Durametric tool to reset the warning light. (You DO have a Durametric kit, of course...if not yet, get the commercial version which can serve an unlimited number of VIN's--better resale value).
e) Build a heated, A/C'ed, dedicated garage for your Box...
f) Move to Alabama, where it never rains anymore.

[geetee]

my driver side got some water under the carpet. Luckily it wasn't too much...had the carpet lifted up with the seat still in. I had fan on it for 2 full days....boy was that a pita.

[old911doc]

I have had our Boxsters throw SRS (air bag) codes and light up the warning light when a seat was removed despite disconnecting the battery first. I suspect there is some small battery backup or capacitor backup system for firing the airbags, which is not deactivated just by disconnecting the main battery. At any rate, if the seat is disconnected with the battery 'hot' it will throw a code for sure.
When these cars were new there was a problem stemming from corrosion in the seat belt latch switches, which would cause the SRS warning to light up. The factory put out a fix, a seat belt latch with gold-plated contacts to prevent corrosion. If you find evidence of wire splicing in the wiring harness to your seats, likely your car has had that repair already.
If the light is on after you reinstall your seat, it is easily turned off with your Durametric tool.
Did I mention you should get a Durametric? I suggest getting the commercial version which allows use on an unlimited number of VIN's, because...
...you can never have too many Porsches.

[old911doc]

Oh, and one other minor thing. The seat mounting bolts don't need anything near 48 foot-pounds of torque. 'Snug' with a 3/8' drive ratchet handle seems adequate to me. Have you ever seen a car seat fall out of a car?

[JFP in PA]

Originally Posted by old911doc

Oh, and one other minor thing. The seat mounting bolts don't need anything near 48 foot-pounds of torque. 'Snug' with a 3/8' drive ratchet handle seems adequate to me. Have you ever seen a car seat fall out of a car?

The torque specs on the seat mounts are designed to preload the seat rail fasteners to help them survive an impact. So, no, the seats don't fall out, but they can be ripped loose in a crash.