I need to clean the antifreeze out of the passenger side footwell.

Whats the best way.

I am really wanting to make sure I keep that new car smell in her.

 

How dirty was your antifreeze? I had an entire gallon leak into the trunk area of my '91 a few years back (container got hot and busted I guess). I thought getting it off was going to be a nightmare, but it actually got the carpet cleaner than it was before the spill! I guess green antifreeze has some cleaning agents in it of some sort.

When the heater core went out in my '02, I just mopped up the antifreeze with paper towels, and then used carpet cleaner (Meguiar's Quick-Out or something similar probably) to get rid of the stain. I got to that one early when I noticed the car was starting to smell like maple syrup, so I didn't have that much to clean up. No antifreeze smell after using the carpet cleaner though.

 

If you don't have a steam cleaner, use a wet/dry vac. Rinse with some hot water and soak out the moisture with the shop vac. Just don't use too much water as the backing will get soaked and cause mildew.

 

Ill start this evening.

 

yank the carpet out, shampoo it or if no shampooer, take it to a diy car wash and pressure wash the carpet, let the thoroughly dry then reinstall it

 

Not too tough really... wash it until the rinse water isn't green any more

 

Yanking the carpet is overkill if it only leaked a little. Trust me - a little rinse and all will be good. I just did this last year.

 

for me the problem wasn't the carpet as much as the air ducts, you'll get a greasy film on the inside of the front and side windshields every time you turn on your defroster/defogger. you'll get really good at cleaning the inside of your windshield, lol

 

That too... the cure is, wash all the duct pieces as you do the swap.

Taking the carpet out while doing the core swap is a piece o cake... you already have the console out, there's not 10 minutes more work from there to get the carpet out. If your car is like most of ours and needs a REALLY GOOD interior cleanup after 20 - 30 years of use ANYWAY, now is the perfect opportunity to do it.

 

Why would you take the console out to do a heater core?
I was able to work from under the dashboard. The only things I removed were the passenger side hush panel and the dash trim under the map pocket. Is it that different on a Camaro?
Also - how long did you guys drive around with the heater core leaking? I did not have any oily residue in the vents. The only issue I had, is when I put the defrost on for the first few times after doing the core, I had a little bit of old gasket material come out.

 

I just replaced the heater core in my 85 Camaro. I used the instructions from the website - which were perfect. All it took was time and a lot of patience. Now works fine. The carpet got some anti freeze on it, but cleaned up easily with paper towels. I guess I was lucky not much leaked out.

 

Wasnt much inmine eaither. after soaking it up I but some deionized water in the foot well and pulled it out.
Good as new.