Carpet removal guide - 2nd gen 4runner
Hey guys, I recently got my 4Runner stuck in a giant puddle. I had water seeping in through the doors, when I finally got it pulled out there was about six inches of water inside, on both driver and passenger footwells.
I vacuumed the carpet, but I want to make sure I get all the water out so the floor doesn't rust, and to avoid any gross smells from the river water. So I decided to make a guide out of it in case anyone needs to remove the interior carpet for any reason.
Here are pictures of the truck when it was stuck for your entertainment.
The first thing I did was removed the floor trim pieces where the door meets the carpet, all the way around. Then I unscrewed the thumb screw and removed the kick panel on both driver, and passenger sides.
The next step is to remove the bucket seats, There are four bolts holding each seat in place, two on the front and two on the rear of the seat. You may want to pull the seats in full back position to access the front bolts easier, and vice vera for the back two, Here's a picture with one seat gone, then another with both seats, seatbelts and buckles removed.
There is one bolt holding in the seatbelt and one holding the buckle in place. You will not be able to completely remove the driver's side buckle yet, as there is a wire connected to it, for your "No seatbelt chime".
The next thing I did is begin to remove the center console, which is a little more challenging. You'll see why in a little bit. There are two phillips head screws inside the compartment, and two more connecting the center console plastic to the plastic where your shift boot is (Standard). After you remove the four screws, the plastic will lift up, and you will need to unplug three or four connection plugs before it can be pulled off. After the plactic is pulled off, it will look like this..
That black thing left exposed is for your rear heat, I believe. Start by removing the back panel, there is three clips that you will need to pop off. Beware, they will GO FLYING! and one tiny phillips head screw on the passenger side. When that's off you will see what looks like a mini radiator with two hoses in front.
It has two hoses which run through the floor that will need to be unhooked so you can remove the whole thing. To do this, I went under my truck, and found the hoses, and I used pliers to pull the clamps down off of the hose end.
The next thing I did, was use some small clamps to compress the hoses from the underside of the truck, so that coolant/antifreeze doesn't spray everywhere (and to hopefully avoid getting an airlock). Once you've got them both clamped you will take a flathead screwdriver and run it around the inside diameter of both hoses to help free it up.
Once that's done, you can remove the hoses from the system. I did this by wedging my screw driver around and around, while slightly pulling up on the metal hose, but be careful not to pull too hard, or your clamps might come loose. They may leak a bit, so I used two large bolts (not sure on the size) to plug the hoses from the inside, you may use rags or whatever you can find. The metal hoses are about and inch and a half overlapped on the rubber.
and here's a photo of where the hoses were connected after I got them off, I accidentally crushed one slightly, so be careful.
That's as far as I got today, but I'll keep updating as I go along. Please add any tips or methods you may have used to help others.
After you remove the heater core, and all the hoses are plugged you can now start removing the back bench seats. Lucky for us to remove the carpet we only have to take off the seat bottoms (the part which folds up).
To remove it, carefully pry off the plastic covers. Pry them from the top, because the bottom has a lip which needs to be lifted upwards. Otherwise it will break.. BOO!
Below is a photo of the plastic covers, then a close up shot once it's been removed. I believe the bolt is an 8mm for reference.
The rest is pretty self-explanatory, I'll leave the pictures to do most of it.
Here's both seats out, if you look at the full view you can see the plastic lip I mentioned above.
The next thing I did was start pulling up the carpet from the back to the front, it worked well for me but that's up to you however you take it out.
Another shot with the carpet pulled, I've got lots of water under my carpet as you can see.
Make sure you pull the plugs if your pulling the carpet for the same reason I am.
Once you get the carpet pulled up to the mid-section, there are two black brackets which need to be removed, 8mm also I believe.
Here's some more photos just for reference. I never removed the shift boot, because I couldn't be bothered to take it out. I didn't want to destroy it.
