Did some shopping at lunch yesterday. On the way out of the store I decide to grab some laundry detergent. I get out to the X and realize that I don't have a good way to stow the gallon jug. If I had more stuff (and in paper bags) I'd put 'em all behind the driver seat. Locks 'em in place nicely. I only had a few small items... and the jug. So I put it all in back. I've got the "X" cargo strap I made, so I use that to hold down the two small plastic bags of stuff. Hmm... the jug.. what to do?

I don't want to put it on its side. What if I've gotten the one cap in a thousand that has a leak. But the cargo strap won't really hold it upright. I don't want it to go flying around. What I shouldda done was disconnect a cargo strap tie down and route it through the handle, then sinched it down. In the end, I decide to lay it on it's side. When I get back to work I'm thinkin'.. "I'd better put it back upright. It's hot out. What if it start leaking". So I put it up-right.

Come back out 4 hours later to leave. Tooootally forget about the groceries in back. Bookin' home. Coming off a freeway off ramp (down hill slant). Brake. I hear this "Fonk" sound in back. "Ohhh ****". 15 seconds go by. "sniff.. sniff..". Oh no.. the car is starting to smell like fabreeze. Oh crap, oh crap... Pull over quick. Go back to check. "AAACCKKKKK!!!"

THE ENTIRE GALLON OF PURPLE LIQUID TIDE CONCENTRATE HAS DUMPED ALL OVER THE BACK OF THE X!!

The jug is COMPLETELY empty. But.. but.. I don't see a big puddle. Where'd it all go. "Oh NO!!"

It ran completely down inside the rear well of the car, and down behind and underneath the back seat. The freakin' jug has like one and a half whimpy little threads on it. GIANT big mouth cap.. almost no threads. In the 90 degree heat the plastic expanded and it had even less holding power. It's not like I dropped the gallon jug from the roof of the house onto the ground. All it did was gently fall over onto a carpeted floor. BLAP. The cap flew off!

I drive home and proceed to completely disassemble the back of the car. It has gone down the drivers side by the stereo amp and all the wiring bundles. Miraculously each of the dozen connectors was spared. half of them had Tide on them, but not in the connector joint. Several cable bundles were soaked. The amp was safe. Luckily, and smartly, BMW mounts the amps one half inch up from the bottom. There are two rubber "emergency water exit" ports below it. THey were goobering Tide all over the ground outside the car.

All the battery cables were hit, but none of the connections. The most damage was the rear deck carpeted lid, the carpeted side pieces, and the large back to the seat. Some of it made it down underneath the seat and has obviously soaked into the cushions.

Did I mention... it's 90 degrees. The **** is drying on everything. It's a concentrate. You can't just wipe it up. The tiniest film of it is nearly impossible to wash off.

The two of us spent 3 hours cleaning the various components. We ran a strong hose spray on the carpeted trunk lid for nearly 40 minutes.. before the soap stopped coming out of the carpet. Unreal. There was no way to get even 25% of it out of the carpet on the back of the back seat. I was able to get all the electronics cleand up.

I'm afraid the trunk deck lid is toast. It's stained purple (Tan interior carpet!). I also have one of the extra black X5 carpets that went over that. When I pulled it out of the back, it was really really heavy. I think it soaked up most of the gallon of goo. It too, took 45 minutes to wash out. It's probably the only carpet that is savable. Cleaned up the cargo strap bungee cords.

All those parts are out drying now, but still.. hopping into the car this morning.. it smells like a thousand Downy Snuggle Bears exploded in there. The scent of the car is ruined (she actually still smelled new even after 2 years). The strength of the smell is over powering.

Instead of having a mobile carpet cleaner come out and try extract more, we've decided to make a comprehensive insurance claim. Rear deck lid $561. Back seat carpet section $265. Side carpet pieces.. still being priced at this time.


Moral... If you think something might spill. It will.

Oi..