i steam cleaned carpets in homes during summers when i was an undergrad back in 1990. while all the techniques outline here will totally work, a good steam cleaning will save you the hassle of removing the carpets.

rental units don't really steam clean, the just spray really hot water, with a fragrant additive, then suck up the water. you'd need to shampoo spots, scrub them w/ a tough brush, then spray and clean with the "steam" cleaner. i don't know that it's worth the $30-$40 for the rental though, unless you were gonna also do your house. maybe your hit the car and then your rec room, living room and dining room and skip the upstairs bedrooms?

an alternative would be the shampoo, scrup w/ a little water, and suck out w/ a wet vac. The wet vac would really help no matter what. if you removed the rug and sprayed, the wet vac would greatly reduce drying time.

You could also find a local carpet cleaning company and call or just drive up and see if someone would clean your carpets for like $20.
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'92 245, Black & Tan, Virgo Mags, 126K