AC Evaporator causing mold throughout car?

[Dave Medvic]

Hoping to get feedback on this, pulled recon on a 2010 Mazda 6 last night. It only has 20k miles on it and the Dealer cleaned the Evaporator recently to stop the odor. The problem is this: a Musty odor has permeated the headliner, seats, carpet and even the trunk. as soon as you rough up a spot with your hand the smell is evident. But to find it as far as the trunk fabric was disturbing, I could find no evidence that the car was in a flood.
My plan is to use my VX 5000 steamer all over the vehicle with some APC applied first to each area I'm working on, I believe the steam will kill the bacteria causing this odor. I'll use my Ozone Generator as a closer to flush any remaining smell.
Anybody else run into something like this before?

 

[CarbonCrew]

I have dealt with musty/moldy evaporators but have never had the problem extend beyond the confines of the evaporator/fan box. That's a new one for me. However, I have dealt with mold in living spaces. If it were me, I'd try to attack first with a mildewcide/fungicide (something like Concrobium) to kill the spores. Then proceed with your cleaning.

 

[RA-88Z]

This reminds me of a car we had in the shop that had a water leak. I believe that was from the sunroof drain.

The smell was going through out the interior. Carpets where removed and dried, but the car kept coming back with a mildew- musty smell.

I believe the tech replace carpets ,headliner, seat covers and still a day or two later the car would return with an awful smell.

What ended up happening was the insulation pad that runs behind the firewall and down to the floor had started to mold, because this was never pulled back and dried out.
This was finally replaced and cured this problem.

 

[Dave Medvic]

Well, I worked on this yesterday. I applied Bioenzymes first and let them soak in for an hour, then steam cleaned everything before using an Ozone Generator to close out. Final step was applying Enzymes at the fresh air intake, in the cabin filter compartment and on all the carpet/headliner and seats so they can establish their own colony. Feeling a little off this morning from breathing the spores but I think the mission was accomplished.