Car smells like mould / mildew. Any suggestions on cleaning ?

[Widget]

Hi all,

We have an 03' Nissan Pulsar (I think USA calls them Almera), it smelled a little off (mildew) One day I noticed water on the drivers-side carpet (pushed fingers into carpet, water appeared). Thinking there must be a leak and a little water got in somehow (around the middle of the carpet wasn't wet. I couldn't see anywhere that the water could have come from).

I removed the seats then the carpet so I could give it a clean, and hang on the clothes line to dry out. Well... the foam under the foot-area of the carpet was glued to both the carpet and the car body, so that was damaged during the removal, but, it was also saturated with a lot more water than I thought. When I finally got the carpet out, I could see the passenger side was a little wet too, but water was built up further back towards the centre of the car also (see pics). To my knowledge, no window was down so it must have leaked someone (perhaps even over a period of time)

I cleaned the carpet using 3D Orange Degreaser (mainly the primary dirty spots), then pressure washed it, sucked up as much as I could with my Bissell spot cleaner extracter, and hung it on the line to dry in the sun. Then I used a towel to soak up the puddles of water in the car. Once both were dry, I re-installed the carper, which smelt ok. Everything seemed ok at first, but the smell of mildew/mould has come back, specially if I rains. I go out every now and then and feel the carpet, but feels dry. I keep a cover over the front of the car until I can figure where the water came from.

Does anyone have any suggestions or experience dealing with this sort of thing? I'm thinking I'll need to remove the carpet again and perhaps cleaner the whole thing with a specific solution for mildew/mould ?? I don't have an Ozone machine. I do have an air purifier for the house though.

Any suggestions on where to look for leaks? This model has no sunroof, so there should be a drainage hose going down the pillar, right?

Pics below show the damage (mainly to the foam under the carpet)

Thanks in advance.

 

[BurnsDetailing]

Pretty much spot on in procedure, the only thing I would do different is after extracting all the water from the carpet and padding (and any puddling in the sheet metal) is to follow up with a peroxide treatment like P&S Finisher. As long as the source is removed, the peroxide treatment will help neutralize any remaining odors.

 

[Klasse Act]

Replace the cabin filter

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

 

[Larry A]

Pick off the old pad and replace the pad with a new one. I had a similar problem with a broken gallon of milk that sat on the floor of my wifes van for a week because nobody drove the car. Beleive me it stunk. Had to power wash the carpet and replace the pad.

 

[ZRX61]

Does the car have a moonroof?

 

[Widget]

Sorry for the delay in response. Much appreciated the feedback

Pretty much spot on in procedure, the only thing I would do different is after extracting all the water from the carpet and padding (and any puddling in the sheet metal) is to follow up with a peroxide treatment like P&S Finisher. As long as the source is removed, the peroxide treatment will help neutralize any remaining odors.

Pick off the old pad and replace the pad with a new one. I had a similar problem with a broken gallon of milk that sat on the floor of my wifes van for a week because nobody drove the car. Beleive me it stunk. Had to power wash the carpet and replace the pad.

Thanks for the suggestion for P&S Finisher, might grab a bottle, seems they sell in Australia which is good. Do you reckon a 475ml spray bottle would be sufficient for the job ?

Thanks Larry. Yeh I figure the pad might not be too good, though it smelled ok after washing/crying, it doesn't look too healthy. Replacement foam, is it just carpet underlay? If so, do you know roughly the thickness they tend to use? This ones been stretched when I removed it, but im thinking maybe 12mm (1/2") roughly ?

Replace the cabin filter

Thanks Lasse. I had a look but no filter installed. I'll have to check out the air-vents, see if there's blockages perhaps.

Does the car have a moonroof?

No moon/sun roof. I read the drainage can be blocked, causing issues, but I'm not sure if there's any other drainage in non-sun/moon roof cars.

I did notice the windscreen seal is damaged, perhaps water can make its way down from there? Otherwise, the front vents under the windscreen, perhaps blocked ?

Thanks again, and sorry for the delay in response.

 

[Desertnate]

How is the condition of the weather seals around the doors? If they aren't sealing tightly there might be some moisture making it's way into the cabin or even allowing the humidity to be high which can lead to condensation under the carpets when the temperatures fall.

Another different thought....

What is the weather like in your area? I'm assuming your in the middle of summer right now, but how humid is it where you live?

In my area, summers are really humid. I've found that when running the A/C all the time and keeping the car sealed up after driving would lead to a faint dirty sock smell building up in our vehicles. Most likely due to condensation in the vents and ducts and running the A/C in recirculate mode almost all the time. I got to where I'd run the car in recirculate mode less, or not at all in cooler conditions, and also roll the windows down when parking in the garage. This helped dry things out and cut down/eliminate the odor.

 

[oneheadlite]

Technician by trade, so I've been down the path before of chasing water leaks. Nice thing is you have the interior all apart so it's easier to see when the trickle starts coming in.

That windshield trim piece you showed could definitely come into play. Has the windshield been replaced? All it takes is a tiny spot where the urethane didn't bond and water can work it's way in.

One other common culprit I see are the vapor barriers in the doors. Water runs down the door glass, gets inside the door, and if the vapor barrier isn't sealed at the bottom it will work it's way inside the car. Take a peak at the bottom of your door cards and see if you see any signs of moisture.

What I like to do to try to find the source is to start at your lowest possible points of entry, take the nozzle off your hose so you've just got a heavy stream (not a jet setting) and start flooding your suspect areas. I learned this from an Audi engineer back when I was at the dealership. Sure, a jet setting (like a high psi car wash) will force water in, but when you've got a solid flow of water it can really stick together and start rolling past compromised areas.

In your case, I'd start at the body gap between your front doors and front fenders to rule out the wiring grommit in the door jam. Next do the base of the side windows to check your door seals/vapor barriers. Then I'd start focusing on the windshield. If you've got a helper, it works well to stuff someone in the car to watch for the water trickle to start (somehow, I'm always the one stuck upside down in the car...).

Along the lines of Desternate's idea - Make sure when you run the aircon that you see water dripping from wherever the A/C drain is. Sometimes they'll get sludged up and there's nowhere for the water to go but in the car.

If your old carpet padding is just pulling off, I'd think you'd be fine doing your own thing with carpet underlay like you mention.

 

[Widget]

Hwy guys, sorry for the delay in response,

How is the condition of the weather seals around the doors? If they aren't sealing tightly there might be some moisture making it's way into the cabin or even allowing the humidity to be high which can lead to condensation under the carpets when the temperatures fall.

Hey Desert, I had a look, door seals look ok, can't see any tears, and no water seems to be on them. It's been raining a fair bit lately (floods in some areas), but so far seals seem ok

What is the weather like in your area? I'm assuming your in the middle of summer right now, but how humid is it where you live?

End of summer (finished now), hasn't been too bad. Not sure on humidity levels, I don't really feel it, but at the moment it's saying 100%, possibly because it's raining ?

In my area, summers are really humid. I've found that when running the A/C all the time and keeping the car sealed up after driving would lead to a faint dirty sock smell building up in our vehicles. Most likely due to condensation in the vents and ducts and running the A/C in recirculate mode almost all the time. I got to where I'd run the car in recirculate mode less, or not at all in cooler conditions, and also roll the windows down when parking in the garage. This helped dry things out and cut down/eliminate the odor.

Haven't had much use of the car. It's the old car, since been upgraded (about a year ago). I use it a little to drive to the shops (5min), never really needed to use the A/C, just have window down.

Technician by trade, so I've been down the path before of chasing water leaks. Nice thing is you have the interior all apart so it's easier to see when the trickle starts coming in.

Hey onheadlite, thanks for the feedback. I've got the interior back together (after cleaning the carpet) lol, it's all wet again . Will have to take out and wash again, plus use some P&S recommended by BurnsDetailing. (post above)

That windshield trim piece you showed could definitely come into play. Has the windshield been replaced? All it takes is a tiny spot where the urethane didn't bond and water can work it's way in.

No replacement. I think I was hosing the car down with pressure washer, and it broke. Feeling it, it's hard/brittle. I have a feeling it might be the reason (in part), as I don't recall there being any issues before it broke. Not sure if you can get aftermarket rubber seals or have to stick with genuine (which a quick search showed a little pricey).

One other common culprit I see are the vapor barriers in the doors. Water runs down the door glass, gets inside the door, and if the vapor barrier isn't sealed at the bottom it will work it's way inside the car. Take a peak at the bottom of your door cards and see if you see any signs of moisture.

Door seals seem ok. There is a bit of condensation on the window though, but nothing that makes me think it's water getting in. I'll have a look at the bottom and see if anything sticks out.

What I like to do to try to find the source is to start at your lowest possible points of entry, take the nozzle off your hose so you've just got a heavy stream (not a jet setting) and start flooding your suspect areas. I learned this from an Audi engineer back when I was at the dealership. Sure, a jet setting (like a high psi car wash) will force water in, but when you've got a solid flow of water it can really stick together and start rolling past compromised areas.

In your case, I'd start at the body gap between your front doors and front fenders to rule out the wiring grommit in the door jam. Next do the base of the side windows to check your door seals/vapor barriers. Then I'd start focusing on the windshield. If you've got a helper, it works well to stuff someone in the car to watch for the water trickle to start (somehow, I'm always the one stuck upside down in the car...).

Thanks for the tip. I was hoping to see something tonight as it's been raining, but no drips, just moisture, and wet spots. When it stops raining, I'll give that a shot.

Along the lines of Desternate's idea - Make sure when you run the aircon that you see water dripping from wherever the A/C drain is. Sometimes they'll get sludged up and there's nowhere for the water to go but in the car.

That's under the car isn't it? When you park the car after use and you see a puddle under the car from the A/C ?

If your old carpet padding is just pulling off, I'd think you'd be fine doing your own thing with carpet underlay like you mention.

Thanks, I think I might, it doesn't look to healthy. Any ideas on the thickness of underlay generally used in cars ?


Some more pics from tonight.

So looking at it tonight, it appears majority of the water seems to be in the drivers foorwell. The front seats felt a little damp, the roof felt a little damp, and windows had condensation on them. Mainly located drivers side. Looking under the footwell, I can't see the source of the water, but it feels like the back of the footwell (near steering colum) is all wet. I'll have to try that hose trick and hopefully see incoming water.


Thanks again, much appreciate the feedback.

 

[Desertnate]

Could you be getting a slow leak around where the steering column comes through the firewall or maybe from a hole created for something like the wiring harness?

When rain runs down the windscreen, where does it go? Maybe something has happened along the path of where water is supposed to flow and it's now running down the engine side of the firewall and getting into the cabin through an opening that way.

 

[Widget]

Could you be getting a slow leak around where the steering column comes through the firewall or maybe from a hole created for something like the wiring harness?

When rain runs down the windscreen, where does it go? Maybe something has happened along the path of where water is supposed to flow and it's now running down the engine side of the firewall and getting into the cabin through an opening that way.

Hey Desertnate, I just finished having a look again, it's still raining a fair bit, which I think helped. I used a towel to clean up areas that are water and had a look for leaks. I noticed one area built up a little water since cleaning, and after wiping it away again, I watched, and sure enough, there was a leak, though I'm not sure where exactly the entry point is. It's in the corner where there appears to be some sort of sealant, though I think it's coming from upwards direction rather than through. I'm not sure if that leads to the wiring harness grommet as suggested before, or higher up. I'll have to try that hose trick so I can isolate areas better.


I took some pics and video of the location in question,