How To Stop/kill Mold

[frankie406]

Hi folks got into car today to let it run as I haven't been driving in 6 months due to illness and found mold on carpet seats and loads on seat belts.is there anyway of stopping it spreading?I will check all the seals to see if there's water ingress anywhere but will need to wait until our lovely weather stops raining and the gales stop!

[weeleyboy]

Not sure how to kill the existing mould but there is obviously damp in the car - suggest you use a portable dehumidifier to dry the interior out which is what I did with our Corolla when the boot was filling with water. The leak came via a damaged rear air vent as it turned out. Hope this helps, Derek

[FROSTYBALLS]

Would be inclined not to use a spray mould killer as I think most use a bleaching agent to disguise the mould.

[frankie406]

Thanks guys.yes just bought a dehumidifier going to try that out when it arrives after the holidays I've sprayed white vinegar on it was told that kills it?Also have dry rice in boot and some baking soda also told that would help with the moisture.again thanks for quick replies .

[fastbob72]

Honestly just use any generic interior cleaner and a nail brush and scrub it all off, wipe the gunk off with a cloth and go at it again until it's clear. Once you've got it clean run the engine, if you can, with the heaters on to dry it out.

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[fastbob72]

Sorry, that's a photo of my car, my present one, taken about a year ago after sitting through the winter. It took a couple of hours to get clean and drying out the air inside with the heaters keeps it from coming back.

Take it from an ex valeter a good solid nailbrush,one of those wooden ones is your best friend for all kinds of interior cleaning, more so than special cleaning fluids.A good nailbrush plenty of effort and drying it out is the best way. PS mine looks immaculate inside now.lol

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[frankie406]

Holy carp bob lol that's wild mines isn't that bad after seeing yours!😂.though if I hadn't of got in to start it I wouldn't of noticed it and probably end up that way!thanks for the advice I will give that a go too.

And will post back..After the Xmas shopping is finally done!happy Christmas/holidays folks!

[fastbob72]

No problem frankie I can't say I'm particularly proud of either the photo or the state I allowed it to get into. Had to trawl through a heap of folders on Dropbox, Drive and eventually OneDrive cloud storage sites to find that photo but I thought it might demonatrate how bad a car can get if left outside for ages hopefully it would show that mould is easy to kill and cure, if mine can be cleaned without any real difficulty and brought back to excellent nick pretty quickly then so can anyones.lol.

Am not sure what part of the country you live but this is what a wet Highland winter does to a car. All that condensation building up on the windows then making everything damp and ideal for mould to breed.

What you can't get from the photo though was the smell of it but even that is easy to get rid of. Any cleaner will do really,even window cleaner at a push because it looks bad but it comes off easy enough.

Like I was saying drying it out is the critical thing.Actually if you have a half decent wet hoover then something as simple as soapy hot water liberally sponged onto the seat till they are drenched then scrubbing with a handheld carpet brush. Not hard and fast but slow and firm, you'll see the soap foam turning a dirty brown colour,in fact you'd be amazed just how much dirt comes out even from your clean looking seats. When it's all brown soap suds hoover the water off till it's lifted and merely damp then do it all over again until your brushing it and getting clean white soapy water and no dirt. Then hoover it as dry as you possibly can and leave the car idling with the heaters full on until dry but leave the front windows open slightly to allow the evaporating water to escape.With the windows shut it'll condense on the windows and dash keeping the moisture inside.

I wouldn't recommend that approach at this time of year without a garage and a good wet hoover. I've been using a 2nd hand Vax for years until it gave up a month or so ago.lol.

That is a labour intensive way of deep cleaning your interior, works just aswell for carpets too but the results are hard to beat. Put it this way when I was valeting we got a Focus back which had been out on hire. The woman gave birth on the passenger seat and mother n baby were dandy by the time the ambulance arrived on the scene right up the West Coast somewhere.The poor old Focus took the brunt of it though and you'd swear someone had been murdered by several gunman the amount of blood over the seat. Tbat was probably the wost I had to do but by the end of the day. after it had dried out you seriously wouldn't know anything out of the ordinary haf happened. It is a very effective way off cleaning the interior but it can be messy n dirty lol.

Merry Xmas :)

[ZPM]

Hi guys.

Just a brief thought on prevention: when you do drive the car ordinarily, use the air con for at least a small time on your journey - even when you want heat so that you are absorbing some of the latent atmospheric moisture; make sure your pollen filters are regularly changed, too. When you wash the car, don't jet spray - use a watering can or mild hose water pressure. And you can buy something - a microwaveable penquin-shaped pouch that absorbs water in your car. It's called a "Pingi," I think. My partner uses one in the Prius which is way wetter inside from condensation than my Avensis. :D

Merry Christmas all.

[fastbob72]

That sounds like pretty good advice to me. My Avensis is the first car I've had with A/C but instead of regassing it I removd the lot right up to the bulkhead lol.

I do remember someone saying use your A/C for clearing the windscreen of condensation as it dries out the air so it would work fot this too. Although the best thinhnof all is simply to use the car, get the engine hot, heaters on, air circulating and A/C drying it all out. A regularly used car is never a mouldy one lol.

[fastbob72]

Am sorry ZPM I can accept and agree with everything you said right down to microwavable penguins but no jet washing..... can't be done. lol.

I handwash it thoroughly at least once a fortnight preferably a week in the summer but in between I take it down Tescos normally as they have the best one at the moment and hose it down. The cleaner I get it and the better I polish n wax it the less jet washing it takes, more like a rinse but to give it up, rather stop smoking haha.

Again, if you use it regularly then it won't be an issue so get it clean and on the road every day and there won't be a problem lol

[Druid Boy]

If you can leave a window on each side down by just 5mm it can make a big difference. My transit suffers from long periods parked up (neglected) and I leave the windows open about 10mm permanantly. Also if you are working outside or its a nice clear breezy day just open the windows and boot up - even just for 10 minutes and allow the thing to breath. Worth putting a reminder in your phone to go and close it up again though......not that I have ever forgotten..........ummmm....

Merry Christmas!