To beg you for your help - musty smell

[ThatFlakyOliveEater]

AIBU to put this in AIBU?

Absolutely. But I’m desperate!

In winter my car leaked under the boot but it took ages to find the source. Fixed the cause of the leak BUT the damp had gotten into the upholstery. It’s been months and I can’t get it out. The musty smell is horrendous. If I’m in the car for even five minutes it clings to my clothes. DC and I stink. I’m so embarrassed, I’ve had to casually mention it to so many people, including pre-school in the worry they were going to think DC we’re being neglected.

Ive had FOUR valets but multiple different people.
I’ve used:
white vinegar
baking soda
Car bomb things
different types of air fresheners
Febreeze
wet vacuum
leaving the windows open at every opportunity

Nothing works. I’ve looked everywhere for a source and can’t find it. It’s like it’s just…everywhere. Everything has been cleaned including the ceiling, seats, carpet and all material bits.

It’s really stressing me out. Someone told me I smell like I smoke 40 a day with my kid in the car and I am so embarrassed.

The last professional to vale the car has got out sick, weeks old dogs wee, cigarette smoke, and he couldn’t get this smell out after two attempts.

Has anyone got any ideas? I looked at replacing the seats but Christ, I cannot afford it.

Please help me 😭

It will be different for each car so you’d have to feel around or look it up on YouTube.

While you're figuring it out (loads of good ideas above), why don't you buy some big tarpaulin things, and completely cover all the seats and carpets, and the inside of the boot? It may help a bit if you're not sitting directly on the seats, and not putting stuff down on the carpets and in the boot. I mean it may help you to avoid the smell getting onto you and your things.

Zoflora....not the spray one that's already diluted.

The very small undiluted bottle.
You'll probably need a few bottle's.

Use it neat on all carpets and seats.

You'll need to do this on a sunny day as you want the interior to dry within 24 hours.

It's very powerful stuff have a smell of each one and choose the smell you like the best.

I used to work for a holiday company. We used to use an Ozone machine for very bad smelling apartments (think BO, cigarettes, strong smelling foods, rotting vermin under floorboards).
Ozone machine in the offending apartment for 30 mins and the smell would be completely gone.

Perhaps worth asking at holiday complexes if you could borrow it on their premises?

Thoroughly spray the seats with rubbing alcohol. Use enough so that it gets right down into the upholstery where the mold is. Needless to say, do not turn on the engine until all the alcohol has evaporated, as the car could catch fire. Wear a mask and goggles while spraying and be sure all the doors are open for fresh air, otherwise you may get woozy from the fumes.
If that doesn't work, take it to a car detailer. They should be able to get the smell out.

What about a couple of those pouches you put in wardrobes that suck all the damp up? You could try those and when they're full, go round spraying the vodka or zoflora

Yes, I suspect it’s mould deep in the seats 😩

Ill wait till next weekend and try vodka and cat litter and one or two other bits and then leave the windows all the way down and pray!

I think your only hope now is to completely remove the seats. I’m trying to picture removing the back seat cushion in my car years ago. I think there was a tiny little fabric tab where the seat meets the upright section. I pulled on it in desperation and the seat cushion lifted out to reveal a metal recess under it.

I was travelling to my Dad’s with a pot of home made veg soup and managed to tip it over in the back seat. I completely soaked and washed the fabric several times and thought all was fine till about a week later when the horrendous smell started. When I managed to removed the upholstery there were chunks of veg and a puddle of soup in the metal recess under the seat 🤮

Here’s a YouTube demo on how to remove the seat to get underneath it. There might be a more specific one if you search YT with your car name

Thank you! I’ll get on this and see what’s going on in there! Fingers crossed it’s easy and not mouldy seats that need placing because they’re insanely expensive 😩

Good luck. It only came to me this afternoon I’d removed my back seat years without too much difficulty. A good clean and disinfection and the disgusting smell was gone.

You could still buy the vodka and have a couple to toast your success if you get to solve the problem 🥂

Ha ha, at this point it will be splash for the car, mouthful for me!

Amazing, fingers crossed this fixes it!

Thanks everyone who has made suggestions ! X

@ThatFlakyOliveEater you need to take it to a car detailer who has an ozone generator. Not a car valet, it has to be a detailer. They will know how to make sure the seats are dry and the ozone generator will kill any residual smells.

Ozone is a good shout, but should be used carefully.

Ozone basically breaks down any organic thing, so mould or fungal spores are literally destroyed.

However, it is seriously dangerous to breathe in Ozone so you want to ensure you can properly ventilate the car and any car seats etc after treatment.

Also, if there is dampness, it won't stop the smell eventually coming back. If you do use Ozone you might want to use dehumidifiers before and after treatment.

Sorry but I would sell it cheap or scrap it. You don’t want to be breathing in mould.

Okay thank you, I’ll look for it once I’ve got the back seats out!

Yeah, that's why I thought a detailer would be more suitable. They will know how to remove the damp and know how to handle the ozone safely. As you quite rightly say, ozone nasty.

This sort of thing is beyond the realm of the car park valet companies.

It’s way too good for that and I can’t afford to anyway.

I watch a lot of car detailing videos and in flood type cars they have to remove the seats altogether and sometimes even the carpet. It'll cost a lot but worth booking in and specifying you need seats removing.

In the short term,.try a company called Airvidox. They sell chlorine kits you leave overnight. Probably a short term fix but should give you a couple of weeks relief- about £20.

Yes, mine was stripped to its shell. It cost me £700 which was a horrible shock, but there was no way I could've done it on my own as I don't have a drive/garage and it was worth it to finally have a car that wasn't constantly fogged up.

I’ve checked the back seats - no damp and the foam is dry and clean! I check one of the front seats and foam seems grand too but I could only see a small bit. No visible mould.

Vodka it is! And in the mean time I’ll look for a detailer….

Fuck I could not afford that! 😩

A detailer won't be that much.