Help with Mildew Smell

[gordondjm]

I recently purchased a pre-owned M35x. When I test drove the vehicle it had a very faint, barely discernable smell. Nothing more than if a car had been closed up/not driven for a long period of time and the air had gotten a little stale. Apparently, the dealership had been seriously airing it out before I arrived for my scheduled test drive because now that I own the car, if it sits for a small amount of time with the windows up it has a STRONG mildew smell. The dealership, of course, has given me every excuse for this from "it's just the smell of the cleansers used by the detailer" to " we found a wet sponge in the car" when I returned it to them for a five day long investigation into the smell. Initially, I asked for my money back but was actually threatened by the owner of the dealership to be taken to court for breaking the agreement.

The car fax is clean (which I know doesn't mean much) and the car is immaculate inside and out. It is still under warranty but the nearest Infiniti dealership is about an hour and a half away. I have brought it to a detailer, just for a cursory inspection to identify the problem and he feels that the smell is stongest underneath the driver's side seat. I have an appointment with him to pull up the carpet and address the mildew issue and smell (if found) but I'd like to stop this problem at the source.

Any ideas of what could have caused the problem and how to fix it? Appreciate any advice I can get. Thanks.

[ArbitrageMan]

I have a couple of theories.

1. Someone spilled a lot of water on the seat/floor and didn't clean it up.2. Your air conditioner drain was plugged, and water leaked from beneath the dash and onto the floor. (I don't even know if that's possible in this car, but years ago I had an accord which started doing this).3. Your car was born in Louisiana. And while enjoying the fine cuisine, it drowned in Katrina.4. Your cabin air filter, and seat a/c filters need changing.

[keithwand]

I occasionally had the same thing happen in my 08M .It smelled like a sour sponge. I had been using the A/C and when it got nicer out I turned of the A/C completely.The next day the smell.I now leave the vent blower on low all the time and no more smell.Closing the duct all the ways traps in moisture and creates the smell.This is not just the M.My wife drives a 05 Thunderbird (2,000 miles in 4 years) and she now knows that when she gets close to home to turn the A/C over to vent only and let it blow. Cured it in her car too. I actually found the cure on a Thunderbird forum.

[svard75]

Ah Someone else with the same issue. I too had the same problem when I first bought it. Here's what I did:

1. Remove the inside Air Filter located in the glove box. Instructions are here in this forum I think in the tech pages link.

2. Buy either the febreeze aerosol cans or if you can find a car deodorizer but it must be aerosol based and you have to have the ability to spray sideways. (I tried this stuff that must be held upright and has a lock tab but our air system is quite low and is actually lower than the blower itself so it wasn't pulling in the stream effectively enough.)

3. Get some zip ties that are large enough to hold the spray handle down until it's drained.

4. Start the car and put the recirculation mode on. Sit in the passengers seat, roll up all your windows and start the spray using the zip tie with the mist pointed directly down towards the front of the car slightly to the left directed at the inside of the compartment where the air filter was. You can see the blower turning in that area. You may have to fasten it there somehow but the mist should be entering the dark opening as that is the box containing the condenser/heater cores. (The white plastic opening is the external vent from the outside just below the windshield area. I wasted two cans of stuff thinking that was the right inlet lol.)

5. Turn the fan to maximum and close the doors. Let the aerosol can drain completely. It may work better if you find an actual deodorizer with Mold killing chemicals because what you are smelling is mold buildup of years of condensation sitting in there not getting out properly and/or improper usage of the Automatic Air Conditioning System. For example on a really hot day maybe 10 minutes before turning the car off switch off the AC and let it dry out in there (Realistically speaking of course if it's a 5 minute drive there's no point).

I honesty had a smell like a womans dirty V and had to repeat this process 3 times before it was completely gone.

There are other paid procedures that can be done with a special misting system. A Chevrolet dealership close to my home has a really cool aparatus kind of like a Hot humidifier but industrial and they remove the internal air filter and let the steam with some mixed in chemicals do it's thing. The car smells phenominal when you pick it up and you can be sure all the little moldies will be gone. It cost me around [Edit] $89CAD for this process but I did it on another car not this one so there are options.

One other thing to note is if you're using the febreeze stuff it leaves a wet residue everywhere so you'll have to wipe the blower down with a rag. Some ppl will shun that because it's basically getting water into the blower area but I haven't had any issues with it yet (Fingers Crossed).

Good luck whatever you do.

Cheers!

BTW - That service that the dealership did is called MiST Service http://www.terraclean.net/mist.html
Modified by msvara at 9:50 AM 12/2/2009

[keithwand]

Funny, thats how I described the smell to my wife. Not hers but before I got married!

[qship96]

If it is coming from the a/c system{common due to the dark wet environment the evaporator case presents} do not "mask" the odor with deodorants or other smell good sprays- you must KILL the mold by using a foaming type cleaner/disinfectant made specifically for this purpose- the foam is injected into evaporator which then expands and completely fills the entire evaporator case cleaning and killing the living organisms{mold/mildew} BG "frigi-clean" is one such product, einszett "klima-kleer" is another.....all toyota dealers also sell a kit for less than $30 in their parts department that you can purchase and do yourself.

[dvan]

I occasionally smell a slight musty odor for the first few seconds of A/C use. Dealership said it was my cabin air filter, apparently it is still the original filter...yeah i need to change it lol

[svard75]

If it is coming from the a/c system{common due to the dark wet environment the evaporator case presents} do not "mask" the odor with deodorants or other smell good sprays- you must KILL the mold by using a foaming type cleaner/disinfectant made specifically for this purpose- the foam is injected into evaporator which then expands and completely fills the entire evaporator case cleaning and killing the living organisms{mold/mildew} BG "frigi-clean" is one such product, einszett "klima-kleer" is another.....all toyota dealers also sell a kit for less than $30 in their parts department that you can purchase and do yourself.

That is an interesting process and I've seen a YouTube video of someone doing it, however, part of the process requires you drill a small hole into the evap core housing which freaks me out. I would rather pay $90 and do the MiST service. The steam contains chemicals that kill mold and bacteria too so same end result but less obtrusive. The other issue with the foam procedure is when you turn your fan on the foam starts coming out of the vents and you have to keep wiping it away. I wouldn't prefer it but that's my preference.

Cheers.

[svard75]

Funny, thats how I described the smell to my wife. Not hers but before I got married!

That'll get you in the dog house lol!

[323k137]

I agree with qship96, you need to kill the mold rather than mask the odor. You might want to give this a try...

http://www.infinitipartsusa.co...37626

Good luck!

[1scott]

I agree, stop the smell at the source. This I have seen on two cars in the family, a 07 Camry and a 03 E320, both have A/C filter systems. In the 07 Camry we took out the filter (lease car) and drive with no filter and no smell. On the benz the dealer changed the evaporator core under warranty and cured the problem.

Here in Florida we use the A/C in the house almost year round and to remove the mold smell and clean out the drain, we use white vineger on the evaporator and drain, this works very well in the house A/C. You would not have to worry about it damaging the interior as it is pretty mild and safe on most surfaces except wood. This is also basically whats in feminine hygiene products too, so the car should come out smelling like a fresh new. Ok, I keep the post PG13.

[svard75]

I agree with qship96, you need to kill the mold rather than mask the odor. You might want to give this a try...

http://www.infinitipartsusa.co...37626

Good luck!

By all means kill it with a anti-fungal, anti-mold agent however I didn't like the idea of using a foam based agent as per my previous post. The Frigi-Fresh is just an aerosol spray.

I'm going to stick with the MiST service, however will do it after the winter months so it's fresh for spring.

CHEERS.

[qship96]

Frigi- FRESH is the foam cleaner.......if one follows instructions the foam is injected into evaporator box, given time to expand to fill box and kill all micro-organisms and break down oily greasy mess on face of evaporator, then the foam collapses into a liquid which drains out of box thru the evaporator drain tube{where the water drips from the a/c system onto ground}......foam never spits out of dash vents if directions are followed.......and if one purchases and uses the Einszett brand "klima-kleer" foam, it is injected easily via tiny vinyl tubing snaked to evaporator thru the dash vents....no need to access or drill into evaporator box at all. Works very well for me on an annual basis.

[svard75]

Frigi- FRESH is the foam cleaner.......if one follows instructions the foam is injected into evaporator box, given time to expand to fill box and kill all micro-organisms and break down oily greasy mess on face of evaporator, then the foam collapses into a liquid which drains out of box thru the evaporator drain tube{where the water drips from the a/c system onto ground}......foam never spits out of dash vents if directions are followed.......and if one purchases and uses the Einszett brand "klima-kleer" foam, it is injected easily via tiny vinyl tubing snaked to evaporator thru the dash vents....no need to access or drill into evaporator box at all. Works very well for me on an annual basis.

There ya go that's perfect. I'm going to search for that stuff locally. Thanks qship96!

[gordondjm]

Folks,

Thanks for the tips and replies. I found the source this weekend - moisture & mildew under the front passenger carpet.

I was pretty sure this was the source based on sniffing around, but it wasn't obvious. I managed to pull the passenger formed carpeting back and isolated. Here’s the steps I took to pull back the carpet:• Removed the floor mat• There are a couple of black plastic nuts that hold the formed carpet section in place, just below the back of the glove compartment. • Removed a panel on the right side of the footwell and found it was lightly covered with a black mildew - cleaned it up. The panel snaps into place with clips, just need to pull it off evenly and gently• Was able to pull the carpet back a bit further by slipping it out from under the door sill.• With these parts removed, I was able to pull back the formed carpet, exposing the floor to the mid-point. • Of note: the formed carpet is pretty much water proof – it has a sprayed rubber coating on the backside. This is good in that spilled water or water from wet shoes will not seep into the carpet backing; bad in that any water that does find its way under the carpet has no chance of drying out.• The forward area of the footwell has an underlayment/sound deadening material - this stuff can absorb and hold moisture.• The right side of the footwell, just inside of the door sill, has a long 2” piece of formed sponge that serves as a backer/spacer. This sponge fills in a long channel, that runs parallel to the door. This also happens to be the lowest area of the footwell where moisture would naturally run to/gather. • The sponge that I pulled out reeked. Infiniti wants $65 for the replacement; I may or may not put one back in. It appears to be there primarily to keep the carpet from sagging into the recess, however the carpet seems to have enough attachment points to avoid this. Additionally, it’s right in a corner, under the floor mat, in a location where your feet don’t rest. • I found that there was moisture in this area and also in the backing material in the forward footwell. The forward backing material doesn’t seem to be removable without doing some major disassembly.• Once I had things sprayed with Lysol and dried out, I reinstalled the carpet and floor mat.• There is still a residual mildew smell, but the hit you in the face smell is gone. I think the residual smell will dissipate within a week or so. I’m sure the smell penetrated the rest of the interior’s carpets and cloth trim.

My guess on the source of moisture: I think the A/C drain tube may have been dislocated, causing either drainage into the cabin, or rain to follow the underside of vehicle finding its way into the footwell.• The A/C drain tube is a rubber hose that runs, unprotected, under the passenger’s feet where it exits the chassis through a hole. The floor mat, formed carpet, and carpet backing lay on top of the tube, providing the only protection to the tube. • The tube has rubber grommet fits in the chassis hole. This protects the tube from chaffing, and also should prevent any water on the underside of the vehicle from finding its way back into the vehicle. Keep in mind that water on the underside of the car, being pushed by driving speed winds, can follow the contours of the vehicle and find its way to undesirable places.• I believe the drain tube grommet was pushed through the chassis hole by a passenger pressing their feet into the forward footwell. When I was removing the formed carpet, I found that it was missing one of the plastic retainer nuts – clearly someone had been there before me. I think they fixed the source of the water problem but never addressed the residual moisture.

Long winded, but hope this helps anyone else who may unfortunately run into this problem some day.

Thanks again, Gordo

[SunDevilsBaby]

"The A/C drain tube is a rubber hose that runs, unprotected, under the passenger’s feet where it exits the chassis through a hole."

Regarding where, exactly the tube exists the chassis...do you have a picture, or can explain where it is? I am trying to do the same treatment, but cannot find the exit hole/tube in the chassis or frame, when under the car. I see the same hose from inside the car under the passenger floor area...just can't track it down underneath the car.

[Boonies]

Great write up on the solution, thanks for sharing. Also good info on mold killers in other posts.

I had water infiltration problems on two Audi's primarily from plugged evaporator drain tubes. You may be able to mask some of the smell in the short term by placing a dryer sheet under the front floor mats. Also, now is the time to change your cabin air filter.