Q&A about car mold or mildew odor diagnosis & cure procedure:

This article series explains how to get rid of mold, mildew, or musty odors in cars, trucks, campers, boats, and similar vehicles.

Car Odors - Mold: Boat, Camper, Car, or Truck Mold Contamination FAQs

These questions & answers about diagnosing & curing mold smells (or other odors) in vehicles were posted originally at CAR SMELL - MOLD DEODORIZING - be sure to review the procedures described there.

Question: My used car smells like mold, mildew, chemicals; the prior owner denies any problems. Can you help?

Hi, I love your site and can often spend hours on it gaining valuable honest and accurate information. I need your help as I am going crazy over a car I purchased for my son.

I flew to Iowa and spent every penny I had to buy him the car he always wanted. I drove it home 1000 miles to Mahopac NY. I had to stop many times for fresh air as my eyes were burning and I felt sick.

The previous owner denies any problems with the car and denies any cleaning treatments or ozone. Of course he does. This is a 2007 Chevy Monte Carlo with 3000 miles stored in a heated barn surrounded by 100's of acres of corn or soy fields.

The carpet has a moldy smell. The vents have a moldy smell. The seats have a chemical odor. I needed to throw away my clothing after unsuccessfully washing three times. The seat belts and seats have white mold stains when looking across the face of them.

The jute padding smelled of mildew. The butyl tape used to seal holes smells like death burned over?

I have stripped the car down to the steering column being the only remaining object in the car. I have covered almost every inch with dynamat to block out odors. I still get a sweet odor coming from the chassis opening for the seat belts. This is the same odor that contaminated the interior insulator attached to the front fire wall.

All of the hoses in the car interior or engine have a white powder substance inside them.

I found a 1" pattern of growth behind a headlight that I wiped off already. The best way to describe it was almost Braille like formation, as in reading for the blind. I don't know if this car suffered from aerial pesticide overspray, crop harvesting dust, ozone, chemical clean up?

I don't want my son to get sick from this car and the only way I will be able to sleep is if I get some of these things tested. Can you please help?

I notice you are in PK and I could easily drop off some of the suspect items for your testing. I realize there will be a cost for your service. Thanks - Jason

Reply: some suggestions for dealing with a just-purchased, very moldy-smelling car

I'm sorry to read about your aggravation with the car, Jason, and will offer what I can to assist. Given your strong conviction that there is a mold problem in the car I'm not sure that further testing is the place to start. If there is a mold smell in a car it is very difficult or even impossible to remove without

• identifying which components are contaminated, and removing them, cleaning the exposed surfaces, and r
• replacing them. Candidates include headliner, seating, carpets, carpet padding, soundproofing padding.

Speculating: If the car was previously exposed to flooding it may have been condemned and disposed-of, then sold improperly on the market.

Watch out: If so, fraud may have been involved in its sale to you. I recommend some checking up based on the vehicle VIN to review its history. If the car was flooded you may want to consider returning it to the seller for a full refund.

Another source of car odors can be trouble with the heating and A/C systems, and leaks into that system ductwork. That's not itself a mold issue.

If it's a mold contamination problem, the alternative, which could be costly, is to track down odors in the car to sources that you haven't found and replace those materials.

See SMELL PATCH TEST to FIND ODOR SOURCE.

Question: I just got an ozone shock treatment done to my car - a strong chemical residue smell remains; will it ever go away?

I was hoping you might be able to advise me here. I just got an ozone shock treatment done to my car. There is a strong chemical residue smell that has lingered now going on four days.

I’ve left my windows open all day for he past four days except during the night to no avail. I read on your website that the ozone treatment can create chemical odors if it is overdone. I believe that is what happened to me. Will the smell ever go away? Thanks. - M.R.

Reply:

A competent onsite inspection by an expert usually finds additional clues that help accurately diagnose a problem with when, how, where, and for how long your car was zapped with ozone.

That said, I'm sorry to say that we have received a number of car owner complaints about horrible odors that persist post-ozone treatment of cars and homes.

It appears that over-use or overexposure in level or time during an ozone treatment for "odors" or "mold" (fundamentally a flawed approach and one not recommended by authorities and experts), there may have been oxidation of plastics or other materials that can leave a persistent and unpleasant smell.

(Also see VINYL SIDING or WINDOW PLASTIC ODORS)

In some cases I've followed, after months of airing-out of the smelly car on sunny days with windows open, the smell level dropped to acceptable. In others, after months, owners resorted to stripping out all insulation, carpeting, headliners, seats, even dashboard components, to try to remove the offending odor and salvage the car

(SMELL PATCH TEST to FIND ODOR SOURCE can help pinpoint an odor source in a car such as the headliner, carpets, seating). Some abandoned the vehicle.

Before trying anything drastic I would

• try airing out the car on warm sunny days, with windows open
• try our "smell patch test" procedure to see if you can identify a single dominant odor source that could then be removed, such as carpeting (lucky) or seats or headliners (unlucky, more expensive).

Reader Question: are plastic odors from oxone overdose harmful?

My vehicle had a defective door seal and it allowed water to get inside the vehicle. The dealership fixed the seal and placed an ozonator inside the vehicle for 72 hours.

The vehicle now has a horrible smell and it's less that a year old. It has been to the dealership three additional times but they are unable to fix it. Is there any way that I can measure the oxidation level of the vehicle's interior to determine if it is harmful? - P.D. 2015, Jan 19

Reply:

The odor you smell following an ozone overdose-treatment of a car is typically the result of oxidation of various plastics in the vehicle, most certainly some more than others.

You could order an air test that uses a vacuum cylinder to capture gases from the vehicle and then characterize them but in my OPINION that is not cost justified: a reliable test properly conducted is likely to cost more than $1000. USD and still won't support an unequivocal answer to possible health hazards as exposure levels vary.

Also in my opinion it would make more sense to treat the odors as at least potentially harmful and to be avoided.

Certainly even a casual literature search readily finds studies citing potential health effects and complaints from exposure to at least certain if not a wide variety of those oxidized-plastic (such as PVC) odors and gases.

You might try a smell patch test to see if you can identify the worst odor source so that that material, e.g. carpeting, can be replaced. I've found that it can take a long time for such odors to dissipate, and in some cases they never completely dissipate until the odor-source material is replaced.

Research on toxicity of plastic odors & gases from oxidation

• Beall, James R., and Andrew G. Ulsamer. "Toxicity of volatile organic compounds present indoors." Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine 57, no. 10 (1981): 978.
• Dalton, Pamela, Beverly Cowart, Daniel Dilks, Michele Gould, Peter SJ Lees, Aleksandr Stefaniak, and Edward Emmett. "Olfactory function in workers exposed to styrene in the reinforced‐plastics industry." American journal of industrial medicine 44, no. 1 (2003): 1-11.
• DeMatteo, Robert, Margaret M. Keith, James T. Brophy, Anne Wordsworth, Andrew E. Watterson, Matthias Beck, Anne Rochon Ford et al. "Chemical exposures of women workers in the plastics industry with particular reference to breast cancer and reproductive hazards." NEW SOLUTIONS: A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy 22, no. 4 (2012): 427-448.
• Elomaa, Matti, and Erkki Saharinen. "Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soot produced by combustion of polystyrene, polypropylene, and wood." Journal of applied polymer science 42, no. 10 (1991): 2819-2824.
• Hilado, Carlos J. Flammability handbook for plastics. CRC Press, 1998.
• Hill, Sandra S., Brenda R. Shaw, and Alan HB Wu. "The clinical effects of plasticizers, antioxidants, and other contaminants in medical polyvinylchloride tubing during respiratory and non-respiratory exposure." Clinica chimica acta 304, no. 1 (2001): 1-8.
• Meikle, Jeffrey L. "Material doubts: the consequences of plastic." Environmental History (1997): 278-300.
• Reinke, R. E., and C. F. Reinhardti. "Fires, toxicty, and plastics." Modern Plastics (1973).
• Shusterman, Dennis. "Critical review: the health significance of environmental odor pollution." Archives of Environmental Health: An International Journal 47, no. 1 (1992): 76-87.
• Tsai, Chung-Jung, Mei-Lien Chen, Keng-Fu Chang, Fu-Kuei Chang, and I. Mao. "The pollution characteristics of odor, volatile organochlorinated compounds and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons emitted from plastic waste recycling plants." Chemosphere 74, no. 8 (2009): 1104-1110.
• Wypych, George. Handbook of Odors in Plastic Materials. William Andrew, 2013.

On 2019-04-20 by (mod) - killing the mold won't work

Anon

If you smell mold then there's usually a mold source present. Generally you'd follow the water: find what leaked and what got wet.

HEPA Vacuuming can not correct moldy upholstery though it will remove surface debris.

See the OZONE MOLD / ODOR TREATMENT WARNINGS given at the end of the article above.

Killing mold is not the object: you clean what can be cleaned and remove and replace what cannot.

On 2019-04-20 by Anonymous

I am pretty confident my husband's car has a mold issue. He used to drive it while wearing damp clothes after working out at the gym and would keep the car windows closed up after returning home.

In addition, one time he had one or two windows open a little bit during a rain shower. He's also not good about keeping his car clean.

I can't tell for sure if there's mold on the upholstery because the upholstery is very dark gray. But I've observed dark blotches on it for years and want to know how to determine if that is mold or something else. It seems logical it would be mold, because I don't know why else there would be blotchy dark areas. (We don't have kids or pets.)

If there is mold on the upholstery, would it make sense to have it HEPA vacuumed by a remediation company or would the seats need to be dumped entirely since the mold could have penetrated the surface?

Do you have suggestions to ask a remediation company if they wanted to use ozone to address the problem in order reduce the chances of them over doing it and having another intractable problem on our hands?

How would you suggest cleaning under the hood if there's a mold reservoir in that area of the vehicle?

Also, is there any way to clean the car to remove mold or is it more a matter of removal of affected components and/or sun-baking?

If the car is ultimately deemed unusable and unable to be adequately treated to remove mold, how does one get rid of such a car so as to make sure no one's health is negatively impacted?

On 2019-01-11 by Gaye - RV odor problem

I have a (for a lack of better words RV) It has a plastic ceiling, walls and snap and lock waterproof flooring with studded walls and ceilings and expandable foam insulation in the walls and ceilings.

The over head RV A/C use to leak and for a bit of time. Would mold smell like ammonia because that's the smell I have?

It did not smell during the summer but now that it is the winter I am getting that smell. I assumed that the plastic material and foam insulation and water proof flooring that it would just roll off and/or evaporate over time. So going back to my question would mold or mildew small like ammonia?

On 2016-07-21 by (mod) - get rid of wet carpeting etc in 24-48 hours

Gail,

If you can get all of the wet materials dry in 24 hours you should be fine.

Remove whatever can be taken out of teh car: the seat, any loose carpeting; then physically wipe and pat dry as much as you can. Finally, use one or more fans to blow onto the wet area until it is fully dry.

On 2016-07-21 by Gail templeman

My galon water jug tipped over and spilled all the out water on my carpet in the back seat area it was 100 degrees today will the carpet get moldy

On 2016-04-28 by Anonymous - furious over ineffective efforts to cure a bad musty odor in a Chevrolet Malibu

Frank: purchased a 2015 malibu last year and it developed a bad musty,mold, smell after about 9 months, and 15,000 miles.

I took it to the dealership, and the service guy asked me all the standard questions, did you leave your windows down in the rain/etc. After telling him no to all his ridiculous questions his mechanic took the car to the shop and I WAITED PATIENTLY FOR 3-4 HOURS i lost track.

They finally came back and said they did smell a musty odor, but after pulling the carpets back, and looking everywhere they could think of, they simply didn't find anything wet, or damp anywhere

. SO they sprayed some deodorizer in the car and said "IF IT GETS ANYWORSE JUST BRING IT BACK" but you can also buy some freebreese to cover up the smell. SO I went back home and noticed the next day that the smell was back. I GAVE it another week or so and then went back to service dept.

Now the friendly tone was over and the servic guy acted as if I had sleep with his wife.

HE asked what i needed and I TOLD HIM that the smell was back and it's much worse. HE suddenly asked if I HAD AN APPT. I reminded him that he told me to just bring it back if it didn't get any better, I DIDN'T THINK an appt. was necessary.

HE SAID we're covered up and you will have to leave it for a few days. I SAID OK THEN GIVE ME A LOANER CAR. He said we don't give out loaners anymore.

SO at this point my blood-pressure is through the roof, I SAID THIS CAR IS UNDER WARRANTY, so fix-it now. HE SAID that they would have to charge me for any and all work that they might have to do at $75.00 an an hour/plus whatever. Ilost it at that point, and he said that I NEEDED TO LEAVE.

SO the next day I called corporate in Detroit I guess and tried to explain my trouble to them. They assigned me a case number and after hearing the saga, they said they would contact the dealership and get back with me ASAP.

About a week and 5-7 phone tags later I FINALLY GOT TO TALK WITH THE GUY, and he said that the service man said that they could not smell anything the 2nd time, and basically made me out to be a liar. So me and corp. went round and round over this saga that I HAVE repeated many times, and the rep. said that unless I COULD SOMEHOW GET PROOF THAT there was an issue causing this, that i was basically SOL

. So I TOOK it to a friend who is an honest mechanic and he pulled the carpets back and found damp wet spot up under the carpet. He said that they obviously didn't do this or they would have founD it. I SAID NO love!! Now I REALY [expletives deleted - ed]

So here I am making a car payment on a car I CAN'T DRIVE BECAUSE THE SMELL IS SO BAD IT ACTUALLY BURNS YOUR EYES, MAKES YOU COUH/SNEEZE AND GETS ALL OVER YOUR CLOTHES!!!! I'M READY TO DRIVE THE DAMM THING STRAIGHT THRU THE DEALERSHIP!!!!

On 2016-04-18 by (mod) - Good news on deodorants.

Good news on deodorants. I look for places likely to be sources of leaks or spills: bad door gaskets, moonroof gaskets, sunroof gaskets, trunk gaskets,

I look for stains on carpets, water marks under carpets, and
remember to look for leaks in the heating and cooling system: antifreeze can leak into a car as can air conditioning condensate.

CHeck too the engine compartment.

Check too that someone hasn't run over and killed an animal now stuck under the car.

I have also found mouse pee and dead mice in engine compartments, air cleaners, ductwork.

These are just some examples. If you scroll up just a bit you'll see this article is part of a series of finding and removing odors in buildings. More suggestions are in the accompanying articles.

On 2016-04-17 by Katy

Hi. I haven't been using deodorants or air freshness. It smells everywhere in the car. I have looked everywhere and can't find a source.

On 2016-04-17 by (mod) - Add-on sprays or deodorants will never correct a smell that has a physical source

Katy:

Add-on sprays or deodorants will never correct a smell that has a physical source in the car, though they may cover it up for a time.

A stored car that has been damp could have a mold reservoir; or there could be a dead animal, or something that spilled, or who knows what.

For minor problems an odor can sometimes be baked out of a car by parking it in sunlight with windows open.

Don't over-do the ozone treatment or you will make matters worse.

Try some smell patch tests on the main car surfaces, combined with a careful visual inspection.

On 2016-04-16 by Katy

Hi. Please help. I have had my car for over a year now. I brought it from an old lady who hadn't drove it for nearly a year. It had been parked in the garage most of the time.

It had a musky smell when I got it but I figured this was just from sitting and the previous owner. It still has a musky loft smell now. I have had it valeted although I'm not sure if they used a odour control product.

I have also changed the air con filer although I don't think this is the problem. Ifor I leave a coat or even book in there for a day or so regardless of whether it's in the boot or anywhere on the seats it smells like a charity shop and damp. I can't see or feel any visible dampness. Please help I'm going crazy

...

Continue reading at OZONE MOLD / ODOR TREATMENT WARNINGS or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

Or see these

Recommended Articles

• BOAT & CAR SMELLS & ODORS
• BLEACHING MOLD, Advice
• CAR MOLD CONTAMINATION
• CAR SMELL - MOLD DEODORIZING
• CARPET MOLD / ODOR TESTS
• CARPET PADDING ASBESTOS, MOLD, ODORS
• FLOODED CAR DETECTION
• OZONE MOLD / ODOR TREATMENT WARNINGS
• SMELL PATCH TEST to FIND ODOR SOURCE
• CAR SMELL - MOLD DEODORIZING
• CAR SMELL & ODOR DIAGNOSIS
• CAR / TRUCK AC PRESSURE SWITCH
• CARPET AIR LEAK STAINS at WALLS
• CARPET CONTAMINATION TEST PROCEDURE
• CARPET MOLD / ODOR TESTS
• CARPETING & INDOOR AIR QUALITY
• MVOCs & MOLDY MUSTY ODORS
• ODOR DIAGNOSIS CHECKLIST, PROCEDURE
• OZONE MOLD / ODOR TREATMENT WARNINGS
• VINYL SIDING or WINDOW PLASTIC ODORS

Suggested citation for this web page

CAR SMELL - MOLD DEODORIZING FAQs at InspectApedia.com - online encyclopedia of building & environmental inspection, testing, diagnosis, repair, & problem prevention advice.

Or see this

INDEX to RELATED ARTICLES: ARTICLE INDEX to BUILDING ODOR DIAGNOSIS & CURE

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