Cleaning a mouldy interior?

[MiniDan]

Hi guys,

Because the Jetta has been off the road since it failed it's MOT, it's been a little neglected I went out to start it up and give it a wash and the whole interior is covered in mould

Water has been getting in and has left a pretty large puddle in the drivers footwell. All the seats, seatbelts, doorcards and steering wheel are covered in the stuf.

What's the best way of cleaning it all?

[bortaf]

warm soapy water, try not to do it dry all the spores fly about, personly I allways carry a few packs of cheap baby wipes (37p ish) that clears it away. even on seat belts.

[Mystery Machine]

^^ BABY WIPES ^^

I'm in 100% agreement with Bortaf here....they are gods gift to petrolheads. I don't have any kids but keep a pack in every car. Brilliant for cleaning hands when you've been working on a car, wiping spilt coke from a seat when you open it while driving and it sprays everywhere, general cleaning of the interior (everything from dash to steering wheel to door cards to carpets too!)

Also good for removing mould as I found out when I had to remove some from a car I bought a while ago. Seriously, they clean anything really well. I always buy the Tesco wipes with the closeable lid (usually 4 packs for £3) so they don't dry out over time. Worth every penny and I cannot live without them now.

[PandaSelecta]

Another one to look for in Tescos, is the anti-bacterial wipes, which are perfect for mould.

[welshpug]

get it wet vacced then strip it all out to dry, and sort the leaks

[thetattoostudio]

Not mould (though i did have a jetta that did exactly the same as yours), but i bought a granny coupe, and the interior was black with mould, ingrained dirt, sun fadeing, and general nastyness. And it was that hideous beige. Anywho, i bought me some wheelybin liners, went to the local filling station, and paid me the £3 for a hot wash rinse jet wash cycle. I must have looked like a right loon, but it came up like new, i just put an electric oil heater in the car overnight with the windows cracked a smidge, was dry as a bone in the mid morning. was really dry though, so i got the attachment on my kartcher, filled that with some comfort, blasted it again, and this time when it dried it was like a fluffy towel

[welshpug]

that made me LOL!!

Genius

[thetattoostudio]

Wouldn't want to think what it would do to summit with modernish electrics, but certainly work that time, diddnt even have to bother with the wheeliebin liners on the way home either, as i got soaked in the process

[Rob M]

I swear by 1001 upholstery/carpet cleaner. I had the same problem with my Scimitar a couple of years ago and it cleaned the seats up brilliantly ( Scimitar seat material isnt the most robust) and everything else that had mould on it. It also removed some engine oil marks here and there without major league rubbing.
Personally, if you can, irrespective of whether you can solve the leak issues, id leave a couple of windows open just a couple of millimetres, so it cant be seen that they are open but are just enough to allow some circulation.
Thats what has caused the mould more than anything, the car has been sealed without good ventillation.

[thetattoostudio]

There is a common fault with the mk2 jetta/golf why they leak, I'm sure its where the bulk head where the clutch cable goes through is made of steel as thjn as a coke can, mine leaked because i converted it from lhd and missed some grommets, but if i remember right its a super easy fix

[jonnynitro]

id say baby wipes as well
if it can removed baked on baby poo on a babys bum
it/they can remove anything

[DavidB]

Get some Strike 50/50, I'm sure it's re-branded but it took dirt out of everything. Even little nooks and creases in plastic was cleaned immaculately. It stinks and is really strong (you need a mask!), but it really works.

[bortaf]

On really dirty seats and carpet i use truck wash in a mist sprayer, nail brush to get it right in there then vax it off, carpets i jetwash with the same stuff.

[MiniDan]

I forgot to say... Cheers for the comments guys.

I haven't had a chance to sort it out yet, but will do very soon. My little lad has successfully being using the toilet for the past 4 months now, so the 2x full packets of baby wipes we have have found a new home in the garage

[Jizmondo Scrotmondo]

Can't remember what car it was (sure it was a Renault 5) I just stripped the interior out, jetwashed the carpet, stripped the seats down, warm, soapy water, scrubbed all the seat covers then jetwashed them off. This was all done in the summer though so it all dried out nicely by itself.