Comments on: I just bought a car with a bad mildew smell because it was in a flood?

By: FleetTech

FleetTech — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 10:05:28 +0000

Too late to tell ya not to buy it.
So yes pull the interior, clean it clean the inside before putting interior back in.
Most likely the stench will not come out of the interior parts so you might as well just go to a salvage yeard and get replacements.
Seats, door panels, carpets, maybe even headliner depending onhow deep the water was.
You will also have stinky dirt in the heat/Ac box, in the heater core and ac evaporator core so even after replacing interior you may still have some stench.

By: whatliesbeneathgs

whatliesbeneathgs — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 10:05:28 +0000

Most cars that are involved in a flood have to be totaled, so maybe it got that way from a leak in the vehiclke, I would ask the previous owner if you still can!
I would suggest taking it to a PROFFESSIONAL cleaner and letting them clean the interior thoroughly. A lot of mildew smell and stains can be removed through this process.
I would check to see if there are any guarentees to the cleaners as well as price comparisions too.
Replacing all of the interior is not that exspensise and can cost less than a paint job(3,500) depending on where you go and the deal that you get,.
I work with this stuff everyday and have seen it first hand check into getting it proffessionaly cleaned before shelling out extra cash first.

*Get that taken care of too, because mildew cause health problems and other risks*

By: normy in garden city

normy in garden city — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 10:05:28 +0000

You will never get rid of the smell completely but if you can park it in a garage every night with the windows open it would help a lot.

By: P K S

P K S — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 10:05:28 +0000

Now for the good news. . . . if it was in a flood, it’s not going to run long enough to worry about the smell.