Let me start off by saying that I am an idiot. About a week ago, I had left my Z outside overnight (usually it is kept in my garage). It rained pretty good overnight and I came out the next morning to the horror of finding out I left my passenger side window down. I did my best to try and towel down my leather seats and carpet. When it still felt damp the next day, I went over it with a hair dryer. It's been about a week and there is definitely a mildew-type smell lingering.

Any ideas on what to do to get this smell out? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

Ozonator and baking soda....
Goodluck!

 

Thanks Cessna. Any special technique work best? I don't have a lot of experience with detailing.

 

This is what I did for that skunk smell (btw its gone now)

Spray some ozinator into your air ducts....
Go to a detailing place, and get them to wet-vaccum your mats and carpets... (Make sure you dry them out properly when you get the car back home)
Spray some ozinator on the carpets once they are dry....
Take some newspaper lay it down on the floor... spread some baking soda on them (lots like 4 or 5 boxes of the stuff)
Let me know how it works out,
Lou

 

It will take a couple of weeks, maybe longer since the temperatures aren't as hot but keep doing the baking soda treatment. I had a car get flooded with about 2" of water several years ago. Took me all summer to get the funk out. I would dump a box of baking soda around the floor and ground it into the carpet. After a couple of days, I'd vacuum it up and repeat. You'll know when you've got it all out when water stops condensing on the inside of the windows.

 

You can cover the odor with a stronger odor (some sort of spray), but you cant get the mildew OUT. Its a fungus most likely under the carpet. When the humidity is 50 percent or less, mildew will remain dormant and not cause any trouble. If the humidity is 80 percent plus, the spores are active and will fill the car. There are two great methods to kill mildew: bleach and exposure to ultraviolet radiation (sun). Unfortunately you cant get either under the carpet. Potential solutions include:

1. Replace the carpet
2. Hope for a long dry spell
3. Wait for a day when the humidity is 30 percent or less. Put a big fan in the car. Open the windows. Run the fan all night.
4. Move to Tucson

 

Spray the product called "Ozium" in the car. For a week it will smell like ozium, then the smell will be gone forever.

 

Go to a janitorial place and tell them your problem. They will refer you to a product that can help you- something like, ozium, nuodor, proxy etc. Depending on the application use the product on your headliner as well. Many smells like mustiness migrate there.
As well it is a good idea to run your car for an hour or so a few times with the floormats out and floor heater blower/temp full hot to completely dry the car. Open the windows as much as possible for a few weeks afterwards . Most likely the smell will disappear after all this.

 

Thanks for all the thoughts guys. What about the leather seats? Will these products be safe for those as well. A lot of the drying and blow drying I did was to get the seats dry. I am afraid that the problem might be coming from there.

It has been cooler and less humid here recently, and I haven't noticed any smell so I think davidv is right on in his analysis.

 

Have you thought about shampooing the carpet with a carpet steamer, then leaving the windows down so it can dry out?

 

As for your leather seats.....
Is there anyway you can take them out of the Z, and in the sun for a few days????? If not do you have a small room where, you can put them in and pump the heat up? (Remember to get a dehumidifier!!!!)

 

They're mounted from the top with four 14 mm bolts - the wires for the heaters, motors, etc. unplug and the things pop right out.