So I returned home from a 9 month deployment yesterday. I went to pull my Z out of storage and nearly every inch of the interior is covered with mold. The car was stored in a secure garage, was detailed before it went in, and there was no issue with flooding. I have no idea what caused this. My question is has anyone seen anything like this before? I have been in the auto industry for years before my military time and am still heavily involved in it even still and have never seen this happen to a non flooded car.

I have little to no experience with interior restoration and although I think it is something that my insurance will cover, I was wondering if anyone has a rough idea of how much replacing or restoring the whole interior would cost. The car has cloth seats so i'm sure those, the carpet and headline would have to be replaced at the least but i don't see a lot of the rest of the interior being easily restored with out almost full replacement. I will take and post pics when i go back to the garage tomorrow.

 

Had to of been flooded or something

 

First, thank you for your service.

I've got 3 Alfa Romeo Spiders, parked outside and covered, living here in S. Florida. They get moldy, too. Check out this site:

http://www.moldforce.com/

Always wear gloves and a mask, as you don't want mobilized spores in your lungs.

 

dude i would want that car totaled. Mold is bad for your health and yeah there's mold where you can see it but are you going to replace every panel and trim because i'm sure it's inside everywhere even when you can't see it. If it's visible, it's bad.
Also if it's BLACK instead of the greenish bread mold, that **** is deadly, stay away from it. I'd just total the car.
Were the windows open or something? Maybe long term condensation? If I leave my car outside for 1 hour during sunset it will be soaked on the outside.

 

Yeah, mold is bad. I would wear heavy duty gloves and a mask and some clothing that you can throw away while cleaning that car. I wonder if a mouse or something was stuck in your car and created that mold. The seats should be fairly easy to take out and give you more room to clean. Panels are easy, too. Once you get that car and the parts out in the open sun and start cleaning, it may be salvageable.

 

I have already contacted my insurance and they are going to have someone come look at it next week. I agree with wanting it totaled. If that is an option i will take it.

The Mold is several different colors, ranging from white to green with different shades in between. No black that i see though. If all they want to do is replace or clean it i will likley get rid of the car (sucks because i just bough almost 5 grand in parts while on deployment )

I'm wondering if it was a flood car before i bought it and just the constant use and driving with windows down kept the mold from accumulating and it had a chance to over run the car while in storage. I am in Norfolk Va, and it gets really humid in the summers, but the car was stored in a dry garage with the windows up, and it's a coupe so no soft top issues.

 

I store my car for up to 6 months here. It gets hot and humid, too. My Z stays in the garage when not in use, and I don't ever have issues with that. I keep the interior pretty clean and use leather condition on the seats. Maybe that helps, I don't know. I think your car had issues before you bought it.

 

Unless the space where the car was stored was dehumidified, I'm not surprised there's mold in it. I did some tests one time with some large empty missile containers stored in a warehouse that wasn't climate-controlled. The containers were closed except for some two-way pressure-relief vents, and they were dry inside when the test started. I had instruments inside the containers and in the warehouse to record the temperature, pressure, and relative humidity. After several weeks, the relative humidity inside the containers was in the 90+% range, and some water had collected in them.

A car with the windows up would work much the same way. The heating and cooling causes pressure fluctuations in the car, and air moves in and out. Unfortunately, the air comes in when the relative humidity outside is at its highest, and the moisture just keeps accumulating inside.

 

how close to you storing the car was the detail job done? if the carpet was cleaned any water or moisture will soak thru into the sound deadener, padding underneath. the carpet can feel dry to the touch, but the pad underneath still wet. if it was stored soon after, that moisture wicking back out thru the pad could cause the mold.

 

Thank you for your service, and damn thats brutal. Id mask and heavily change interior, might need to sand down parts of the interior so you dont have the bacteria stick to the new interior heavily sterilize.

 

The car was detailed the same day, but the carpet was just not shampooed. I didn't do that for just that reason of the moisture. Just vacuumed and properly cleaned. I guess that's not a full detail in the sense i guess i should have just said thoroughly cleaned.

 

When I was in H.S. a water main that was behind the wall in my closet leaked and mold spread underneath my carpet. I was sick for 3 months before they figured out what was causing it.

 

Damn that sucks OP. I'm dying to see what your interior looks like.

 

Im up here stationed at Fort Drum Ny and when it gets super cold ( -30 to 5 degrees ) ive seen it happen to a few cars but never anything as extreme as your case... I highly doubt if it was in a dry place all deployment that it happened so id look into it a lil more. I mean did u leave the keys with anybody or have it where anyone else had access to it? Or maybe something spilled when it was being detailed? I only say this because our cars are left and driven in the rain for years without any signs of mold so why and how would it happen now?

 

In for pics!

 

I really wanna see the pics lol

 

I stored my 300ZX in the garage that was not temperature controlled and deployed for 9 months also; live in Hampton Va. No issues with mold at all. Im willing to bet there was either some form of moisture or food particles under a seat or somewhere in the car. Tough break, hope it all works out for you.

 

 

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If it was detailed before you put in the storage, then its moisture from the carpets and headliner, it was prolly still wet, and if you left an air gap on one of your windows, that should kept it from growing molds and keeping it ventilated. Sorry to hear that bro. It's best to have your car detalied after you get back from deployment.