Philly#1 Lex

iTrader: (2)

My wife left her windows down on her 01 RX300 a couple of weeks ago and her interior got wet. I ran out and used a towel to dry it down. Tried to air it out for a week and didnt help. We left the RX here in Italy and came back to the states for two weeks. Came back and now the car still stinks even worse and smells like mildew/mold. How can I get this smell out.

Philly

Guitarman

Well, you may have to resort to removing the seats and taking out the carpet to fully dry it out. You can try option #1 and cheat by using a powerful wet vac to remove any remaining moisture underneath, then use a fan on it or hair dryer , and finish off with a microbial growth killer such as Nature's Miracle or Kids And Pet's Brand Odor Eliminator ( pet stores carry both )but it will depend on how wet it got on whether you'll solve it that way. Chances are you won't be able to kill it all since that likely won't get to it all. Then it's time for option #2....

Removing the seats and carpet. It's not difficult, just time consuming. You should allow them to dry fully and spray some Lysol ( or one of the 2 products I mentioned above) on the backside of them, as well as the carpet fibers, before you reinstall it. Also make sure the floor padding hasn't absorbed moisture, and dry that out and Lysol it as well if it did.

Sorry, it's never easy per se', but you can get rid of it if you can get it all dry and treat the mildew. Good luck.