Best way to clean mouldy interior?

[OwenK]

I've just been out to my poor, beloved MR2 to discover it's been been overrun by mould spots

It's been sat outside since about August since the little 2.0 went pop, awaiting a 3.0 V6 transplant. I had noticed the windows steaming up recently so today I bought a moisture trap and went to put it in only to discover our fungal friends have made a serious beachhead in reclaiming the materials back to nature. I remember now (with perfect hindsight) that the roof seals were a little leaky, and that has probably been dripping water in, which hasn't been relieved by taking it for a drive and airing it all up as it would once have been when the car was on the road.

The interior is a mixture of leather and rubber/plastic faux-leather over the dashboard and door cards. Even the flipping seatbelts are mouldy.

What's the best course of action to deal with it? I've cleaned a couple of spots of mould before but never anything on this scale (I've only ever let cars sit this long when they've been scrap). I was planning to let the moisture trap work for a few days and then have at it with some general upholstery cleaner, but this has been hard going when I've cleaned small scale mould spots before, and this is on a whole new level in comparison

Is some leather cleaner worth an investment? Is there anything specialist that will do the job?

[v8will]

I'd probably pop the interior out and try store it somewhere warm and dry. Some sort of wet vac to clean the carpets? The leather should wipe down and then use a general leather cleaner/feed.

[Marf]

Whilst you need to tackle the mould, you also need to tackle the means by which water is making it into the cabin.

Common leak points are the t-bar glass seals if you have a t-bar, and the rear quarter windows whose seals will fail over time, necessitating removal of the windows(remove interior trim and undo three bolts holding them in) and re-sealing them with butyl tape.

My MR2's quarter windows leaked, after re-sealing them I stripped the interior out and dried it out in the house next to a bar heater. Thankfully I had no mould to deal with.

Edited by Marf on Sunday 2nd December 15:15

[4key]

Throw a handful of booklice in there and they will eat all of the mold. You then have to find something to eat them though and eventually end up with a lion living in your car.

[Stu R]

Baking soda and elbow grease.

[OwenK]

I'm almost certain it's the driver's T-bar seal that's the sole leak. Problem is that new ones are £100 a side and I don't fancy a manky black silicon patch up.
When the car is repaired and used daily again it won't be a problem unless I can find a better cheap solution.
I don't think it'll be a problem as once I get the interior in a fit state again I can always get a cheapo car cover to stop water coming in the roof & after that it will be a daily driver so won't really get the chance to fill up with water.

I'll take a look at some leather cleaner if it's worthwhile. Perhaps a wet vac is worthwhile to rent for a day, our indoor carpets could do with a going over too