Interior car mould

[AlexanderB]

Hi all, I bought an MR2 Mk2 recently. I came back from holiday after 1 month, and found the inside of the car floors flooded with water (literal puddles). This is because there is a small leak in the T top sills and it rained a lot!

I cleared this out using towels and covered the car with an expensive, stormproof + rainproof car cover. I had to travel away again for 2 months. I've just returned and the interior is covered in mould. Everything - the seats, steering wheel, dashbooard, seatbelts etc. An enormous amount. It was worse on the drivers side.

Just wondering if there's any obvious cause for this? Is there a feature or something in MR2s that causes prevalence of this?

Or is it a fault in the way I'm storing the cars? Sorry if this sounds like I'm being stupid. I would just be incredibly grateful for any advice? Thank you very much

[_Al_]

Lots of cars do this, once damp gets in. Our Yaris was written off by it. Once it’s been wet inside for a while you have to remove and wash everything. Carpets, seats, mats, belts. The works. It’s a big job but normally works in the end.

[jimi]

As above, unless you removed the carpets etc and made sure everything was 100% dry before replacing then you created the perfect conditions for mould to flourish i.e. damp and no airflow, having the cover on would make it worse as it further restricts airflow in the interior of the car.

[Wilkie Senior]

Due to the potential halth hazzard, seats out carpets, dont forget to treat the headlining, door cards, trust me, its more than a wipe down, all doable just do a methodical job :-)

I had a cat get into a car i was building, dear good I was sick when I got anywhere near it, that was a complete strip out of the interior, but was all done. :-) ...I hate cats !!!!! :-)