Question for southeast TJ owners regarding interior mildew

rokryder

rokryder

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Our 2002 SE was originally from Perry, Florida. Spent a few months near Georgia before winding up with us, south of Tallahassee. The only "top" is the OEM with the Clover safari bags making it more of a straight safari top. The Jeep is parked under our house on a concrete slab. We are on five acres of wooded land about eight miles from the Gulf. The interior continues to be covered in mildew. The best thing we have found so far has been vinegar and water...but it always comes back. The Jeep is usually under one of the Quadratec fleece-lined covers and the Jeep hasn't gotten wet...so I'm at a loss as to why the mildew keeps coming back.
If anyone has had the problem and come up with a solution, I'd love to hear what it is.

Many thanks, as always!

Kim
 
Aerosol Lysol and plenty of it. You have to kill the mold spores and Lysol has that ability but you have to stay with it to finally kill it off. I'd start a regimen of spraying liberal amounts of Lysol on everything susceptible to mold every couple days and don't stop for a couple weeks. Mold is not easy to kill so you have to stay on top of it with the Lysol. Don't wipe the Lysol like you would a cleaner, just soak the parts down that get moldy and leave it in place.
 
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To go with Jerry's lysol comment, probably a good idea to also spray it into the cowl intact to get anything growing in your heater core out. With the heater running liberally spray it into the intact. Did wonders to get rid of the funky smell when I start my AC up.
 
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rokryder said:
The Jeep is usually under one of the Quadratec fleece-lined covers
Click to expand...

Like Jerry said, you have to kill it, so do that.

As to the cover, well I’ve seen lots of classic cars killed by being under car covers. They like to trap moisture inside, which causes all sorts of issues like rusting from the inside out. I suggest you; 1) make sure you don't have any leaks (vent, a/c, heater core etc.), 2) let the jeep sit without the cover for at least a few days. You want the air moving. If you absolutely have to cover it, make sure there are openings that allow air flow to keep things dry.
 
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I haven't cleaned out the cowl vent...so I will give that a try. The heater has been non functional since I bought the Jeep, and while I have thought about tracing the problem(s) I haven't done that yet and not sure it will be needed here. The prior owner evidently disconnected the vacuum to the HVAC selector, so I suspect that they had experienced either leaking actuators or the control head was leaking. The heater hoses are still intact at the firewall and there is no sign of a coolant leak, so I'm assuming that the heater core is intact.

I will follow Jerry's suggestion to douse the interior with Lysol and hopefully kill the mold spores. My brother had a YJ over on the water on Anastasia Island parked in a garage...and he never had this issue. I can only assume that whatever was causing the mold was present when I bought the Jeep.

Thanks to all for the helpful hints!

Kim
 
JeepZilla380 said:
probably a good idea to also spray it into the cowl intact to get anything growing in your heater core out. With the heater running liberally spray it into the intact. Did wonders to get rid of the funky smell when I start my AC up.
Click to expand...
X2, turn the vent and fan on so it pulls air through the air intake under the cowl and then spray a copious amount of Lysol into the HVAC air intake. Immediately turn the fan off so it can "cook" inside the ducting. At least several times for this too.
 
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The mildew comes back because it's wet. Kill it with any chemical you want, spores are everywhere and it'll be back if you don't figure out how to keep the jeep dry.

Get a digital thermometer + hygrometer for less than $20. Put in in the jeep, close it up like you normally do, and I bet you have very high humidity on a daily basis. Check at different times of the day to see how it cycles. Once you get a baseline reading you can try various things and see how it improves.

ie, Leaving the cover off, windows open, small heat source (incandescent light bulb or dehumidifier rod), etc.
 
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LONGJP2 said:
Put it out in the sun.
Cover off, top off, and carpet out.
Spread carpet out in the sun also.
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That doesn't kill the mold spores, they just go inactive when the moisture dries up. Once moisture is reintroduced they'll go active again. You have to kill them with something like Lysol.
 
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Leave the top on and don't let the feral cats to piss in your Jeep. 🤫 It's 98% humidity here a lot and mildew isn't an issue inside, unless you have water.
 
Is it an open basement/tall crawlspace or is the house on stilts?

The reason that I mentioned that is if a lot of the water is migrating through the concrete you can put down a heavy piece of plastic and that will slow things down-

There are a number of products you can put in the vehicle to absorb moisture-

Ventilation is typically your real friend-

It is not easy with a car because you don’t want things to get inside it at the same time it needs to breathe.

Stay all over it or you will have a mess especially wants it sets up in the vent ducts-

Mold sensitivity is highly variable one person it will not bother another person may get the sniffles or a headache and it might kill someone else-

And there are certain strains that are pretty much dangerous for any one.
 
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Do what @Jerry Bransford said. I had same issue here in GA. You definitely got moisture coming in from somewhere so find it and fix it. I sprayed the heck out of mine every day and ran the air for 10-15 minutes each time with it all closed up. Good Luck.
 
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