“Hi, I’m new to the forum and I’ve already introduced myself in the appropriate section.”
I'm writing to get a suggestion from you...
I'm currently using one my late dad's Jaguar XJ8s...
“My father owned two XJ8s: the first one he bought new in 2003, and the second one he purchased three years ago because his original black XJ8 had reached 200,000 km and he no longer felt comfortable taking it on long trips. So he asked the Jaguar dealer in Monza to find him another one with low mileage.The dealership found him a wonderful grey one with only 50,000 km on the clock, this one had the 3.5 V8.
My dad passed away in June 2024 after a short illness, when I went to start the cars a few weeks later, I found his black one full of mold. We had inadvertently left the sunroof open, and all the seats were covered in mold.I immediately took it for a steam cleaning, but the person who did it didn’t do a very good job. I personally cleaned the seats again using a Furniture Clinic mold remover and steam. I removed the seats, cleaned everything thoroughly, and then took the car to a detailer who disassembled the interior and cleaned it completely — but the smell is still there. I have also used an ozone generator but the smell lingers. The aircon has been flushed with a cleaning foam for ducts but I can still smell mold... These day the weather is really cold and the smell is somewhat weaker but I fear hot weather would bring back the strong odor...
In the meanwhile the low mileage grey one has been sold (i could not afford to keep both, I have a 1965 Mercedes 220SEb Coupè W111 in need of a new interior and my 1992 Rover Mini Cooper awaiting a new tank and some metalwork)...
I know I should have kept the grey one and get rid of the black one but my mother had fond memories on the latter and I could not gave her another sad setback...
Sorry for the long message, and thank you in advance for any advice you can offer.
Have a nice day,
Marco

 

Hi, Marco! Welcome to the forum! You will find this forum very useful and helpful!
Please accept condolences on loss of your father!
While interior of the car is not much I can help with, I wanted to complement the area you're living in. I used to travel to Bormio, It for skiing a long while back. And that creasy long lake along the road left impression. Nice race track to boot!
One question though; in your profile you state the car you have is 2003. as this was a model change year, do you have x350 or you have x308?

 

Hello Big Koshka!
thanks for your message.
I've been in Bormio many times, we used to rent a flat there when I was a kid! My sister currently lives there.
Lovely descent from Bormio 3000 to the village!
Mine is a 2004, I made a mistake in my previous post... It's indeed a x350.
Have a nice day,
Marco

Both of them

 

maybe the carpet wasnt taken out so there is mold and moisture still under there.

 

Just a thought on the carpet. If it was soaked badly it could have permeated into the jute backing? And will be almost impossible to kill the smell. I'd take the carpet out of the car and lay it out on the driveway. Then take a power washer to it. Then scrub it down with a cleaning solution that kills mold, then let it set for a while, and then pressure wash it again, until all the soap is gone. Might also do the back side? Not sure if pressure washer will damage the backing or not, Then let it dry in the sun several hours. after cleaning the floors you might sprinkle some charcoal flakes, chips etc. in the floor before you reinstall the carpet. If that doesn't cure the smell replace the carpet. Just some thoughts.

Jack

 

As a supplement you may want to place large desiccant packs in the front and back seats to continue to pull out any moisture and staleness in the air. Something like these from Amazon:



This helped in my '78 Cadillac deVille that would tend to fog up and also had a left over musty smell. It soaked up the smell and left it less moist feeling in the cabin. Also, if you haven't already as a preventative measure, check your sunroof drains to make sure they aren't clogged.

 

Thanks a lot for the suggestions...
Maybe I've not been clear, the car didn't suffer from a flood, it's been in a closed storage but it was underground and it was damp with the sunroof open so the mold formed...
I've read with much interest the post Invisible mold contamination that sounds just like my problem. I fear the smell comes from the heater / aircon system.
When the car is warm and the the heater is off a strange smell of "baking"dust comes from behind the dash, as if the heater is dirt... When the heater is in use I can smell the product used to clean the ducts mixed with a moldy smell...
It's a really upsetting situation because I'd like to keep my dad's car with the utmost care, he loved the car and he said to me that the thing he missed the most due to his illness was driving his car.
I'll keep cleaning everything and using the ozone machine with the heater on as suggested in the other post.
Thanks again,
Marco

 

Ok, that clears up. U gave the impression that the car was with sunroof open in the rain
In the past I used aircond cleaner on several cars with success, Its a type of gas, you leave the car running, having the climate control on recirculation, then open the spray can, close all doors and windows and leave it running for 30min
This is used for removing bacteria in the system, might work good for mold/fungus as well

 

There is also a product available at least in the US called "Damp Rid" which I have used quite successfully when I spilled a bucket of water in a back footwell. After extracting all the water I could with towels (I don't have a shop vacuum) I hung these in the car and let the car warm in the sun over several days. I may have also put a small space heater on low in the car. Can't recall. I was amazed at how much more water was pulled out of the humid air in the closed car. Good luck eliminating the mold.

 

Ciao Marco,

benvenuto nel forum! Mi dispiace sentire della perdita di tuao padre, le mie sentite condoglianze.

È veramente un caso che tuo padre abbia acquistato CL701DC.

And now I switch back to English in order not to go against forum rules... I speak Italian because I grew up in Genoa, and I still travel to Italy a few times each year to visit my parents and friends.

Why I am asking about CL701DC? My Super V8 was first registered to Jaguar in Rome and carried the licence plate CL700DC while it ran in Italy. Here's a picture from the ad when I bought it in 2018:



CL701DC definitely was built in 2003, but it belonged to model year/MY 2004.

Regarding the mould problem, I second what was said in the previous posts, and I also would suggest the following: take out the pollen filter and use blowthe ozone into the system also from where the pollen filter sits.

Good luck!

Best regards,

Thomas

 

Ozone generator should do the trick

 

Explore the area adjacent to the cabin filter as this can retain a lot of debris that could be the “mold smell” source.

 

If left in damp underground storage you might have a mouse problem under the hood which would add to the aroma. Peppermint oil sprayed under the hood will help prevent them from returning after (if you do have them) you chase them out.

 

Hello Thomas,
thanks a lot for the nice words.
My dad's CL701DC was first registered to Jaguar Italy in Rome too! I think they were fond of quartz Grey cars!
Regarding the mold smell, I'd like to remove the wooden part of the dashboard to gain better access to the ducts and clean them thoroughly with A/C cleaning foam / disinfectant. The smell is unbearable, not when driving but when I get out of the car and I smell like a damp cellar...
Have a great day everybody!
Ciao, Marco