Sorry for all the Q's people, but I have found myself with time on my hands, well one and a pint in the other.

There is a very strong smell of mould from the car, that fusty smell.

At first I thought it was the seats and then the carpet, but now I think its coming from the heater vents, I will tell you why.

I have cleaned all the seats twice with soapy water and treated them, the door cards and the dash to a leather clean.

We went for a spin after it soaked in and at first when we got back into the house, our clothes smelled fine, now 30mins later, its back.

The thing is, the front of our clothes smell worse than the back, the only thing to be near them was vented air (it reached the dizzy heights of 14 degrees today in Glasgow)

Is there a cabin filter that can be replaced or something put into the air supply from the outside to kill the smell?

Smelling like an old house, Gee.

 

Detailers can really help you out on this. I spilled some BBQ grease from a pork shoulder. I did my best to get it out, but on hot summer days, I would still smell it.

Took it to a detailer, told him what I did and I never smelled it again.

 

Hiya, I am not quite sure its a cabin problem, I am now thinking its a vented air/heater problem.

Seemingly, water build up in the heater box, that goes stale, can cause it, usually from a leak.

There doesn't seem to be any leaks that I can see, the A/C is not working due to a burnt out compressor clutch.

The carpets don't smell rank, they smell of old carpet...hhhmmmnnnn!

 

There are over-the-counter products for deodorizing the AC/heat ducts. And professional services as well.

I've had good luck by simply trickling Listerine mouthwash into the air inlet and letting it blow thru the system.

The evaporator case might have some ugly gunk and water built-up. Have you drained it? If not, do so. And then add more disinfectant

Cheers
DD.

 

Hmmmnn, Listerine, good shout. I will have a look at the eternal air vent tomorrow, see if it is blocked.

My Clio Cup had a similar issue, blocking and overflowing into the cabin with water, once the pipes were cleared, air hose, its been fine...I do need a new carpet for it right enough.

I have had the wee car 19 years now...


2000 16v 172hp...serious fun.

Anyway, back to Jag stuff.

Gee.

 

I would pull out all the carpets and felt underlay and anything else on the floors. It is highly likely you have damp or even water there. Also the aircon has an open tray under it to catch condensate, and that tray drains under the car through two tubes each side of the gearbox. These tubes will be blocked and when so blocked the condensate spills out onto the tunnel carpet; they need to be unblocked by shoving a coat-hanger wire up them from beneath the car.

 

Out of all cars in this world, you've picked Garden Water Butt and now complaining about most popular smell of every cluster house in Scotland... It seems you are focused on the wrong root cause. You must take out all the carpents and inspect as suggested above. Remove rear side trims and check for water presence there. Have a read:
https://www.xjsbanger.co.uk/jaguar-x...-glass-removal
Remove rear "parcel shelf" and inspect, same with the lower section of rear sofa. The worst case scenario is windscreen rot (usually under chrome trims)

 

Check your aerial grommet. Mine leaked all of a sudden and the smell showed up in the cabin.

 

My case:
Leaky quarterlight windows -> door panels wet and some mold spots on them. (behind panels)
Windscreen sealing not in best condition, no rust, but sealant around rubber seal was like a powder
Rear screen leaks from corners, between rubber seal and body, rear parcel shelf damp -> leaked down under rear seat and bottom cushioning was very damp and smelly. You may found some rust from there... due to possible leak. I have done now time consuming repair due this small but annoying leaks.

Quarterlight windows removed, lower seal runner repaired by new runner (self made), new seals ordered.
Windscreen sealed around,still need sealant between glass and seal. Also air intake well cleaned and modified to avoid flooding. (silly construction, drains located well above lowest point)
Rear window frame corners cleaned from rust, repainted and screen installed with fresh sealant. This was big job, shelf was corroded thru on RH corner and welding job there requires fuel tank removal etc etc. All nasty old sound dampening material removed from parcel shelf and from rear seat pan area, there was some surface rust too because water stays there with seat cushion.

 

I f you leave it parked in the sun do the widows mist up?

 

No, the cabin is bone dry.
Rear window seal all replaced and fixed when car was sprayed. Same with quarter windows.
Only seals not replaced were outer door window seals, both side, but I bought new ones the other day (Another Q for later), but I changed the speakers the other day and internal door dry and no rust on both doors.
I am pretty sure its the heater or related to that, I cleaned the car seats 4 times yesterday and the car smelled lovely and fresh until we took it out and put the air vents on, when we got back inside our home, we could smell the dank smell from the front of our clothes, not the back that were against the seats.
I will take Doug's advice and use a germicide poured into the vents externally.
There is no aircon gas in the system either, the aircon radiator was re-cored and never re-filled.
Cheers.

Gee.

 

UPDATE!

I took advice from you and checked everything, all is dry and well inside the cabin.

I bought two litre of Listerine and poured 500ml into the exterior air vent along with some disinfectant that I had for cleaning grandchild skinned knee's.

Its still smells but certainly not as bad, know it will take time to penetrate the pipes and tubes and funnels but the car is going no where, I will have it for a long time.

Next up, the FPR valves.

Thank you all for the advice and comments, more Questions to follow.

Cheers.

(Gee) Graeme

 

Blow out your AC drain pipes and check the windshield wiper scuttle for mouse houses, debries, stagnant water etc. Every musty issue iv had on Jags was solved by shop-vac'ing the drain lines...no aircompressor on hand but whether you suck or blow (lol) itll clear the sludge out.

 

I've had surprisingly good results spraying Febreze on the headliner and carpets https://www.thoughtco.com/how-febrez...emistry-606149

 

The cab smells fine when cleaned and left without any smelly sprays, that is until the heater vents are switched on, seems to be worse from the centre air vents.

I drove home from work this morning without the centre vents on and I don't smell as bad.

I ordered up 5 litres of disinfectant from Amazon, £3.59, cheap as chips.

I will heat it up, so it steams, pour it into the external air vent and switch the heater and centre vents on full.

I believe eventually the disinfectant will kill the mould that is in the heater box and vent tubing as it is already getting better with just Listerine being put into it as suggested.

I will keep you all up-to-date with the smell progress.

Thank you for all your comments.

Gee.

 

Just seeing this post but you are on the right path.

I would even suggest as an added measure pull the wiper motor out and with the blowers on liberally squirt Lysol into the corners of the wiper box. The air intakes for the two motors are in those corners. The listerine is a good start but not as strong as lysol Switch back and forth between auto and manual climate to alternate between the outside air and cabin air intakes. The cabin air intakes are in the footwells above where your toes will be. You'll see the open and close cycling the climate controls.

As already noted make sure those Delanaire unit drain pipes are clean. Might have to get the car on a lift to access them as they are close in by the transmission.

 

I bought 5 litre of disinfectant and was planning on trying several ways with it, in a spray gun, heated up or just poured into the external vent.

I have access to a ramp, but I am getting a list together for "to do's" when I am under it.

Thank you.

Graeme.

 

An update.

Today I bought a cabin/house/boat/room purifier, a valeters thingy (sorry Detailers they like to be called).

It arrives next week, it kills everything seemingly, well 99.9%.

Everything in the cabin is dry, there are no blockages in the heating vent, the air con doesn't work anyway.

Is there a recirculated air setting?

Will switching the button to "auto" kick in the air con and do the same thing, although there is no gas in the system?

I need the machine to be able to smoke its stuff throughout the ventilation system and i am thinking the aircon "Auto" will do this?

Am I right or meringue?

Cheers.

Gee.

 

It is possible that the filter in the air con air intake is wet & going mouldy. It is common for leaves to get into the filter housing & block the drain hole. In some Jags, the build up of water can flow back into the cabin & flood the ECU causing catastrophic damage. The filter housing drain needs to be cleaned regularly. It is under the bonnet & up by the fire wall, with a lift up plastic cover. Hope this helps.

 

I had a look Craig, cant see anything like you described.

Gee.