The ozone will not penetrate deep into the foam. I designed and built ozone generators for odor and water treatment so I have experience.

I suggested in post#7 that you obtain some liquid mold /mildew chemical. Saturate the foam and allow it to dry. You may need to rinse the foam to eliminate the odor of the chemical, but it will dissipate eventually.

 

Thank you for the input. We've thoroughly and repeatedly sprayed the seat foams and actually all interior parts with a product called Vital Oxide. It is a hospital surgery room disinfectant, suggested by one of the members here. You experience in building ozone machines helps me a lot in understanding exactly what can be achieved with it and what not. Taking that all visible mold contaminated parts were removed, do you think it can cure the problem? And what is the best way to do a session? from what i understood, if using a 3,5 g/hour machine i should keep it for one hour, engine on, heating at maximum on recirculation. And then after one hour, stopping the machine but still letting the ozone work for another 30
mins in which it transforms in oxygen? Is that correct? Should i also do one session with the AC on too? Thank you

 

Trilapis;
''If Debbie can do those shapes that i'd be happy to ask her for a quote.''

I just might do that today, Trilapis. I need to stop by Debbie's to inspect our two Captains' Chairs being re-upholstered in fake silver carbon fiber. Plus the chrome shop to pick up the 4 freshly re-chromed armrests. Then to Professor Jake at Johns' Auto Toggery,
[http://johnsautotoggery.com/gallery/2666604 ),who really does cut custom foams for 'seat, side bolsters and lumbar supports. Plus headrests in correct foam so your head doesn't bounce off of your headrests in an unlikely event. I'm just guessing he would need a Jaguar seat to start with, but I would be happy to try. Be kinda' fun, really.

'Cheer's Jip:

 

Thank you so much. Problem is the huge pond between us. Should find a local solution...

 

Reading the whole ordeal, I wish you the best.

One thing you might have overlooked: If you look on eBay for parts for the entire ventilation system (for visualization), you will find that there are actually 2 sets of air blowers feeding air into the main air box behind the center of the dash. Each of these blower mechanisms has it own re-circulation flap, too. In your other posts, you mentioned going after the mold on the passenger side, so I thought I would mention that there is a mirror image system on the driver side as well.

In addition, each of those blowers has its own fuse and its own motor control. You might want to pull each fuse in turn, just to be able to tell if any one of them is not operational (it is hard to tell if one or both of the blowers are working, really). In case a blower is constantly off, you might have another pocket of stationary moldy air in that duct work.

Last, if you do some research about the pollen filter, you will find out there is another hidden area of trouble under the cowl, right where the fresh air enters the ventilation system. The wipers have to be removed, and a bunch of trim pieces have to be pulled out. A number of folks have reported an accumulation of debris in that area over the years. Just a thought.

Details: retro-fitting-cabin-pollen-filter-57668/

Best of luck, keep us posted.

 

Thank you Fmertz. I always thought that there might be one part that the mechanics have missed. it sometimes feels like the smell comes from somewhere inside the engine. there was a filter though, i think it was called the plenum filter, that was heavily covered in mold, that got cleaned last year.

the two blowers you were mentioning were dismantled and the isolation walls, made out of a spongy materials, were affected and replaced with new materials. plus all the parts were thoroughly cleaned with isopropylic alcohol. I have the workshop manual of this car - pretty impressive, 3500 pages, i found it on this forum, i will check if maybe we missed this filter. if there are two so-called pollen filters, might be that we missed one...

i'll keep you posted.

 

Yesterday they did two 40 minutes sessions with high heat on, left the car another 30 after, to let the ozone work. the guys say there is no improvement. i'll take the car today and let you know. might also be that their generator is not powerful enough, i'll try it once more with a 7000 mg system.

i'm also waiting for a confirmation from the lab to have that biological test done. i think knowing what i'm dealing with in terms of contamination will help a lot in nailing this *******.

 

We are talking about just one filter, located in the plenum, that you have already changed.

 

I hate to ask, but is all this labor cost effective? I know by me, to do what you have done I could have bought another X100.

I know it's not always about money, however, there comes a point...

 

I also have to ask, if you pull the seats and do a treatment is there an improvement. I would think you need new seats.

Best.

 

I am lucky to have a team of amazing people that i can access at bargain prices (don't forget i am based in Eastern Europe). I have bought this car at an amazing price and really believe they are to become truly classics. I love it, mechanically it is astounding so i would not want to sell it. Not now.

Yes, i was thinking to buy another one, swap the interior and then sell the rest of the parts. But i am trying to find an easier solutions. Buying a new one means buying from another country as in Romania i think there are about 5 left in total. And everything will become too complicated.

 

Hello, Trilapis;

Ok, yesterday I did my rounds. Debbie was down at the dock making boat canvas, so I proceeded on to Johns' Auto Toggery to chat with Jake who I've known since he was 10 years old and now in his 40's. Jake was wedged under the dashboard of a '62 Corvette which was sitting next to an early '60's Lotus Elite? Elan? which was down to the bare steel interior. I say this to emphasize his clientele. I worked in the topic of Jaguar seat covers. Then the foam part. I pointed to the flat Corvette seats and Jake said he can buy new foam for old Corvettes. Recent Jaguars,etc. are another story. I asked about bolsters. Firm? Soft? Can he combine hard, soft and firm foam with firm, soft and hard foam. Yes, yes and yes. ''Anything can be done'', Jake say. Then I slipped in, do you need the seats? And of course he does. So, at least you and I know ''Anything can be done''. Foam is an Easy Do for a willing upholsterer. Although I'd love to jump in on this, the logistics are somewhat impractical. The members suggesting the Ozone treatment sounds about as good as it's going to get. I wish you luck, Trilapis. And do keep us posted.

'Cheers' Jip

 

So i can confirm that on Thursday there were 3 45 minutes ozone sessions performed. Another two one-hour long on Friday, with an extra half an hour keeping the ozone in to let it work. No effect. Might be that this machine is not powerful enough or the ozone element might be consumed. I'll try again with a new more powerful machine. And regarding the seat foams my upholsterer also confirm he can do them. I'll have to check the price. And see what i do about the big dash part, as it also stank.

 

Just to ask: Are you using the air re-circulation? If you are not, I would assume that fresh air will simply push the ozone out the back, and there will be no effect.

If you are pressing the recycle button, I believe it comes off automatically after a few minutes. You have to press AND HOLD for a couple of seconds, untill a double "beep" is heard. This forces the recycling to stay on.

With a small machine, I assume the only way to raise the concentration enough is to recycle. Just a thought, I have no direct experience with this. From a distance, it is hard to believe this long of a treatment just does nothing.

Best of luck, keep us posted.

 

Hmm. That might explain the lack of results of the ozone treatment. I mean i was pushing the recicirculation button but never imagined it would turn itself off. Will try with the more powerful unit and make sure the recirculation is set to stay. Never heard of this kind of feature in a car. Jaguar patent

 

Just a thought. Maybe you could approach a auto paint shop and have them place the car in the paint oven for awhile. It gets pretty hot but obviously not hot enough to cause any damage to the car. That might dry out and kill any mold hiding in the undercarriage and suspension. Good luck.

 

The idea is that you could be stuck behind a (diesel) truck and need to recirculate the air for a bit. Recirculating tends to keep the moisture in the car and increase condensation. So, it removes the re-circulation automatically for you after a while (I want to say about 10 minutes). My sense is that you actually had a 10 minutes ozone session 3 times, so nowhere near long enough, as per what was posted before. If it was me at this point, I would try and ozone the crap out of this cabin, on full re-circulation, maybe even with more than one generator, for at least an hour. Best of luck.

 

That's a cool idea. That is why i ordered this biological analysis of the interior air, to see what i'm dealing with and how it can be killed. I was thinking to find a giant freezer, as it seems that cold kills these mold spores. But i'll look into the oven option and also wait for the analysis.

Thank you again for the great input!

 

I would go with the heat, not the cold. In many cases, freezing stuff simply makes it dormant until the temperature rises again. Of the two options, I would also think that in Romania, in a winter, you could leave it outside!!

 

Actually winters in Romania are not that harsh as they used to be...i think there were like two nights in which the temperature was around -25 Celsius. The car was in a garage on summer tires so it wasn't exposed to the cold. i will try the ozone, then do the biological analysis and also explore the paint oven option.

Thank you