Ford F150 - Mold smell removal

Hey all,

I just finshed fixing up my 97 f150, but the previous owner left it sitting for almost a year with the bad lower intake leak.

The inside smells like cars in a junk yard, and I can only assume it's mold.

It's a work truck, and so has vinyl seats and rubber floor mats. I'm going to try to strip it all out this weekend and scrub the heck out of everything.

Anything good other than Febreeze to get rid of the mold and smoke smells?

The febreez anitbacterial works but something besides febreez that works good is called ozone. I have used it a few times in places and it wors awesome. I think it is available everyware.

Mold/mildew needs moisture to survive. I think I would detail the vehicle imacuately. Shampoo seats,floor headliner, you know all the hinden places. Deoderize, let the windows stay down and park it in the boiling sun. Eventually the oders will go away. Don't forget the heater/ac duct. Spray deoderizer in the inlets and let the blower run often.

Oh yeah, I forgot about that stuff... I haven't had anything that funky to get rid of in a while

BG products make a spray called Frigi-fresh---it works wonders for the A/C vents and evaporator case. Usually a lot of mold grows in the air vents and ducts--usually from moisture from the A/C. That spray will work if done properly. Put your A/C on MAX and under the glovebox where the intake air is---spray a good amount in the intake and let it blow out of the vents. Then usually shut everything off and spray some down in each vent and let it sit and dry. Now--if you have a water leak inside the truck somewhere--make sure to check the sliding rear window--if you have one---then cleaning the cab out and the Febreeze might do the trick.

cjputer gave you good advise...

Mold needs moisture and air to live....Febreze will kill the smell but will not kill the mold....a good shampoo and cleaning of all surfaces with a javex based cleaner is good. Air vents, etc....with same javex mild mixture then run air through it....

Febreze after...

Dude,........CLOROX! Only one thing kills everything including your own sense of smell and thats Clorine Bleach. 1 part bleach 4 parts water. Scrub everything. Leave windows down and air dry (based on what you said regarding floors and seats,..if high humidity then go for a ride with the windows down. Underside of seats, nooks crannies, and headliner, spray bottle will help. Material will fade if bleach is used, dilute further 1 part to 8 if a worry! It also prevents molds and mildew. Bleach smell should go away in 2 days or so (EXCEPT ON YOUR HANDS),......then put a box of Arm 'n' Hammer baking soda under the seat if it can kill my refridgerator odors,..your truck should be fine!

Thanks for the ideas!

I'll find some of that stuff for the vents.

For the time being, I sprayed a bunch of lysol into the vents and ended up using some Tilex-type stuff and scrubbed the hell out of the floor.

My next step is to pull the seats out and pull up the floor to suck all of the dirt and junk up.

Water leak + sitting for 1 year + previous owner smoking = stinky ass truck

(I pulled some of the trim plastic off, and where the white paint was, it was tan from all of the nicotine )