My 2000 Legacy GT had a huge collection of road sand collected on both sides just forward of the front doors inside the front fender. Remembering how this area rusted out on previous Subarus as it retained moisture and stayed wet in there, I hosed the area clean until water was again able to flow through the drainage hole. Afterwards, I noticed that there was water dripping from the weep holes further back along the rocker panels.

Now I have a persistent musty and moldy smell in the car and was wondering if there is any way to introduce a bleach solution into this area to get rid of the smell. Other than selling them to unsuspecting buyers, how do they deal with cars that have been submerged in floods etc to get rid of these smells?

Stick four brand new tyres in the boot. Gives a very good impression of "new car smell". Dealers do this.

 

 

You could flush a bucket of car soap and water into these areas, leave for a little while and flush with pure water.

Boot=trunk :-)

Maybe renting a small carpet cleaner and doing the floors and seats? Add a little mildew killer to the water before washing it.

 

 

Dunno if this will do it...but its worth a shot :-/

I can't remember who posted it but do a search for "water" or "water in doors." Someone gave step by step instructions for blasting water out of the the lower door area.

 

You might want to try what others have suggested and do a thorough cleaning and then use a mold/mildew cleaner from an autoparts store.

 

Sorry I couldn't help more.