 You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Need a bit of advice.
Old colleague has had to put her car off the road for a while. I agreed to park it up off road at my house and have been starting it up and moving it back and forth every week or so to keep it from going flat and seizing up. Last few weeks that's usually been in the dark but today I got into it and there is mould on the seats and carpets.
What's best for getting rid of this. I ran it for a good while today with the air con on to dry it but will need to clean it as well. Any products best or is it best to get a mobile valet guy out to do it. Can anyone recommend one near Chester?
Can't help with your problem but the worst thing you can do to a car or bike in long term storage is to start it up every few weeks. All you do is circulate moisture laden oil around the engine, which then doesn't get hot enough to get rid of the water. You need a good half hour of road type driving to get the oil hot at this time of year. Leaving it to tick over wont do it.
Put the battery on trickle charge, take the handbrake off and leave the thing well alone. My bikes sit for nine months like this and my car for three months at a time, they all start up on the button.
It really needs storing under cover with the windows open. Can't you find somebody who's got a factory unit where you can rent a few square metres in a corner? It will be OK if you change the oil and put the battery on trickle charge. Arguably just running it up the road every now and again will do it more harm by leaving condensation inside the engine.
And yes, a mobile valet ought to be able to get the mould out as long as it hasn't caused a colour change to the seats.
wipe the seats with any anti bacterial kitchen cleaner, a clear one shouldnt stain, eg dettol anti bac cleaner, then run engine to dry them,leaving windows open slightly, dont put heater in recirculation mode.
Or seal it up, turn the air to recirculate to stop a draught, and run a dehumidifier in there for a couple of hours a day. Run it longer at first until the amount of water collected starts to reduce.
And make sure there are no blocked drain holes or dodgy seals letting moisture in, once dry, it should stay dry.
Plus 1for check for water ingress.
I have an old discovery in my back garden thats bethere for 3 years and never moved.
No mould in sight.
No reason for mould to grow unless its being kept in the dark and damp ( ie under a car cover)
Trail rat, there's no moisture in your disco because its run out of the holes in the floor:-)
Surprizingly the floors really good on this one.
Needs the rear body mounts done and the sills , probably worth doing as its a g reg ( but not a gwac) 3 door.
But no one wants it.
Trie giving it away to the gwac society as a donor but its a v8 and not original so doesnt have much worth while to them.
Living in the Northwest at the moment is like living in the dark and damp. Will check for signs water ingress though.
Didn't realize running it only once a week or so was gong to be doing more harm than good. Think I will get it cleaned out then run it to dry it and the pull battery out. Can't really trickle charge it where it is. Handbrake off and chocks used to stop it rolling away.
Step 1) Make sure it's dry, no leaks, no wet stuff in the boot etc. If it's still taxed/insured/MOT'd, take it for a long drive with the windows down and the heating on full blast.
Step 2) Fungicidal cleaner on the mould (make sure it's not going to make the fabric first), and give it a good thorough clean to remove all traces of the mould, otherwise it grows back pronto as soon as there's any moisture.
Step 3) Cat litter. Go to the supermarket and buy a couple of sacks (one will do, but it's cheap and more = better), it has to be the silica stuff though. Stick it in old metal biscuit tins, chocolate tins, any tins like that and bung it in the oven with the lids off as hot as it will go for 30min. Allow it to cool then put the (open) tins in the car. Effectively a very cheap dehumidifier. Change them once a week, if you're feeling geeky weigh the tins before and after they go in the oven to see how much moisture they're sucking out, if it drops off after a few weeks then you don't need to change it so often.
The best thing you can do is borrow (or rent) a dehumidifier. You will be stunned how much water it will take out of the car when left running for a few hours. Caravan owners run them quite a bit over the winter. When I had a boat I used to leave it running on a low setting over the winter.
Also +1 for not just starting the car up, you need to go for a drive and/or trickle charge the battery