on cleaning car 2day found the drivers side rear carpet to be going mouldy

since i clean the car as and when possible and due to heavy rain recently i am thinking rear doors need sealing although carpet is bone dry

anyone else any suggestions thanks for any help

Carpet might be dry, but the sound insulation under the carpet could be sopping wet. It does sound like you have the infamous Fabia water ingress problem though.

Something similar to this will help...

http://www.restormate.co.uk/epages/15094.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/15094/Products/UltraF

I use something similar when cleaning the carpets, you can just spray it on and let it soak through to the sound proofing, hopefully that will kill off any bacteria. Failing that you will possibly need to replace the sound proofing, so spending a couple of quid to try and prevent that is worth it imo.

Had this problem before I sealed my doors.

As Manny says the soundproof underlay is probably whats holding

on to the water. Have a good hard push down on the affected area

and you may well find you get a wet palm.

If you have any water sitting on the rubber door seal after washing

the car or rain then you probably have leaky doors. It's very common.

I started to dry mne out months befrore sealing by diverting water over the seal

and onto the sill with a small bit of shower curtain. It took ages before the carpets

in mine were dry. But to be fair they were sodden.

As for the mould, I reckon that once it's 100% dry

a good hoover will be all you need to remove the mould. It's growth is

encouraged by moisture so if you have no moisture it should die.

Maybe a bit of febreeze will help remove the odour if there is any.

If / when you decide to seal up the doors I'd advise against using

normal kitchen/bathroom sealant. It doesn't stick well to the ancillaries

carrier. Find an alternative form of sealant.

Just as a little tip.. run your air-con... It won't make cold air unless set to a low temp.

When running at warmer temps it makes a great dehumidifier.. especially if you direct it to feet and screen as there's ducts under the front seats directed into the rear foot well.. (which I was very impressed by on a small car)

Edited 13 October, 201015 yr by Rob.

As others above, the base cause is probably the rear door seals. Someone who was writing about Citroens recently gave me the following suggestions:-

1) If removing door membranes, try and leave the bottom edge attached.

2) Re-attach them using caravan mastic (ask in the spares dept at a caravan dealership I guess).

Other than that, Manny is almost certainly right about the sound insulation. If you don't regularly use the back seats, get the rear carpet out to help dry it quicker. Also, if you have a garage with power, you could put a portable dehumidifer in the car.

Rob is certainly right about using the air con as a dehumidifier. When my car gets condensation, setting the air to "demist" clears it with the "dry area" advancing at a physically visible pace.

thanks for the info guys ill have a feel of carpets at wkend see what i can find as for the rear doors ill just take both door cards off and see what im playing with

Dont know if youve seen it already, but I found this really helpful ^^

a idiots guide to the rear door seals just perfect for me lol thanks very much ill report back at wkend at what i find/break/fix

also is there any preferred king of sealant?

Dunno mate, was going to use some bath sealant until I found all weather window sealant in the garage, will try that instead. Pretty sure you can buy all purpose stuff, but dont know what others have used.

My door cards are all undone, didnt take more than 5 mins each side. The speakers are the worst bit, broken both of mine but I think they'll go back in ok.