Interior Health Hazard

[Scout]

Just bought '02 A2 - fabulous super mini, suffering from severe lack of interior TLC... superficial valeting promised by the seller only scratched the surface, and when I got it home was horrified to find large areas of green mould in between rear seats, sticky sweets, a rotten apple core, residues of various sticky spillages and evidence of long term general slovenliness.
Apparently the previous owner had 2 very young children and a serious cleanliness problem (the words 'lazy' and 'cow' spring to mind).
I spent the weekend removing the rear seats, and with soap and water, cloths, an old toothbrush and a bottle cleaner scrubbed every surface, nook and cranny I could find, which yielded further evidence of gross negligence and several new species of micro-organisms.
Finished up with a whole bottle of Auto Glym interior cleaner.

Looks fantastic - but. There remains that sweet, cloying, pervasive milky-sour smell that is simply horrible.

I don't really want to repeat the whole process again - but will I have to have the interior steam cleaned (can this be done?) or maybe some sort of wet vac process? Never had to deal with this situation before - any suggestions???

Thanks all

 

[garratt83]

Hi mate that horrible wet milky smell is in the seats, Very hard to get out. Can you remove your rear seats then completey soak them in hot soapy water. Then dry on a nice hot day. You could try a steam cleaner but it will not get the deep down dirty out.

Don't know if you can remove the covers

Other wise its a new interior like this on ebay

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AUDI-A2-interior-seats-only-with-head-rests_W0QQitemZ140110522806QQihZ004QQcategoryZ10372QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Hope this helps

 

[AndyMac]

You need to use some sort of odour neutraliser as if it's milk simply cleaning it won't be enough. You need something that uses an active enzyme like Rug Doctor Odour Remover, otherwise the smell will keep coming back.

 

[jdp1962]

If you post this thread in the "Detailing" section, you might get some advice from WX51TXR, our resident professional.