Hey everyone,
I'm trying to figure out what's going on. Our RX grew mold but that was because the windows were down for months while it rained. Now that we had it cleaned up i noticed that there is a lot of moisture inside which noticeable mainly in the front. There's a lot of condensation on the windows and sunroof. You can see shiny water spots on the darker trim in the front. I thought maybe it is coming from the sunroof but the cloth area around it isn't wet or moldy (making me think it's not the problem). I would think it shouldn't be this wet even if it's cold and rainy outside and that condensation usually occurs at the windows. One thing is i tore and bent maybe a 2 inch section of the door weatherstripping trying to inspect beneath the carpet for mold and maybe that's allowing moisture inside? I would think at first that it's still functional and that this wouldn't be the cause of the issue. Also, the car hasn't been driven for years.

Has anyone else had problems like this or knows how to diagnose the issue? I'm especially worried that this will cause mold to return.

**update**
i used an infrared camera and the weatherstripping doesn't seem to be a problem. aside from some moist spots in the ceiling (not sure why, i would think if there's a leak they would be soaking wet rather than moist and growing mold) the thing i saw is that there are cold/wet spots underneath the front seats. We removed them yesterday to clean the car and I can see water inside underneath the seat bolt holes. Is water pooling there or could it be condensation? And why would water be pooling in each of the bolt holes underneath both front seats? I see large cold/moist spots on the floor where the back of the seats are supposed to be (to be clear the carpet here is not wet but could be underneath). Driveway is slanted with lowest point at the trunk.

It's possible that there's some residual moisture from the detailing but i did use a heater to dry the interior pretty well. Next I will check the sunroof drains but i'm already thinking I might have to trash the car (which i'm dreading after all this effort to get it up and running again)

 

The last two times I had water intrusion it was clogged sunroof drain in my Jetta and leaking near the evaporator drain in my Forester. The clogged sunroof drain did not affect the headliner around the sunroof.

 

hm, i haven't had time to check it yet because it's raining, but i covered the sunroof with a tarp and there's still the same amount of condensation.

 

Have you dried the car out thoroughly?

 

that's what i'm thinking now -- that it's probably mostly due to the carpet shampooing. not sure if water would get under the carpet, but we'll see in a few days.

 

I'd bet it's under the carpet. I've seen this many times with several vehicles. Moisture like that can turn into mold, which can lead to health problems. You would probably have to take one of the front seats out to check properly, the passenger side being easier They have airbags incorporated in the upper portion of the seat, which means you need to use caution and disconnect the battery ahead of removal. Sometimes the water runs to the back floorboard area and on our RX300 model, the back seat doesn't just pop out. You could set a dehumidifier in it, close everything up, and run it for an hour or so while keeping a watchful eye. If you don't have a dehumidifier, you could prop the carpet/padding up with old empty jugs and put a fan blowing on things.

 

Usually need to completely dry inside, if carpet was wet, there is water or moisture under carpet.
I would suggest to run car, turn on heater on full and AC. After couple of hours running like that, open windows about 1/2 inch, if you have any fan, place it inside, and change direction time to time. Depending on amount of moisture (not water level) might need to run up to 2 days.
After all, place open bag with cat litter (better silicagel based), or salt rocks in cloth bag, or bunch of toilet paper rolls, it should absorb moisture leftovers.

 

I dried out the driver's side carpet in my kid's car by pulling in into my garage, opening all the car windows, putting a fan in there, and leaving my wet-dry vac on with the hose stuck to the carpet by the vacuum suction force to pull up the moisture. It took a few hours like that.