WTF is that smell?

That's not a question that should come to mind 48 hours into owning a new to you car.

But here I was, wondering what that moldy smell was. I know what you're thinking- no, it wasn't water leaks. Before I even bought the car I'd spent quality office lunch hours perusing this very site on the subject. Which is why I passed up on a perfectly good GXP also being sold in this town. And the minor problem of the wheel bearing vibrating on that sexy black car with a concerning smell of burning DexCool.

So the car I wound up buying-an NA 3800 SLE with every accessory working- smelled good on Friday when I bought her. Drove off the lot with a big old smile.
Saturday she smells misty. Dry door sills, dry interior . No electrical problems.

What. The. Deuce.

I clean out the carpet and spare tire well of the car. No sign of water intrusion, but I clean it anyways.

Musty smell goes away for two days, then comes back when the humidity cranks up. This is an important detail, although at the time I'm too dumb to realize this .

Today I've had enough. Smell seems to come from the rear seat area so after work I yank it off for cleaning.

Wholey Phuck






So one of the previous owners of this fabulous car decided it would be a good idea to stack papers underneath the rear seat. Or maybe they just got lazy and never bothered to check why they lost two perfectly good cupon books in the cushions of their Pontiac.

Whatever the cause, the result was obvious and motherloving moldy. Naturally so long as the car was kept in humid free or low moisture conditions she smelled great inside- like, for example, when sitting on a dealer lot for a few months.

But let someone open the door a few times and drive it...... Moisture meets ancient paper (from 2012!!!!) , and look out!

It turned out for the better as instead of water leaks, I only had to deal with other human beings' stupidity.

At least my car smells great now. To think it's been afflicted with rotting paper for the last 4 motherloving years......ugh!!!!!!

Thanks for reading. If you've made it this far , you've won the prize of not having to smell this BS through your computer.

New pic of the de-moldified car -including tinted tails!

I'm not saying you're wrong, but paper doesn't start to mold just because it gets a burst of fresh humid air. The books were saturated at one point and have continued to get worse. Either way, nice easy fix for you. Congrats on the new ride.

_________________
Andrew - owner/operator of Bonnevilles Unlimited

2004 Bonneville GXP | 60k | White Gold Tricoat | custom built supercharged 3800 hot rod | garage queen
1997 Corvette | 55k | Silver Metallic | Z06 wheels | Date-night Hauler/Parts runner
2014 Town & Country Limited | Cashmere Pearl | 95k | Family Hauler
2002 Ram 1500 Quad Cab Sport | Black| 260k | Official Bonneville Hauler

Thanks.

The papers had four years to get nice and moldy.

While it's probable the interior was exposed to water leakage at some point in its past, it must have been corrected before I took ownership. All the interior parts I've seen are bone dry. Even the papers were physically dry, although they obviously smelled like death warmed over.

Glad that's over with. Backseats also feel a lot better.

You might want to make sure there isn't any holes under that seat. Back when I had my ssei I had an issue with bugs getting into the car (German roaches) and I finally determined that a previous owner had allowed a battery to leak under the seat and never cleaned it up. The result was a fist sized hole that was allowing the bugs and such to get into the car. It also would have been allowing water on the road to splash up in there

_________________
2000 ssei gone but not forgotten

Current fleet:
2009 G8 v6, 2009 Avalanche LTZ, 2013 Volt

Very common are water leaks to the interior which leave the surface of the carpeting bone dry while the foam rubber backing is saturated.
See this post for details http://www.pontiacbonnevilleclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=1688

There is a list of common issues here http://www.pontiacbonnevilleclub.com/forum/2000-2005-other-than-gxp/topic25362.html