| mwdelta |
Here's a weird one. A few months ago I noticed an odd smell in my '01 X. It was ammonia-like, seemed like it could be from mold somewhere. It would only show up in damp weather and was not coming from the climate control, carpet or any of the other things I thought of. The vehicle has never been in a flood or anything.
I realized recently that it was strongest after I roll down, then roll up the driver's side window in damp or rainy weather (that kinda narrowed it down to something in the door, or bad fast food). Today I pulled off the door panels, and I expected to find some bad insulation or something. Instead, I found nothing - there was no evidence of mold on the plastic door paneling, and the door itself was devoid of insulation. There was a slight smell, but I couldn't isolate it.
My plan is to thoroughly clean everything with disinfectant, add some dynamat, screw it back together and hope for the best, unless you have any suggestions. Does anyone know what Lysol-type product would be best to use? I want to spray all inside the metal door, but I'm slightly worried about causing rust by doing that. What else can be done to improve the sound - would fiberfill help, or is that not a good idea?
Thanks, Mike |
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| shootist |
If you're still in warranty, you may not want to do anything to the doors. If you bring it to your dealer for the mold, he'll blame the dynamat or fiberfill.
If you do find mold, I'd wipe it with 1:10 Clorox/water, and let it dry before reassembling. |
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| the wiz |
i love my mdx (04 sbp nav), but ive noticed that when i roll up the dirvers window after it rains or a wash, the inside comes up wet. this morning i noticed a "moldy" smell when raising the window. i do have tint on the window, and i use the vent visors on both front windows. only the drivers side exhibits the wet/moldy smell problem. i checked the window and door seals and everything looks intact. cannot replicate a leak with the hose. any thoughts? and now how can i get rid on the smell?
thanks in advance,
wiz |
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| nightguy |
Never heard of the moldy smell but this is a well documented issue with the MDX. I always press the recirculate button when I use a car wash...not sure if that would help or not.
http://www.acuramdx.org/forums/show...ght=wet+windows
Many other threads as well. |
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| the wiz |
| thanks for the response! i dont think the hvac system can be implicated here due to having the problem on only one window. the others seem fine.....so far. |
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| mwdelta |
I was able to successfully solve my problem, which sounds very similar to yours. When it is wet outside and you roll down the window, the outer weatherstrip at the bottom touches the inner weatherstrip, transferring water, which then comes up on the inside of the window. In my case, the problem was on the inner weatherstrip, so whenever I would roll my window down in damp or wet weather, I would get a mold smell.
To fix this, I removed the inner door panels and replaced the inner weatherstrip on both doors. This took about an hour and the two weatherstrips were about $10 each. The service manual can help with the removal. I also used a squirt bottle with 10% bleach/water solution to soak the outer weatherstrips to kill any further mold. You may be able to use the bleach solution alone - give it a try on the weatherstrips before disassembling the doors.
Good luck! |
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| bradfordjw |
Interesting to see your posting regarding the strange smell when you roll your window down and back up.
I have a 2003 Touring/Navigation. I noticed the same phenomenon about 4 months after buying our vehicle. In our vehicle, we first noticed this immediately after a rain, or after washing the vehicle. If you roll the driver side window down (even a couple of inches), and then back up, the inside of the window is wet! Also, quickly thereafter, the nasty smell follows.
I contacted two different service managers who quickly confirmed that this is related to the outer window lip seal design, and that they cannot fix this issue.
I recently noticed that the design on the new 2005 models has dramatically changed. I called my service manager again and asked if this new design could be retrofitted to the 2003 model. Unfortunately this cannot be done.
Aside from several small fit and finish items on this vehicle that were resolved quickly after our purchase, this "wet" window issue is the only nag that won't go away.
Regards,
John B |
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