Mold discovered inside a 7-year-old SUV

John Paul, AAA Northeast's Car Doctor, answers a question from a reader dealing with mold discovery in a Toyota Highlander.

Q. I have a 2017 Toyota Highlander that has a mold problem. This came about a month ago. I’ve tried spraying the air intakes, vents, carpet, everywhere we could think of. I took it to my mechanic who could not find a leak anywhere. He took everything out of the car except the dash and found two areas of black mold the size of a dollar bill on both sides of the front floorboard. He got rid of that, but the smell is still there. He has had the car for four days and he is not giving up, but he is still trying to figure it out. Any advice or suggestions?

A. Before moving on I would want to make sure that any possible water intrusion has been repaired. An ozone generator may be the answer. You need to be careful, but these generators will get rid of nasty smells. The better units that I have seen stay outside of the car, but even the small commercial units may help. You can, in many cases, rent these units by the day. These are the same units that hotels use to rid rooms of objectionable smells. Once the process is complete then allow the car to air out. Ozone is not something you want to breathe in a small area. I have seen good success with these units. Once the smell is gone, switching the cabin filter to a carbon impregnated type will help filter out any remaining odors.

Q. I have a 2007 Honda Accord V6. It has never had any bodywork done on it. Recently I took it to a body shop for something unrelated and was shown that the hood was a slightly different shade of the gray (silver) paint than the rest of the car. Upon examining, yes, it was a different shade. I was told that it had been repainted, but it must have come from the dealer that way since I purchased it new. Now I feel cheated. Did the dealer respray it and hide it from me? Did Honda send it from the factory that way? Might the paint on the hood have aged differently because of the engine heat? Do you know of these things happening? Do I have any recourse?

A. At the car’s age (17 years), you have no recourse and other than a slight difference in color, the paint if repaired was certainly up to factory standards. It is possible – and I have seen it before – that the hood could have been repainted. Not at the assembly point, but at a body shop on site at the factory. When the car is first painted there is no interior, and the paint is baked at a higher temperature. If the paint was not up to standards or it was damaged during assembly, then that area is repainted at the factory – just not on the assembly line. Is it possible the paint does not match due to UV rays and engine heat? Yes, that is possible. A body shop should be able to measure the paint using a paint thickness gauge. If there are more than 4-5 mils of paint on the hood it was likely repainted.

Q. I have a 1967 Pontiac GTO and the carburetor is running rich. Where I live, I have asked some of the local repair shops if they know anyone who can adjust carburetors. A lot of them tell me they do not work on carburetors. Others will not even look at it; they only recommend sending out the carburetor to get it rebuilt. I just want to have a mechanic look at it and make the necessary adjustments. Do you know someone that can take care of this issue?

A. Finding a carburetor shop is a bit hard these days. Sending your carburetor out might be a good idea, but it will still need to be tuned once it is put back on the car. I would go to local cruise nights and contact the local Pontiac club and see who people are using. The reality is that carburetor tuning isn’t that hard. But as a technician you need to be willing to spend a little time, have a good ear, and have some basic tools such as a tachometer and vacuum gauge. If you wanted to get fancier, an exhaust gas analyzer. I remember years back I took an exhaust gas analyzer to a truck show and during the afternoon, probably tuned 50 different vehicles. Most were running too rich.

Q. If you had a six-year-old battery in your car that tested at 12.5 volts, would you keep using it or replace it?

A. When looking at automotive batteries, voltage only tells part of the story. The 12.5 volts indicates about an 85 percent state of charge. Cold cranking amperage combined with voltage tells a better story. As an example, the battery in my car is also six years old. The battery voltage is 12.7 volts, with a CCA reading of 690 amps. Although six years is typically at the end of life for most batteries, mine still tests good and I’m going to keep using it.

John Paul is AAA Northeast’s Car Doctor. He has over 40 years of experience in the automotive business and is an ASE-certified master technician. E-mail your Car Doctor question to [email protected]. Listen to the Car Doctor podcast at johnfpaul.podbean.com.