okEric

Hello! I replaced the outside molding around my front windows of my 2013 Civic a couple months ago. We've had quite some rain lately and I've begun to notice after entering my car when it had been raining a nasty mildew smell. I finally took the time to pinpoint it today and it's the front driver side door (no smell from the passenger side though as far as I can tell).

I pulled the door panel off and looked for any standing water, but didn't see any. I can definitely smell the mildew smell from inside the area where the window motor and door opening mechanism are.

I went ahead and tried pouring some water on the window to see what happens and I'm able to see water drip into the door (video of this below). From what I gather, this is actually normal (but maybe not?) and why there are drain holes at the bottom of the door. From what I can tell, the water is draining out like it should, although I could probably do some more extensive testing.

I took a video showing how the water is entering the door and I guess my question is, is this amount of water entry normal? It seems odd that water would be allowed to get on the metal window opener parts and it does seem over the course of a several hour rain storm, quite a lot of water would get into the door.


Here's a clearer image showing the water entry: https://i.imgur.com/5p4UsyR.jpeg

Luckily, the smell does seem to go away when it's not raining, but I never had this problem until I replaced the molding (72450-TR0-A01 is the specific part). When I took off the old molding, I did break several of the blue clips and they fell into the door panel which I was unable to remove. So there are some clips inside the door at the bottom. I thought maybe they could be plugging the drains, but all the drains seem to be clear of obstructions.

Anyone have any ideas? Thanks!

EDIT: Well I decided to do the same water test on the passenger side door to see how it compared and doing the exact same test, no water actually dripped into the door. So I believe my issue lies with the molding. Looks like I'll need to buy another one and install it on the driver side.

okEric

Well quick little update. I replaced the molding again and it’s still dripping in. I still get a gross mildew smell in the car anytime it rains. It’s an awful issue. I know there are some small broken off blue tabs from the old molding when I removed them down at the bottom of the door. It was basically impossible to remove them so I just left them down there. Im wondering if maybe they’re causing a blockage and preventing water from draining out the holes. Looking at the holes, I can’t see any of them. They must be wedged down in there. My next bet is to try to get in there and remove them somehow. It’s just such a right fit. No way my hand can fit so I need some kind of tool to go in there and grab them. Will take some trial and error.

has anyone else ever ran into such an issue? I wish I wouldn’t have even replaced the molding in the first place because of what a hassle this has become. But they were flaking and looked awful. The back ones I haven’t yet replaced and may not now due to what the front windows are going through. Idk