SPORES HAVE TAKEN OVER MY PEUGEOT

Q My Peugeot 406 GLX has a smelly heater. Anti-bacterial sprays only have a short-term effect. I’ve disconnected the air conditioning to remove one source of water but the present damp conditions are enough to keep the bacteria going. What do you suggest? William Harper, via email A We’d recommend a thorough approach to this, as the festering ventilation system is a health risk. It’s possible that at some point in the car’s history dirty flood water or countryside effluent has infiltrated the external vents.

This means that a thick carpet of mould and bacteria may be coating the heater, ducting and fan blades. Sadly, there’s probably no alternative to removing and cleaning all parts with a household antibacterial cleaner. It’ll be impossible to clean the individual fins of the heater matrix, so soak it in disinfectant overnight and use a jet of water for final rinsing. We suspect this would be self-sterilising, though, as it runs at 80°C.

Dashboard removal is seldom properly detailed in workshop manuals, but there’s an excellent stripdown video for your Peugeot on Youtube.