Mold in CLEAN 2023 Gladiator - PNW

[agoldxj]

Are you still in the 3yr/36k bumper to bumper warranty period? If so let the dealer replace the window and the that trim piece as well as clean and detail it.

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[Dilly’S Willy]

Chlorine dioxide will kill the spores and get rid of the smell.
Search Chlorine Dioxide for automobiles.

Be EXTREMELY careful using chemicals, some can and WILL destroy everything in your vehicle. There's a reason businesses charges over 1k for their use, because even as little as 11mins can start deteriorating plastics/etc beyond repair.

Also, if you ever have water in the truck...seal it up, run the A/C on recirculate (anything but only defrost will allow this) on full blast for a couple hours. I left the tops off last summer overnight and woke up to a soaked interior. Tried this and 3-4 hours later the interior was BONE DRY. Used about 1/8-1/4 tank of fuel though.

 

[Janster]

That's not a speaker. It is a piece of fabric attached with velcro. Take it out and throw it away unless you want to clean it and reattach it.

Exactly…mines sitting upstairs in a closet. I got tired of taking it off everytime we took the top off!!!

 

[Chapol]

I’ve had my 23 Gladiator since I bought it new in November 2023. I drive it at least 4 days a week to work. In Jan 2026 I dropped it off at the Jeep Dealership for repairs and it took them a few weeks, mostly sitting on the lot for ordered parts, and when I got it back, it had a bad smell. I thought it might have been due to my gym bag I had left in the back seat and that with some deoderizers and cleaning, the smell would come out. It didn’t really hit me until later that my gym bag was clean with fresh clothes and itself doesn’t stink.

I clean the interior often and it’s very clean, but I’ve been stumped what’s going on and was going to paid for detailing. A buddy who owns a wrangler said he has heard something about gladiators having a bad cabin seal or moisture intrusion and that I should look harder for mold, especially since we live in Washington.

Well… found this today. What the hell do I do?! This is the back speaker - even if I managed to somehow clean this thoroughly, I can’t imagine there isn’t mold behind the fabric or spores throughout the whole cabin. Are my speakers ruined? Also, if this is par for the course because I live in the PNW… I might have to turn it in. I’ve never taken the back panel off yet… not once. I don’t have a clue how this could have happened

That's not the speaker. That is just a cover to high the seam where the roof sits on cab and where your screws are located for taking roof off. Remove and clean. If needed just replace it.

 

[Dilly’S Willy]

@protons Any update?

 

[protons]

UPDATE: I got a call Monday morning from the dealer asking me to authorize a $699 detail to make the truck safe for the technicians to actually do the diagnostic. They said once the diagnostic is done, they will send the results to Jeep for approval of any repairs and parts (and the original detail) under warranty. Then the woman on the phone from the dealership kind of finger wagged me a bit with, "Jeep probably won't approve it because you should have brought it in when you noticed it. To them, this will look like neglect." I gently responded that I did in fact bring it when I noticed it and that the reason why it likely took so long to grow unhidden it because there was nothing immediately for me to notice. If you look at the pictures, the mold is very well hidden right behind the back seats. I dont have kids, I dont go driving people around, I am never in that back seat. And until you fold those seats down, you dont see anything. I also reminded them that this is a known issue - there were two service codes issue by Jeep because of this exact problem (TSB 23-094-23 and TSB 23-028-24).

Some more photos of what I found before I took it in - the dripping water is soaking behind those seats all the way down into the carpet. The carpets were SOAKED.

On the day I took photos and videos, it was a very light PNW drizzle. I counted the water drip rate through the seal and down the window and a rate of one-drop per 27 seconds. I cant even imagine how much water is in here... Im still within the 3 yr warranty and only have about 16K miles. This better be covered under warranty.

 

[LatteSipper]

There’s a thread on this forum somewhere describing this. In there is some information regarding a DIY gasket fix. Granted I didn’t have any mold or mildew to deal with, but I did have evidence of waterspots on the inside of the glass to indicate something was amiss. No issues since tucking some small weatherstripping in between the glass and the roof.

Found the link: https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/...s-entire-top-of-the-window.59999/post-1257731

 

[protons]

Still waiting on the dealer to hear the verdict. Here’s some more pics I had taken:

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