OT: Ideas for eliminating odors from a car?

[r.mariotti]

Although this is car related, the odor was caused by critters around my house. I live in the country on the edge of the woods so I have lots of critters such as squirrels, chipmunks and of course field mice.

I have a small car that was sitting on the side of my garage over the winter covered with a car cover. But it appears that some kind of critter gained entrance and made it his/her winter resort.

I didn't take it out of storage until late spring this year and on the interior there is a pet-like odor. Not extreme but enough that when driving it is unpleasant.

I've cleaned the entire vehicle, including the interior and steam cleaned the engine compartment, wheel wells and undercarriage. But the odor persists.

Short of using a match, does anyone have any ideas or folk remedies that might be employed in an attempt to quell this odor?

I've been storing this car during the winter the same way for 12 years now and this has been the first year that this has occurred. So, on that note, I'd appreciate any ideas as to what I may be able to do next winter to keep these undesireables out of the resort?

Thanks all (written with a clothes pin on my nose)

[Oren]

Try a partial bowl of white vinegar, allow to sit for day(S) inside the car.

[Robert Macy]

Fabreze

[Vic Smith]

I've only dealt with mildewed car carpeting. Leaving it in the sun for a few days to a week with all the windows open always worked. Have to close the windows at night, or if rain threatens.

[gregz]

I would first inspect doors and other hidden areas.

Vinegar works. Ozone, chlorine dioxide. There are some fast release chlorine dioxide products, and here is a slow release product which you can keep using vehicle.

Greg

[gregz]

This may be too strong, but I think not. These are the cheapest I have found, and I did a lot of searching. I have found products to treat 3 times the area, but are of course, more expensive.

Greg

[Doug Miller]

[e-mail] wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Charcoal briquets do a pretty good job of absorbing odors. (Make sure to use regular, plain charcoal, not the stuff impregnated with lighter fluid such as Match-Light.)

Activated charcoal, available at most pet stores (it's used in aquarium water filters), does an even better job, but it's a lot more expensive and harder to find. Chances are you already have a bag of charcoal in the garage, and if you don't, one of your neighbors probably does.

[Dean Hoffman]

I've heard that wadded up newspaper will remove odors from freezers and refrigerators. Maybe that would work for a car.

[DD_BobK]

As Robert Macy suggests... Fabreeze or the "ZEP" knockoff thereof.

When I first tried the stuff I thought is was all hype & marketing........no, this stuff really works.

Forget all the "home brew" solutions, use the new fangled chemical solution.

check out

Even though the stuff is a breakthrough in order elimination, P&G had a terrible time getting the stuff to sell. The Wikipeadia article recounts the problem with the sales side of the product.

The first time used the stuff was on a car that had been used all winter long as a "skiing locker", think "mud, sweat, dirty socks & ski gear, mold, etc"

cheers Bob

[DD_BobK]

I sprayed the interior of the vehicle, Jeep GC, leather seats, carpet & floor mats. The washable ski gear was washed. The gear that was not amenable to washing was sprayed with Frabreze.

By the following year's ski season the Jeep still smelled fine.....

I'm still waiting for the Frabreze to "wear off".

I'll let you know when the Jeep stinks again.

[Michael Lalonde]

x-no-archive: yes

I find Febreeze masks odours rather than eliminates them. We've had mice get into our cottage where they unforunately perished. You can smell them from under the kitchen sink. We've tried vinegar, bleach, charcoal and still couldn't get rid of the smell. Had to eventually rip off a piece of the ground level wood panelling and go in from below. :(

Just my story.

Michael Lalonde , Sudbury, Ontario - jumlers.com food catering

[Marina]

Vic Smith wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Set some small bowls filled with videgar in the car. Of course you can't drive it, duh. Check after a couple days and see if the smell is gone. If not fill the bowls again and wait to see what happens. The smell should be gone.

[bud--]

I haven't used it, but I have read several places that "Atmosklear" neutralizes odors it comes in contact with.

[Dee]

[e-mail] wrote in news: [e-mail]:

I bought a used SUV a few years ago. The back cargo area reeked of dog. I bought "Febreze Auto" and sprayed everything liberally, and it took care of the odor completely. The Febreze odor dissipated about two weeks later.

But there was still an indeterminant odor inside the car, so I took it to my mechanic. He determined the source of the odor to be a mouse nest hidden up in the vents near the cabin air filter. He removed the nest and replaced the cabin air filter. No more odor.

Dee

[G. Morgan]

This works for a little while, but works great!

Wally-World (cheapest, in the auto section), drugstores and auto parts stores have it.