My wife's car has suffered a large milk spill in the rear passenger footwell.
We've mopped it out, rinsed, mopped out, rinsed, repeat, etc, sprayed anti-bacterial spray etc.
But still it smells like a blue cheese factory.
Options?
Seems like: Change the carpets; Sell the car; Burn the car.
Reminds me that my wife (then to be) left some butter on the back seat. It melted in the sun and went rancid. She didn't think to remove the seat to clean it.
Ron,
I once spilt some milk in a works van and cleaned it up almost straight away - or at least I thought I had. But the the 'stink' stayed in that van for almost a year until it finally went - they sold the van then and was I glad, as nothing would shift the bloody smell.
Cash
It never goes. Sell, burn, or scrap
Detailing World recommend a few things
Look in Yellow Pages under Janitorial Supplies & find a local company. They will almost certainly stock the Prochem range. Ask for a 1 litre of Odour Neutraliser.
Might need more than one application, but it works.
Most cars have acoustic lining under the carpet, it sounds that the milk has soaked into that - not just the carpets. I think that the you'll need to do a bit of exploration to pull the carpets out and see just what is underneath. Another option would be to cut the roof off the car and convert it into a convertible.
(still at least no-one will steal it now)
It's no use crying over it.
Try a proper valet, explaining the problem to them. If that doesn't work, sell the car to someone with no sense of smell. Realistically, if you can remove the carpets and have them steam-cleaned you might stand a chance of reducing the pong..
Sorry to say that I once worked with a guy many years ago, who spilt milk in his company van. He tried to get rid of the smell for ever after that, but never succeeded. In fact it never even diminished over the whole time. He got used to it, but if you ever had to go out with him, the smell was so vile and rancid, it made you want to throw up ...
Arfa
Almost nothing to e done.
Happened to me in Jaguar XKR boot.
smelt for nearly a year.
down to pinhole fault in milk carton. Wanted Waitrose to pay for new carpet. Wouldn't wear it.
It goes, eventually,.
Now in new car, cat on way to vet pissed himself. Still stinks.
try dilute bleach, but new carpet best way out.
Try removing the carpet - it will be the best way. (and quite easy and satisfying) Most of the problem will be in the underfelt which you could replace.
Try a cheap and simple possible remedy: well dampen all the affected areas with a solution of sodium bicarbonate, available just about anywhere. Mop up or use a carpet shampooer to remove execess liquid.
You might need to repeat if you've missed any spots.
TF
Hire a carpet cleaning machine which has a small cleaning head accessory with it (the sort that squirts water in and extracts it again immediately). Spend a day cleaning the carpet every hour.
Dry very thoroughly and cover the patch with cat litter (the gray Fullers Earth variety). Fullers earth will absorb the fat particles which the cleaning won't completely remove. Leave a day or two and hoover up thoroughly. Repeat several times.
Treat with Febreeze several times.
Buy a landrover next time! ;->
The problem might be that the carpet has a very thick and separate felt sound deadening layer under it. The type of carpet cleaner that Peter is proposing will not give the water a chance to go deep enough before extracting it again. Please - try and remove the carpet - it can't be that hard. Also you don't want to encourage rust.
I know someone who traded his car in after a year of trying to get rid of the smell.
As others have said, the milk might have gone through to the under 'felt', not the easiest of jobs on some cars to get the carpet out these days (have to just about strip the whole inside out, the main carpet being on of the first items to be fitted after the wiring loom), I would suggest you try a deep steam clean, the heat should kill any bacterial (milk tanks used to be, and probably still are, sterilised by steam) whilst the pressure should reach the required depth.
: Please - try and remove the carpet - it can't be that : hard. Also you don't want to encourage rust. :
Cough, even back in the late 1970s such an operation might require the removal of all seats and centre consoles, these days with the added complication of airbags etc. it's even more problematic - and unless you understand the dangers of airbags/pre-tensioning seat belts etc. and their wiring/connectors (that can be run anywhere) it is NOT something that should be done lightly...
I looked up a cure for this the other week and used it successfully on a woodblock porch floor (ok, a fair distance from capets!)
White vinegar. Throw it everywhere the milk went, let it soak for a while, mop up what you can see and leave.
The smell of the vinegar is just as bad as the milk but, as promised by this webpage, after a week or so all the smells had gone.
The worse thing likely to happen with airbags & pretensioners is that you trigger a fault code, and that can be avoided by not turning the ignition on or disconnecting the battery first. They just don't go off for no reason.
The only trim likely to get in the way of lifting the rear footwell carpet is that around the base of the door.
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