ok my car's trunk stinks...

[oncogene]

After all the wet fishing equipments, and lately the one time where I brought a catch over to my gf's parents for dinner and the container leaked some water into my car's trunk.... the trunk's liner is wet and it smells . How can i possibly clean it? I live in an apt and it's only a public parking area so I can't even leave the trunk open to dry. Any tips?

[danbouck]

Look under the seats. Someone may have just watched Grumpy Old Men and got an idea! lol Usually the liners come out but try scrubbing it with carpet cleaner and keep fabreeze in the car for a couple days.

[nel]

I accidentally left some worms in my car and cooked them...the smell was bad...air fresheners only made the car smell like dead worms with fruit...it was overwhelming...

 

Febreeze worked for few hours...but I ended up using the whole bottle in a few days...

 

The only permanent thing I could do to get rid of the smell was to purchase the heavenfresh air ionizer device from canadian tire. Spent $25 on it, but it worked.

[Guest lundboy]

I accidentally left some worms in my car and cooked them...the smell was bad...air fresheners only made the car smell like dead worms with fruit...it was overwhelming...

 

Febreeze worked for few hours...but I ended up using the whole bottle in a few days...

 

The only permanent thing I could do to get rid of the smell was to purchase the heavenfresh air ionizer device from canadian tire. Spent $25 on it, but it worked.

 

 

Oh I hate it when I leave worms in the car.... They die so quick and stink like a meat rendering plant.

[Mike the Pike]

Remember the Seinfeld episode when his car had a terrible odour he left the keys in it and even the thieves would not steal it.

 

Ditch the car lol

[danc]

I accidentally left some worms in my car and cooked them...

 

Rotten worms are like a spring bouquet compared to rotten Steelhead eggs. Be thankful...

[Bly]

Rotten worms are like a spring bouquet compared to rotten Steelhead eggs. Be thankful...

 

 

Oh how right you are!! LOL

[Bly]

After all the wet fishing equipments, and lately the one time where I brought a catch over to my gf's parents for dinner and the container leaked some water into my car's trunk.... the trunk's liner is wet and it smells . How can i possibly clean it? I live in an apt and it's only a public parking area so I can't even leave the trunk open to dry. Any tips?

 

 

Couple of suggestions..

 

1. Rent a carpet cleaner...what color is the liner? If it is a light color, you can get away with adding a SMALL amount of bleach

1. Some of the do-it-yourself car washes have carpet cleaners

3. Instead of Febreeze, get an antibacterial spray like Lysol

 

Good Luck!!

[Dutch]

I saw a Mythbusters episode where they let 2 pig carcasses cook in a car to try and duplicate the Seinfeld episode and also another where they tested home remedies for skunk sprays. In both, as I remember, hydrogen-peroxide + baking soda + liquid dish detergent made an exceptional cleaner and got rid of the smell better than anything commercially available.

 

If you go this route, test a small spot first as I don't know what the peroxide will do to the interior of a car. I do think though, that the baking soda will mix with the peroxide and create a non-harmful mixture.

 

Good luck.

[Mike the Pike]

I saw a Mythbusters episode where they let 2 pig carcasses cook in a car to try and duplicate the Seinfeld episode and also another where they tested home remedies for skunk sprays. In both, as I remember, hydrogen-peroxide + baking soda + liquid dish detergent made an exceptional cleaner and got rid of the smell better than anything commercially available.

 

If you go this route, test a small spot first as I don't know what the peroxide will do to the interior of a car. I do think though, that the baking soda will mix with the peroxide and create a non-harmful mixture.

 

Good luck.

Oh ya I remember that episode dutch pretty ugly scene and they bought an old Corvette for the sacrifice

[oncogene]

Thanks for the tips so far... my car's liner is black/darkgrey so i guess direct bleaching is out of the question.

 

Guess I'll try baking soda, H2O2, and perhaps that ionizer from CanTire. I think I can sprinkle lota baking soda on it, let it soaks up abit and then vacuum the stuffs out?!

 

 

I accidentally left some worms in my car and cooked them...the smell was bad...air fresheners only made the car smell like dead worms with fruit...it was overwhelming...

 

lol I did that last summer... left a box of worms inside a cooler inside the trunk... after a few days under the hot sun, even the car main cabin area smell like dead corpse Good thing it's inside a cooler... so I only had to bleach the cooler for 2 whole days lol

 

 

And dito about antibaterial sprays.... they don't really work. If you look at the fine prints on most of them, it'll say use it on "pre-cleaned, hard, non-porous surface", and you'll have to completely moisten/wet the area with the spray to do what it claims to do. Just randomly spraying it up in the air like the TV ad shows will never do anything remotely antibaterial. Tried Lysol antibacterial spray on my hockey equipments once.... yeah it made them 10x worse

[verno]

I bought some deodorizer spray for my dog at the pet store. It's made by remington and has baking soda in it. It took the skunk smell out when nothing else would. I would trade a fishy car for a skunky dog any day.

[aplumma]

Heres an easy one for you to do. After you clean it get a bag of charcoal yup just regular put it in the grill kind without any starter fluids ( easy light or fast lighting is bad). Place the bricketts into a mesh bag and place on top of a catch pan to catch the crumbles. Drive it around for a little while and the carbon will absorb the smell.

 

Art

[rickster]

bounce sheets or other fabric softener sheets that you would use in a dryer

a few years back I spilled some gas in the trunk of my car and the bounce sheets had the smell

gone in a day

if the smell is really bad I would put a lot of them in the trunk

[Fishnfiend]

Go to a sporting goods store or ctc and buy the scent eliminating wash for hunters. There are many different products. Get some of the soap/shampoo as step number 1. Then, buy a container of the spray and spray your entire trunk after it has dried from the wash/shampoo.

 

Hunters Specialties or Dead down wind are great, but even the 'no-name' stuff from ctc should work. I believe it is called eradicator.

 

Try it - you won't be sorry. I use these products all fall beacuse I bowhunt for whitetails. If I told you that I have had deer step over my legs (while sitting on the ground) would you believe it works?