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Yep. Somebody tried to torch my car once, doused the interior with a considerable quantity of gasoline. Fortunately, I got there before he struck the match. Saved the car but the gasoline stink was terrible. A professional cleaner was able to take care of it completely.
Hello. I own a 2020 Accord. Love the car, anyways, on Thursday (It is now Tuesday) I picked up my daughter from Kindergarten. Her school gives out these free, poorly packaged meals upon leaving school for the day. I usually make sure to put the food in the trunk, along with her backpack. Well, that particular Thursday, I did not. It was a mad dash rush for a parking spot and I got side tracked. Needless to say, my daughter accidently kicked this packaged meal, which included a chocolate milk and whatever else was in the container/bag, under the driver side seat.
I noticed a slight smell on Saturday but didn't think much to it. The temps here in Phoenix are reaching 100 degrees. By Monday morning, leaving for work, is when I definitely noticed the smell. It was so bad that I was gagging and dry heaving. This is when I noticed the packaged meal, now long gone spoiled, leaking on my floor board, halfway under my driver seat. The liquid, whatever it may have been (probably the chocolate milk and whatever else), had been pooling on the floor board mat.
Lucky for me I purchased all weather mats, so I was able to spray them off, however, the smell remains. I briefly used my portable steam cleaner to get the fabric areas, followed by spraying a mixture of Gain laundry detergent/water on the seats. I also added a few Gain fabric sheets and finally, two Baking Soda boxes with the vent sections. This morning, my car smells much better, BUT, that rancid smell is still there, underneath all of the other detergents and fabric sheets smells.
I am desperate to completely remove the smell. I was going to buy some activated charcoal and place some on the floorboards in an attempt to further remove the stench.
Any other suggestions are more than welcome. Needless to say, my 1 year old car no longer has that "New Car Smell".
Vinegar, water, baking soda. Works to diffuse and cleanse. Scrub area.
Then go get a bamboo charcoal air purifier bag. Place in your car. In about a week it neutralizes. It has been my go to for my car. Instead of masking odors, it rids it.
I swear by it .
I don’t have a shop vac unfortunately. However, I’m fairly certain that the liquid stayed on the rubber all weather mats and didn’t leak onto any fabric. It’s like the smell saturated into the Upholstery.
You can rent wet/dry vacs at home improvement stores, like Lowe's & HDepot. This link doesn't list prices online, but I'm pretty sure in the past few yrs I rented one for $15. Some of the carpet vacs come with attachments to do stairs or hard to reach areas, so you'd still be able to use it on your car carpeting, depending upon length of hose. Unsure if those are more or they just come with... in my case, I think it was the latter.
Adding in the cleaner, it's $6-12 for a big bottle of cleaner... although the vacs might require a specific fluid. I recently had my car carpeting cleaned & they do a nice job, but I'm sure only do 1-2 passes... if you did it yourself, you could clean it many times 'til it meets your satisfaction.
The pro cleaning in my car was $60 at Honda, but it was routine &... no odors or stains.
And, FWIW, I have used Folex spray carpet cleaner for beige wall-to-wall carpeting for gnarly stains/odors... someone lost their lunch in my house & red wine & vomit odor was all over the carpeting... about 2 sq ft, which btw, was left for months, cuz I began at square 1 looking for removers. Spend a small fortune at Ace Hardware for all the nonsense they sold me & didn't work.
Folex spray took it out by using it just a few times... including smell & nice bonus, for 30-oz it's $6. The guy at Ace told me it was what pro cleaners use... he said he worked at a carpeting store & they used it to spot clean. I believe him... it worked great for me. You can also buy it at some markets, Targets & WalMarts.
Maybe start with that due to cost? You might be able to clean it for $6 & a lot less work. Follow the instructions, which are very easy,
OP, I did something very similar to my car once. Had a gallon of milk spill all over the floor of the back seat. The lid wasn't tight on the bottle, and I hadn't noticed. Hadn't noticed until, like you, the smell was so bad, I was gagging.
What I did: I got carpet cleaning spray, and a stiff brush, and worked the formula in really good, and left the windows open. It was much better the next day, so I did it one more time, and the smell was gone.
Vinegar, water, baking soda. Works to diffuse and cleanse. Scrub area.
Then go get a bamboo charcoal air purifier bag. Place in your car. In about a week it neutralizes. It has been my go to for my car. Instead of masking odors, it rids it.
I swear by it .
Thank god none of the liquid touched any of the surface other than the rubber floor mat. I’ll definitely try the bamboo charcoal air bag though!
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