My car smells baaaaad! (rent, house, buy)

[NandVsMom]

No real spills just wet towels, wet kids, a wet dog and island humidity has got both our cars smelling just awful! Checking for any visible mold but other than that, any advice?

[RedJacket]

Originally Posted by NandVsMom

No real spills just wet towels, wet kids, a wet dog and island humidity has got both our cars smelling just awful! Checking for any visible mold but other than that, any advice?

You could try Fabreze for cars. You could try putting some baking soda in the car and see if that absorbs the odors, or you could try putting an open bag of charcoal inside and see if that absorbs the smell.

[Balad1]

For what it's worth vehicles that are parked outside and exposed to the sun have drier interiors versus vehicles parked in car ports or garages; yeah I know basic physics. I had a neighbor that parked his SUV in a garage under his house and the mold grew on the inside like a Chia Pet. I park outside and have never had an issue

PS: Try not hauling around wet kids or dogs, lol.

[FuzzySuzie]

I used to be an auto mechanic here in the SF BayArea. Sometimes there would be a very bad moldy smell when people used their car A/C. The evaporator unit inside the dash gets damp and if it doesn't get a chance to dry out, mold would develop. The fix was a fungicidal spray to kill the mold spores inside the vents all the way through the ducts to the evaporator core.
If you run your A/C and the smell is a lot stronger...that's likely what's wrong. An A/C shop should carry that spray.

FuzzySuzie

[mdand3boys]

Wet Okole seat covers. They are made of a material similar to wet suits and what you see on many of the local's vehicles. www.wetokole.com

[Calico Salsa]

Give the interior a thorough cleaning. Pull out the seats & mats, vacuum every nook & cranny, taking your time with it. Make sure there's not something moldy stuffed under a seat or cushion.

Get a lint roller or masking/painting tape, and go over any areas where the pet hair is still stuck on. You can also use the tape to get into very thin crevices, by putting it on a thin long strip of plastic (cut from packaging), sticky side out, and sliding the now sticky strip down the crevice to grab any crumbs & hairs stuck down there. Just wind the tape around the strip of plastic, sticky side out, then fasten it in place top & bottom with sticky side down pieces.

Borrow or rent a steam cleaner, and clean the mats & carpets. If the seats are cloth, go over them too, or if they are vinyl or leather, use an appropriate cleaning product. Wipe the roof liner down, along with the dash, back window sill (if any) and be sure to clean & wipe any door pockets.

Roll down all the windows, put your nose right on the opening and sniff. Any odors there? Hopefully no organic matter has dropped down into the door panels, because that would mean you need to open them up to clean.

If you use a deodorizer, be careful about using some that just neutralize your nose instead of the smell. Look for wording like, "removes odors" rather than "neutralizes odors". Some of the home odor neutralizers just suppress your sense of smell instead of acting on the problem. Ozium is good for taking particles out of the air.

Once you are done cleaning, park the car in a sunny spot and leave the doors open to let the steam-cleaned car really dry out. I mean really really dry out. You could sit in your lawn chair nearby and read a book. Then close everything up and leave the car alone for a couple of hours. When you come back, is the smell gone? Yes means maybe you've got it handled. No means the smell might be embedded in places you can't reach, or else in the air ducts as previously posted.

If all else fails, you could buy a solid odor neutralizer and put it under the seat. Then you at least won't smell the foul odor, although maybe food won't taste as good either...

[NandVsMom]

Thanks everybody. Sounds like we have a big project ahead of us. The search is on for anything old and moldy!

[KonaKat]

Originally Posted by FuzzySuzie

I used to be an auto mechanic here in the SF BayArea. Sometimes there would be a very bad moldy smell when people used their car A/C. The evaporator unit inside the dash gets damp and if it doesn't get a chance to dry out, mold would develop. The fix was a fungicidal spray to kill the mold spores inside the vents all the way through the ducts to the evaporator core.
If you run your A/C and the smell is a lot stronger...that's likely what's wrong. An A/C shop should carry that spray.

FuzzySuzie

I had this happen once. Also helps to run the heater. I would park at home and leave the heater on full blast for about 30 minutes then go turn it off. That helped, too.

[NandVsMom]

excellent suggestion

[R_Cowgirl]

You said "kids." THAT means you got some ol' piece of food or a half-eaten big mac or french fries stuffed inside a cushion or under the seat. Guarans ball bearins... I used to haul my kids around in my van. When I went to sell it, I just cracked up. There were bits and pieces of food stuffed here and there. Guess we didn't smell it cuz the kids were ALWAYS wet and stinky in the car and we got used to it. LOL