interior smells

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colonel

Member
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Aug 13, 2017
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My Car
73 vert
I have a Bad smell inside my 73 vert. 

The car has been sitting for 15 years Ive been told, but it is in great shape minus the seat foams which are deteriorating (yellow powder all over the car).

Are the seats known to develop some smell when they get old?

Thx, Alex

 
Not only dead ones they love to pee on everything. You can use an ozone generator to remove the smell after you get rid of the source. It is easy for mice, snakes, chipmunks and such to get into the cars. That is unless to take some steps to stop them.

I would take the back seat out and see if there is a  nest under there. The other place they love is not easy to get to but very likely they are there, heater box. There is the plastic mesh cover over the cowl vents but small critters get in anyway, found a huge nest in the cowl of a parts car was a mouse hotel. There is also the the two water drain holes on either side of the cowl that a snake or mouse can enter in. I attached pics of what I do to prevent them getting in again. Unless you have rust holes the cowl is only access point that I know of unless body plugs are missing. The ozone generator is what is used to get the burnt smell out after home fire. I also use in camper to get the musty smell out. Works great. Ozone is what you smell after a thunderstorm that makes the air smell so fresh. I got one off Amazon and have used all over the place, cars, camper, home, friends dog kennel. They work and they are now using them to kill scent for hunting clothes.

I get the 1/4" wire mess at home supply can get smaller if you want. I paint black and you can hardly see under the plastic cowl vent covers. I zip tie to underside of the plastic. Older Ford cars had about a 3/16" mesh over the vents. The replacement foam kits for the heater box comes in two pieces for the cowl inlet so I put wire mesh between the two foam seals to give a second barrier due to the water drain holes on end of cowl. Taking the heater box out is a pretty good job but just nuts and bolts no special tools needed. You can put new foam kit in which sucks, nothing fits right and go with a new heater core while out. Watch video on WCCC West Coast Cougar Classics on the rebuild so you do not break anything. Once you block them no more mice or smell.











 
I did find a Nest unter the back seat and some damaged paper towels in the trunk. Removed both, but didnt find any  corpses. Behind the rear side panels, maybe? Inside the The heater box would be tuff to find and remove.

 
Its one of those things, where, you will probably have to remove as much of the interior as possible. Spray it all down with Pet urine remover, found at pet smart, then pressure wash it all with alot of car wash soap. They dry it all out completely. Then completely rebuild the seats, replace all the foam and stuffing, seat covers.

 
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There's a story going around that the steering wheels themselves end up smelling bad, due to the plastic deterioration....

 
With two sinus surgeries I can hardly smell or taste anything, lol.

Pull the plastic screens off the cowl and look inside. If there are acorn or shells in there I bet there is a nest in heater box.

With the ozone generator you can put the seats in something you can close up and get rid of odor after you have washed them. You should not have to tear it apart. They only pee and poo down. Or does a mouse lift it's leg?

Years ago I was sitting in one of my cars and a black snake fell out from under the dash. Needless to say it scared the crap out of me. It was there to catch the mice.

My brother in law had to replace the wire harness on his newer Chevy truck. mice or chipmunks ate the covering. GM is or was using something they loved in the covering. That cost him I think $800. Set you a trap inside the car and see what comes out.

While living in China one of the jars you see in the bars is one filled with pickled baby mice with not hair. Just little pink mice. They Chinese pull them out and snack on them and say they are great. I did not get that hungry. The chewed up bones and all, yuk. There is also usually a jar with a big snake in it with some kind of herb solution their version of Viagra. Didn't try that either.

 
Dave, can we please stick to automotive stuff and not culinary? ;-))

I will try the mouse trap thing but the smell is not particularily like mouse pee which is rather sharp, pungent and intense. No signs of poo either. The smell is rather thick, kind of sweet I´d say. How do dead rotten mice smell?

 
Is it a rotting smell or more a moldy, "wet dog" kind of smell?

My car had the typical old odor that you can smell in most old cars and I removed the carpet and all the insulation which is like felt and it traps moisture. After that and a new carpet all odors were gone for good.

Of course if something died in there that´ll be a different story.

 
Mine smelled too. It must have smelled for a while as when I tore the interior out the PO had put dryer sheets under the rear seats. I pulled all out. Let the seats air out for several days. Pulled the old original carpets and insulation. Found several dead mouse skeletons under it. Cleaned it all out and put down new INS and carpet. No smells at all now.

 
If all else fails, a match will work!!

I had rats in my 72 Mach when it was stored for 5 years, up on 18" jackstands. How the hell did they get inside?? You want smell, try cleaning up after a nest of rats. I know they were rats, the turds were huge!! No, I didn't torch it either, but it took a long time to get the smell out. I also had moth balls inside and there was another mistake, took all the "chrome" trim off and did nothing to deter the rats.

 
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Nah, not moldy, car aint wet inside, either. I am currently following the bad smelling steering wheel trace... The rim smells pretty bad and I wrapped the wheel in plastic foil for the time being to try and isolate it from the rest of the car. Some recomment to clear the rim to eliminate the smell, not sure if this will help, tho.

 
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I will have to check out the steering wheel thing. At least you do not have a headliner. Mice love to get in there and nest also. I have see a mouse jump probably 3 feet before. Got one cornered in our game room once and the thing was going crazy. Jumping up on the wall. I got a tennis racket hanging on the wall and gave it a backhand into the wall. That did him in, lol.

Putting moth balls in your car would keep the snakes out but not the critters. They do have those high frequency things you plug in that they say will keep them out.

I know the ozone generator will remove the smell for sure. They have been using them for years. This is the one that I have much bigger than needed for a car but I use in lots of places.

https://www.odorfreemachines.com/suite-700/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI64r2r6zc1QIVdSjTCh3v7goFEAYYAyABEgK-EvD_BwE

 
I did the same as Lux. Got rid of the nasty carpet and the smell was gone. I am sure one of the previous owners was a smoker. The car smelled like an ash tray.

John J

 
dryer sheets do work well to repel critters. Also sprinkle ground coffee all over the place, that will absorb the smell adequately.

 
Put some poison on the floor panels, never been touched in a week or so. So no live animals, I guess.

I soaked some paper towels with spray on smell neutralizer, wrapped the steering weel, put a plastic bag around it and let it sink in for some hours. Afterwards the smell from the steering weel was still noticeable, but not as bad as before. I might repeat if it comes back over the next few days.

Next step down the road will be to "paint" the steering wheel with satin clear, thus sealing the smell "inside". I am convinced the clear will peal off over time but hope this will give my nose some rest for a year or so.

How do I remove the steering wheel? Can I simply pry the pad off, unscrew the center nut and pull? Or do I need to use a puller and dismantle the turn signal switch, ignition switch and stuff?

 
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Two and three spoke padded wheels have philips screws in from the backside of the spokes. Two spoke will have wires connected to the pad for the horn. Remove the nut and use a steering wheel/harmonic balancer puller. You'll notice that there are alignment marks on the steering shaft and wheel. Make sure you align those when you put it back together and torque the nut to the pecs in the manual.

 
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