Car Smell - What Have You Used?

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Texas Splash

Texas Splash

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Jun 22, 2014
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Texas, San Antonio/Marion, South-Central Area
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CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
So we picked up a new/used SUV earlier this month. 2023 Rogue with only 700 miles. Virtually flawless - except ...... it was a fleet vehicle and apparently it was the go-to smoker's vehicle. Otherwise it's immaculate. We knew getting it would be challenging, but I'm all-in for a good challenge, so we got it. For the life of me I can't crack the final code on that smell. It's not nearly as bad as before, but it still lingers a bit. Here's what I've done thus far:

- Interior head-to-toe/front-to-rear vacuum and deep cleaning with my extraction tool; used Odoban cleaner too (5Xs).
- Literally with cleaner, hand brushes, and even Q-Tips, hit every inch, crack, and crevice for residual material.
- Removed all floor mats, rear truck shelving, etc and deep cleaned outside the vehicle.
- New cabin filter
- With AC on high (fresh air), sprayed duct cleaner/Lysol through the outside intake under the hood. Then placed AC on Recirculate and did the same thing from the air intake by the passenger's feet area.
- Bought a new ozone machine doing several treatments anywhere from 20 min to an hour at a time; probably about 10 attempts so far.
- Hand-brushed and damp cleaned the headliner (gotta be very careful with those).
- Treated the seatbelts
- Deep cleaned/extracted the carpets I think 3 times now.
- I've detailed this interior about five times now with Odoban as my primary cleaning agent and using a 4" round nylon brush on my cordless drill for scrubbing. The dirty water pulled from my extractor is not nearly as dirty as in the early stages, but still comes out light brown. Hard to tell if it's nicotine related or just dirt, body oils, etc.

I'm at the point now where I'm just trying to find a good air freshener to help mask the residual smell for a while until hopefully one day the smoke smell fades away completely, but everything I've tried is a bust. Odoban tubs, Febreze new car smell spray (nope), Chemical Guys new car smell in a bottle (don't waste your time).

So, do any of you have any tips/tricks I might have missed or could try? Any good car freshener products that were a homerun for you?
 
When we had babies, I found this stuff after 27 attempts down the cleaning aisle. It removed stains and smells amazing. Then we got pets and it did the trick for them too.

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We recently bought a used pickup and evidentally the guy took his dog everywhere. The slightest bit of humidity made it smell like wet dog, because there was effectively a wet dog in the truck at that point. Lol. I went buck wild with the shop vac and used a couple bottles of woolite cleaner. Once dry i heavily dusted the seats, floor, and carpets with half a Costco bag of Baking soda to the point I could brush it around by hand. I let that sit for a couple of days and then went buck wild with the shop vac again.

Can you get the headliner out to be able to clean and baking soda it ? Most of the smoke unfortunately went up so it probably reeks the worst.
 
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I hope you got a good deal! Years ago I worked as an engineer in an office where they smoked inside. I couldn't take the smell, so I moved myself into a trailor office in our manufacturing facility. I decided to upgrade the computer I pulled out of the old office and the whole inside of the case was brown from the smoke traveling through it.. super gross. I imagine you are smelling the residue on the backside of the inner portions of the dashboard. Probability never get rid of it completely, but can mask it pretty good with air fresheners.
 
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Odoban & ozone are my go to’s so i am at a loss.
Maybe try some charcoal?
Walmart has canisters of it
I think odoban sells sachets of it too
The zep stuff James linked is good stuff
 
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The plastics and foam inside the air handling and duct work of the car are saturated with cigarette smoke. You literally can’t do anything about that except to wait for it to abate over time. You want to run as much fresh air through the system as you can and running the ozone machine will help lessen it over time but it’s embedded at this point. You would literally have to rip out all the carpeting and duct work to get rid of it. Not feasible.

Sorry, it is what it is.
 
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JoyfulNoise said:
Sorry, it is what it is.
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I'm not surprised by that reply Matt. I've literally bathed every inch of fabric I can get to several times. Your comments, like the other above about computer repair, is something I've been saying here at home for a couple weeks now. While the smoke smell is much less, it's still there because I simply can't get to it. Problem now is after trying so many different products, it smells like a bad chemical factory when you open the door. A total mish-mosh of scents that make no sense. Ha.

Okay, doors & window open it is as much as possible. We'll get it in time. Just like a SLAM ..... PATIENCE. :)
 
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Went to look at a truck one time - it was beautiful, super clean, low miles, reputable dealer etc.
opened the doors and it straight up smelled like the crayola factory!
Had to walk away. I have no idea why it smelled like that but it was overwhelming.

Hope yours airs out soon!
Drive her with the windows down as much as possible.
Sometimes with nicotine/tar its kinda like washing a really dirty dog- the dry dirtier dog smells better than the wet somewhat cleaner one. So make sure you let it dry out thoroughly after all your cleaning.
Our recent beater suburban purchase was well “loved” & also apparently used as a rabbit habitat in the very back.
We finally had to cut that part of the carpet out. My little extractor just was never going to get it all out.
 
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We bought a truck that had been smoked in. The shop did their thing but it still lingered. When we got home we did the deep vacuum as well. Then we put baking soda all over and let it sit for a long while and vacuumed it up.

The thing that ended up finishing up the smell was to buy some cheap, plastic containers with lids. We cut slits in the lid to help stop spillage. We put white vinegar in the containers. One on each floor board, one under each seat that we could fit it under. A couple on the dash.........you get the drift...........Let it sit at least over night closed up. Do this a couple of days/nights in a row. We did take it out when we drove it.
 
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kimkats said:
We put white vinegar in the containers.
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My wife has been telling me to do this as well. I've been hesitant mainly because I was worried about potential acidic vapors in the relatively small space. Maybe I'm overthinking it? I do have the seats going through a baking soda bath this evening to raise their TA. Ha ha.
 
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Texas Splash said:
My wife has been telling me to do this as well. I've been hesitant mainly because I was worried about potential acidic vapors in the relatively small space. Maybe I'm overthinking it? I do have the seats going through a baking soda bath this evening to raise their TA. Ha ha.
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You should probably listen to your wife - even if it doesn't work. :poke:
And don't tell her that you are doing in now cause some nice :kim: lady on your pool forum suggested it.
 
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kimkats said:
Tell wife she was right
Click to expand...
No Way Comedy GIF by CBC
 
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Mdragger88 said:
… its kinda like washing a really dirty dog- the dry dirtier dog smells better than the wet somewhat cleaner one…
Click to expand...
Truer words have never been spoken 👆

The wet dog stays outside and in the sun until she dries off …. Ooof, that wet dog smell, it’s just the worst. And for some reason they always want to jump up on you and get all the love they can when they are wet and stinky 🤷‍♂️

Pat - the smell will abate, it will just take time. I would suggest, if possible, you run the air vents on recirculate and seal up the car when the ozone generator is going and let the ozone get sucked into and circulated in the duct work. Ozone takes time to oxidize the odor causing compounds and you may just have to do treatments regularly until the smell subsides. Just make sure if you run the ozone for a while that you let the car air out afterwards. Ozone is not good to breathe in.
 
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You've done all that I'm aware of, but like others have pointed out, it's nearly impossible to fully remove old cigarette odor fully. It permeates into every porous surface, and a car is full of them - the seats, the seat foam, the headliner, the headliner backing, the carpet and sound deadening material. Even the plastics on the dashboard and door panels are slightly porous. Given enough time, I'm sure it will mostly go away, especially since the car only has 700 miles it. Unless the guy hotboxed the car every afternoon, it'll eventually subside to a point where it's barely noticeable.

Using ozone treatments, deep cleaning the carpet/upholstery, and Nextzett Klima-Cleaner in the HVAC, I was able to get cigarette odor out of an old ZJ Grand Cherokee, but on very very hot days it would still come back, albeit faintly. Granted, I think that thing was smoked in for years.
 
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