Step by step instructions to get awful smell out of auto?

I have a car that I'm selling and have a couple of individuals intrigued, yet before I offer it I have to clean it up. The inner part smells repulsive, and I have to know how to get that smell out of the auto for good. Let me know your reccomendations.

 

Try to PM Flexin, he has an auto shop so he will just know what to do on how to get the smell out of your car.

 

One of the traditional ways of doing it is park your car under the sun and keep all door open for a couple of hours. Let the elements drive out the foul odor and after that wash your car interiors and if possible change the seat covers and floor mats. That should generally do the trick. As an addition, put in a fragrance enhancer.

 

An old technique that has worked for me is to leave some vinegar in the car for a few hours. Something about vinegar that sucks the smell out of a car and gives you a fresh start to say the least.

 

I would get a can of that foam carpet cleaner and scrub down any carpeting with it, then get some car interior cleaner (or even just some soapy water) and clean down all the other vinyl and leather surfaces as well, oh and don't forget the windows. If the odor is from stuff like smoking, or something that spilled in the car, you need to get off any residue it left behind. There are industrial strength products to absorb and remove really bad odors, but you shouldn't need to resort to those in most cases.

 

Scents certainly may the problem worst. A friend of mine poured a fine perfume bottle on the carpets thinking that this would remove the awful smell in her car, and the result was disastrous.

She had to stop using her car for months and spent a lot sending it to different places that promised to get it odor-free.

 

What kind of odor is it? Is it a mildew smell? I had this kind of problem. What I did to get rid of it is to "bake" your car. You have to turn on your heater full blast in recirculate mode with all your windows closed and doors closed for around 10 minutes. After that, the smell should be gone.

 

Oh goodness, that had to really smell bad. My friend left her bottle of perfume in my car once, and I tossed it in my inner coat pocket of my leather jacket to give it to her next time I saw her. I didn't realize the bottle must have had a leak in it because it spilled all into my jacket. It stunk of "Charlie" perfume for months, I had to stop wearing it and get another coat. It was probably throwing a lot of people off why I was smelling so feminine lol.

 

Well to remove awful smell from a car I use car fresheners. But this is after doing a thorough cleaning of the car.

 

Thanks for these instructions James. I always add scent whenever I clean my interior so I have learnt something new. Now I know why the odor lingers even after I did so much cleaning.