When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I wish I had seen this post sooner. I own an auto detailing shop in Silicon Valley and seem to be the local specialist in odor removal.
First when we do odor removal we locate the source, you have R & R'd everything under the sun to no avail. Unfortunately not knowing the exact smell, I would have zeroed in on the HVAC system. 90% of the people do not shut off the A/C and run the vent for a few minutes before shutting the car off. This subjects the HVAC system to mold and mildew, a very common problem we see. I run vent for about 1/2 mile from my destination before I shut the car down.
Onto a potential solution.
Go to your local auto parts store and purchase a product called Ozium, 2 containers.
Turn on ACC, and the fan running at a low speed on "Vent/Floor" Open the hood, and spray the Ozium into the vents under the hood, be generous. Open the drivers side door, if you smell a sweet aroma, it means the Ozium has gotten into the HVAC system. Turn off the ACC and let it sit. Spray more Ozium into the vents.
Do this 3-4 times over a 4 hour period. The goal is let the Ozium sit in the HVAC system and kill the bacteria causing the problem. Shutting off the system allows that to happen.
Then setup your ozone machine on a towel, on the console with the bulb facing the front. Turn it on, with the windows closed and let it run overnight and even into the next day.
I can tell you your short term 3 hours session simply won't work in this situation. It is good for clearing a room, but not for dealing with an aroma as you have described.
Yes ozone deteriorates rubber, but it takes some pretty serious exposure for that to happen, and that is running for 3+ days straight
Shut it off, open the doors, let the car air out for several hours.
Close everything up and put it in the sun to bake.
Let it set for a couple of hours
Stick your head in and see if you still smell anything.
If you still have an aroma, open the windows and let the interior air out.
Repeat the above process 24 hours later.
I had to do this 3 times, for what we affectionately call the "Meat Wagon", customer forgot 3 very large steaks in 90+ degree heat in the back of the SUV for three weeks while they, traveled Europe. We could smell the rancid meat aroma coming up our driveway.
The above technique solved the issue
Hi All this is the beginning of a good news i guess. We have used the first bottle of Ozium respecting your procedure and left the car to stay. We've also sprayed a bit in the interior. The smell has changed. The mold smell still lingers but it is different. We were thinking to repeat the procedure (spraying from the engine and then from the interior through the vents), leave it another day or two and then blast the ozone. What do you think? Thank you
I can't remember if you opened up the evaporator box and cleaned it out and the drain holes? Did that get done in the end?
regards
john
Hi John,
Yes the evaporator was cleaned and also the drain holes. But from what i understand, inside the evaporator the pressure is huge so it is highly unlikely for bacteria to develop there.
That's good. It's the box containing the evaporator that's the problem due to condensation and if it collects due to blocked drains then it acts as a great home for moulds to grow.
The high pressure is within the evaporator itself and that's sealed from the outside world and therefore not the problem.
If there's been no pollen filter in circuit you can also get leaf debris jammed in the matrix fins which also could harbour moulds
My small contribution if I may. No one has seemed to mention this yet.
To get rid of smell can I recommend Activated charcoal. If you cannot get any of that just find some BBQ charcoal. Pinch one of your wifes tights/panty hose. Cut off a leg. Slide in the charcoal and tie a knot in the end. Leave them in the car. They SOAK up any smell.
Someone spilt Olbas oil, a whole jar of it, in my old car. Believe me that stuff really smells. They use it for unblocking noses! I used the charcoal on the spot and eventually it took the whole smell away. I keep a bundle of it under my drivers seat in my other car that I use to take the dog for a walk and the car never smells.
The other recommendation is to take a look at ionisers. They kill airborn bacteria and kill all smells, dust particles etc. I would stick one in my car and leave it running 24/7 till the smell has gone. Very low on electric use cannot do any harm. Get a mains one and just let it run. Occasionally running the blower to circulate the stale air.
So after a week of working, the results are somehow encouraging.
What we did:
sprayed the Ozium from the engine to the inside and the other way around. left the car sitting. resprayed it. left it again.
after two bottles of Ozium they performed a whole day of ozone sessions (our machine has a timer, max duration is 120 minutes, then they made a 30 minutes break, then again, for a whole day).
we've also took down the roof as the lining de-glued and it smelled really bad.
we've also filled the system with cooling agent, as there's a small leak and the car loses it (the heat these days is horrid, we'll deal with the leak later).
after a 20 minute drive i can say that there is a clear improvment. maybe more than 60-70% of the smell is gone. i need to drive it more to realise. the drive was performed with AC on and windows closed, except a fifth on the driver's side. that usually made everything stink, especially my hair and clothes. the hair is fine and the clothes smell just a tiny bit.
what do you reckon? should i perform the ozium again? i'm out of bottles or should i insist with the ozone for longer periods? i noticed that the leather of the steering wheel, that is new, is now a bit dry and has wrinkles on it. can it be from the ozone?
My small contribution if I may. No one has seemed to mention this yet.
To get rid of smell can I recommend Activated charcoal. If you cannot get any of that just find some BBQ charcoal. Pinch one of your wifes tights/panty hose. Cut off a leg. Slide in the charcoal and tie a knot in the end. Leave them in the car. They SOAK up any smell.
Someone spilt Olbas oil, a whole jar of it, in my old car. Believe me that stuff really smells. They use it for unblocking noses! I used the charcoal on the spot and eventually it took the whole smell away. I keep a bundle of it under my drivers seat in my other car that I use to take the dog for a walk and the car never smells.
The other recommendation is to take a look at ionisers. They kill airborn bacteria and kill all smells, dust particles etc. I would stick one in my car and leave it running 24/7 till the smell has gone. Very low on electric use cannot do any harm. Get a mains one and just let it run. Occasionally running the blower to circulate the stale air.
Activated charcoal is supposed to be the strongest. However BBQ charcoal is cheap. I would buy a bag. Stick it on a bit of clean carpet, sack etc then open up the whole bag, slit it down the middle so you can expose as much as possible, and leave it on the floor or back seat. Close up the car and see what happens.
If nothing else you still have some for your BBQ. Please let us know how you get on. The Olbas Oil took 3 days to get rid of as it had soaked into the wood. But the smell went completely.
The thread title is still true. In this moment i am (i guess) again out of solution. So the smell inside changed a bit, but the problem still resides in the HVAC system. I'm telling this because when i took the car it was hot and raining and i started the AC. and when arriving home (20 min drive) my clothes/hair were stinking really bad.
Today i drove it again, ventilation completely off. i was smelling, but not that bad. Went to a meeting than on the way back i turned again the AC on. now i'm at work and i feel myself smelling pretty bad.
so the options are:
source some more Ozium and repeat the procedure? (not sure the guys did it right, with the filter off. i think they just sprayed it through the intake grille). Blast some more Ozone?
i still feel there is something i'm missing in dealing with the HVAC but i don't know what. Evaporator is clean, all the units behind the dash have been thoroughly cleaned, drains are ok.
plus, after yesterday when it rained like hell, when getting in this morning, my glasses became foggy. so maybe there's also a small water leak somewhere that feeds these *******s.
i have this stupid feeling that i'm missing something. or maybe it's something more serious. the guys at the shop remembered that last year, when the interior was completely stripped (dash included, only the steering wheel remained) it still smelled. that can point again to the HVAC as i don't think metal can host and feed mold.
in the meantime i managed to buy some active carbon and placed it inside. but i don't think this is the cure.
As i was saying at the beginning of this thread, i feel again a bit out of solutions...
On top of all the above, i have contacted Jaguar and a classic specialist has answered. He told me that he spoke with maybe the biggest AC specialist in Germany and he said that if the metal smells there are cases in which the smell is so embedded in the car it is not curable. Although i do not want to accept defeat, i am without any solution. Only to try some more ozone and try to find the exact substance that kills the identified fungi and bacteria.
After taking a 911 down to bare metal and putting it back together again, this post leaves me baffled. In 50 years of driving cars in rainy Washington, I've owned mossy cars. Moldy cars. Exhausty cars. Oily cars. Chain smoky cars. Lived in cars. Barfed in cars. A '63 Rat-Vert with water up to the door sills.
Try a little can of Ozium air fresh for cars. I've been using it for 25 years. Spray it in and let sit overnight. Keep using it overnight until problem is solved. I've been using the 'Original' unscented. It doesn't perfume the cars' interior but kills the odor. Or not.
Know anyone with a smoke machine? If you stick one in the car and set it off you will be able to see where your leaks are.
Google "wheeler dealers" the TV show. He used one on there, Merc episode?
As of the Charcoal it takes days but it does get rid of the smell. Just by a bag of normal tree type charcoal and stick it in there open. It will take some time, maybe a week but it will work. What have you to loose? And yes I see you have activated charcoal, but I am talking bulk
I can't remember if you've had the carpets out but am guessing you have and that your floor pan isn't rotted in the footwell on both sides. It's a common problem and lets water in. It doesn't dry out because of the thickness of the foam and carpet.
john
From your initial post i thought active carbon is better. Than i will get some normal charcoal too. Thank you for the smoke machine tip, will try that. That can be the answer to the musty smell. Every rain feeds the contamination. Maybe breaking the cycle will make the difference. Thanks
Originally Posted by frankc
Know anyone with a smoke machine? If you stick one in the car and set it off you will be able to see where your leaks are.
Google "wheeler dealers" the TV show. He used one on there, Merc episode?
As of the Charcoal it takes days but it does get rid of the smell. Just by a bag of normal tree type charcoal and stick it in there open. It will take some time, maybe a week but it will work. What have you to loose? And yes I see you have activated charcoal, but I am talking bulk
Active charcoal is much better than normal charcoal. Probably 4 times better. This is great for keeping general smells down, this is what is in those fridge 'eggs' you can get to take smells out of there.
But most active charcoal comes in small packs. Say 2 oz? But a bag of charcoal is 5K 11 lbs? Just economies of scale, and you can put bits all over the car.
Good luck, dont give up! Remember charcoal takes time but you should smell the difference in a week or so.
I bought three cartridges of water filters containing active carbon, in total arround one kilo. That is 3 lbs i guess. Put them in three days ago. While waiting for other ideas to come i'll let it there.
thank you
Originally Posted by frankc
Active charcoal is much better than normal charcoal. Probably 4 times better. This is great for keeping general smells down, this is what is in those fridge 'eggs' you can get to take smells out of there.
But most active charcoal comes in small packs. Say 2 oz? But a bag of charcoal is 5K 11 lbs? Just economies of scale, and you can put bits all over the car.
Good luck, dont give up! Remember charcoal takes time but you should smell the difference in a week or so.
Trilapis; Here is another lame-a*s idea. How about breaking open the charcoal filters and pouring the contents into a large cooking tray. That way increasing the surface area of the granules. Place it on the back floor out of everybodys' way. Seems you could find activated charcoal at a much lower price than kitchen filters. As I recall they are not cheap.
Here would be a U.S. source. It is available al over the world.
Trilapis; Here is another lame-a*s idea. How about breaking open the charcoal filters and pouring the contents into a large cooking tray. That way increasing the surface area of the granules. Place it on the back floor out of everybodys' way. Seems you could find activated charcoal at a much lower price than kitchen filters. As I recall they are not cheap.
Jip
Yes this is exactly what i did i emptied the contents in a large bag and placed it on the back seat. Plus i sprayed what was left from the third ozium bottle (like half bottle) in the hvac system, and let it work. And thinking of what else can be done...
07-18-2017, 07:00 AM
or should i insist with the ozone for longer periods? i noticed that the leather of the steering wheel, that is new, is now a bit dry and has wrinkles on it. can it be from the ozone?
