Old car smell

Huskymaniac · #1 09-06-2010, 10:24 AM

I had posted about this some time ago. After doing some reading I am going to start with an ozone treatment. I happen to have an ion/ozone air purifier so I am running it on "away" or ozone mode for 30 minutes while the vents are running full blast on recirculate. After 30 minutes I am going to run a HEPA filter with a carbon pre-filter to get rid of remnant ozone. After that, and once I recover from my sinus infection, I am going to clean the entire interior including the leather with that LeaterCPR product I bought. I am considering bringing the car to a detailer to have the A/C system cleaned and the drains cleaned out.

Hocrest · #2 09-06-2010, 10:39 AM

I'm no detailer, but wouldn't it make sense to clean the interior before you attack the smells??

Landshark · #3 09-06-2010, 10:52 AM

get some Ozium (someone told me they use this to deodorize hotel rooms), spray inside of car generously, and let sit for a day (don't go in car, you'll die from the fumes). then air it out.

you can get it at Pep Boys, etc.

but yeah, clean the interior first.

Huskymaniac · #4 09-06-2010, 10:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hocrest

I'm no detailer, but wouldn't it make sense to clean the interior before you attack the smells??

I thought about that. Here is the reasoning. If the smells are due to surface contaminants, the ozone will kill them and they will be removed upon cleaning. If they are interior like the foam in the seat cushions then maybe conditioning the seats first will keep the ozone from penetrating. It probably doesn't matter which is done first. And I can do the ozone treatment again if I need to.

Also, I am battling a sinus infection and fever so I have only so much energy today. At least I was able to mow the lawn yesterday before it hit me.

Huskymaniac · #5 09-06-2010, 02:41 PM

Update:

It seemed to take away quite a bit of the old car smell. I ran the ozone generator with the vents pulling in fresh air from the outside and the wind open a crack for 30 minutes. I then switched the vents to recirculate and ran the ozone generator for another 30 minutes. I let the car sit for an hour. Then I turned on my HEPA filter which has a carbon prefilter to remove the ozone and let that run for an hour. It smells a lot better now.

The bad thing was this I was running the vents with a battery charger on the battery to avoid having it run down but it didn't work as planned. It worked fine for the first hour or so. Then I found the battery charger off and no fan blowing. At some point the battery charger was tripped and the car ran off the battery only and killed it. When I reset the battery charger all I heard was clicking from a relay inside the car switching back and forth. I took the key out and just let the battery charger recharge the battery and that seems to be going OK. Everything powers up now. I have no idea how many times the battery charger reset itself and how many times that relay switched. I also don't know the extent of the damage to the battery. These types of batteries are not deep cycle and don't like to be fully drained. Before trying this again I will need to get a better battery charger.

Mike621 · #6 09-06-2010, 06:54 PM

I have a few tips for cleaning your interior; both of which have decreased unfavorable interior smells significantly.

1) CLEAN your headliner, and rear deck carpet thoroughly. Use Blue Coral fabric cleaner applied to a warm, moist microfiber towel. Rub entire headliner gently. Do not press hard and do not saturate the fabric or it will separate.

2) Clean the insides of your windows thoroughly. You'd be surprised how often the rear windows of the SVX hold buildup from smoking, dirt, dust, etc and how often it is neglected for years. My recommendation is Stoner Invisible Glass.

3) Now, this one takes a little while, but it is worth it...

Remove your front seats from the car and your rear seat bottom. I have yet to remove an SVX seat and not find some sort of encrusted stain (food based, generally) on the carpet. You'd be surprised the amount of odor that one decaying french fry can cause or one coffee stain. Use Blue Coral and Folex throughout.

Rub your carpet down by hand with either a microfiber or a scrub brush, depending on severity. You could also borrow a Bissel Little Green Machine which does work wonders, so I've heard.

You should not need ozone treatments. You should clean your interior FULLY.

Believe me, I've seen/cleaned some bad ones.

93 Anniversary Edition with 112k (bought it like this):

Huskymaniac · #7 09-06-2010, 07:29 PM

Good lord, that is AWFUL!

b3lha · #8 09-07-2010, 04:12 AM

Look up "Thermo Fogging". It works really well.

SoCal LS-L · #9 09-07-2010, 08:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Huskymaniac

Update:

It seemed to take away quite a bit of the old car smell. I ran the ozone generator with the vents pulling in fresh air from the outside and the wind open a crack for 30 minutes. I then switched the vents to recirculate and ran the ozone generator for another 30 minutes. I let the car sit for an hour. Then I turned on my HEPA filter which has a carbon prefilter to remove the ozone and let that run for an hour. It smells a lot better now.

The bad thing was this I was running the vents with a battery charger on the battery to avoid having it run down but it didn't work as planned. It worked fine for the first hour or so. Then I found the battery charger off and no fan blowing. At some point the battery charger was tripped and the car ran off the battery only and killed it. When I reset the battery charger all I heard was clicking from a relay inside the car switching back and forth. I took the key out and just let the battery charger recharge the battery and that seems to be going OK. Everything powers up now. I have no idea how many times the battery charger reset itself and how many times that relay switched. I also don't know the extent of the damage to the battery. These types of batteries are not deep cycle and don't like to be fully drained. Before trying this again I will need to get a better battery charger.

Dont forget our recirculation setting reverts back to fresh intake air after 10 minutes. Its set that way to keep people from o-zoning their interiors properly.

wdb · #10 09-07-2010, 12:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Huskymaniac

Good lord, that is AWFUL!

The entire interior of the car I bought looked like that. I'm still finding odd detritus and still trying to get the stink out.

Huskymaniac · #11 09-07-2010, 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike621

I have a few tips for cleaning your interior; both of which have decreased unfavorable interior smells significantly.

1) CLEAN your headliner, and rear deck carpet thoroughly. Use Blue Coral fabric cleaner applied to a warm, moist microfiber towel. Rub entire headliner gently. Do not press hard and do not saturate the fabric or it will separate.

2) Clean the insides of your windows thoroughly. You'd be surprised how often the rear windows of the SVX hold buildup from smoking, dirt, dust, etc and how often it is neglected for years. My recommendation is Stoner Invisible Glass.

3) Now, this one takes a little while, but it is worth it...

Remove your front seats from the car and your rear seat bottom. I have yet to remove an SVX seat and not find some sort of encrusted stain (food based, generally) on the carpet. You'd be surprised the amount of odor that one decaying french fry can cause or one coffee stain. Use Blue Coral and Folex throughout.

Rub your carpet down by hand with either a microfiber or a scrub brush, depending on severity. You could also borrow a Bissel Little Green Machine which does work wonders, so I've heard.

You should not need ozone treatments. You should clean your interior FULLY.

Believe me, I've seen/cleaned some bad ones.

What do you use for the vinyl/plastic parts? The glass cleaner?

Mike621 · #12 09-07-2010, 02:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Huskymaniac

What do you use for the vinyl/plastic parts? The glass cleaner?

use Folex for cleaning deep on grained plastic/vinyl. Green1995SVX referred me to this product and to use a scrubbing sponge. Go over the Folex-ed areas afterward with Lexol cleaner for a nice matte sheen.

Sean486 · #13 09-07-2010, 02:41 PM

Mike, is it easy to remove the seats? I would love to get that space between seat and console [that I can't reach] cleaned up.

Mike621 · #14 09-07-2010, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sean486

Mike, is it easy to remove the seats? I would love to get that space between seat and console [that I can't reach] cleaned up.

It is relatively easy to remove the seats, as you will only need a 14mm socket/ratchet with extension and some patience. Take care in popping off the plastic bolt covers on the seat rails. They are sometimes brittle with age. Be careful when re-installing the bolts as they tend to strip out easily.