Greetings - my car stinks - left a bucket of water in the boot after some absent-minded gardening and drove away - spilling water all through the boot. I didn't notice immediately and left my car parked on a light slope for three weeks while I was away - so water seeped under the seats and saturated the carpet as well...

Had a steam cleaner/flood specialist guy clean it all out - he gave me a de-humidifier to leave in the car for a couple of days to dry completely. It is dry now, but still stinks a little when you first hop in.

What I want to know is, how do I get rid of the odour!? Do I need to completely replace the interior, or just the carpet? I wanted to sell the car - and actually stuck an ad up on AMC - but not sure who would want to buy it now. I suppose if it is a case of replacing the carpet then it isn't that bad.

Does anyone know where I can get a new interior - or carpet at least!? For an 03 TJ Sports!?

go to coles, buy a can on no-vac, basically a 4buk can of carpet cleaner/deodorizer...
spray it on, it disolves in 5 mins, leave overnight, open windows to air out (smells nice but really overpowering)
wahlah shes all good agen

we recently bought a car from auction that smelt like it had a bottle of milk spilt in it and was left to soak in. we also had the car professionally cleaned, with a deodourising treatment, and carpet wash, yet the smell remains. we got rid of 90% of it and it seems to be slowly fading with time.

go to coles, buy a can on no-vac, basically a 4buk can of carpet cleaner/deodorizer...
spray it on, it disolves in 5 mins, leave overnight, open windows to air out (smells nice but really overpowering)
wahlah shes all good agen

:stoopid:, this works well

go to coles, buy a can on no-vac, basically a 4buk can of carpet cleaner/deodorizer...
spray it on, it disolves in 5 mins, leave overnight, open windows to air out (smells nice but really overpowering)
wahlah shes all good agen

That's great - never heard of the stuff! Will definitely give it a crack - cheers... Wish I hadn't wasted $300 bucks on the flood guy...

give the flood guy a call back and say the smell hasnt gone, for $300 there should be some sort of guarantee on the work?

NO VAC is great... use the whole can over a week every night.
other than that... stop FARTING in it helps :booty: :sick:

give the flood guy a call back and say the smell hasnt gone, for $300 there should be some sort of guarantee on the work?

You would think there is a guarantee, but I just can't be bothered. Pain in the buttocks really...given I was wanting to just sell the blasted thing...

NO VAC is great... use the whole can over a week every night.
other than that... stop FARTING in it helps :booty: :sick:

Um, thanks. Very practical advice...

Glen 20 does wonders...

Um, thanks. Very practical advice...

Sorry to offend buddy but the Title of the thread just leans towards a little poke.
Hope you sort out the problem and yeah, get your $300 back off that useless flood guy.

300bucks..... wtf? woulda been cheaper to just get new carpet.....

Sorry to offend buddy but the Title of the thread just leans towards a little poke.
Hope you sort out the problem and yeah, get your $300 back off that useless flood guy.

No worries - it was kind of the point...so no offence taken

I am rather partial to a bit of butt-trumpeting whilst motoring along in my vehicle...something quite soothing about it all...

Crap - I'm never going to be able to sell my car now... Not to anyone from AMC at least...
It it is any consolation, I have only owned the car since April - so it would be somebody else's methane largely embedded in the upholstery...


I think I should stop typing now...

:bowrofl:

Have you actually got down on your knees and found out where it smells? Could be a piece of food scrap that has gone off. I was lucky once when we moved offices within DSTO where we used our own cars plus a rental truck to move things. Anyhow, a newbie decided to put a coffee perculator with half a bowl of coffee in the boot of my old KS without telling me. Drove for 1km though twists and turns, got out, started unloading and noticed that the perculator was still upright. Very lucky.

Have you actually got down on your knees and found out where it smells? Could be a piece of food scrap that has gone off. I was lucky once when we moved offices within DSTO where we used our own cars plus a rental truck to move things. Anyhow, a newbie decided to put a coffee perculator with half a bowl of coffee in the boot of my old KS without telling me. Drove for 1km though twists and turns, got out, started unloading and noticed that the perculator was still upright. Very lucky.

No food - a bucket of water unfortunately... You were very lucky indeed - coffee stains pretty nasty to get out...


Tried that No-Vac stuff... Actually worked pretty well - cancelled out the rotten odour but now the car stinks of vanilla. I think if I attempted to drive anywhere I might pass out. I did use two cans in one hit though - so maybe that's my fault. I have a thing of bi-carb soda sitting in there now - apparently that might help suck up the stench...

Get a small piece of rag, soak it in Eucalyptus oil and throw it under the front seat for about a week.

Have you taken the back seats out and looked underneath. If the water started in the boot, it will have gone under the back seat and possibly into the rear foot wells. The rear seat foam can hold a lot of water. If it is the rear seats, maybe get a cheap replacement from the wreckers to use while you soak, anti-mould, clean and dry your rear seat.
Leave the back seat out in the sun (not that we have any of that at the moment). A couple of days at 30-40 degrees will dry most seats.

Yep, nothing like a complete interior and boot strip and a park in the sun to get rid of smells. Put the carpet and any backing you find on the clothes line and put the garden hose on it. You will be surprised what comes out. lol Don't include the headliner in this though.

All fixed! Smells better than it ever has now... Thanks for all of the suggestions...

god to hear you got it fixed, side note when i bought back my TR from a mate who only owned it for a year or so ( long story ) i found more cockroachs than chernobals food supply and a stack of half eaten food in it. stripped the damn thing to clean it but smell remianed in the ac for like another 1K either that or i got used to it, hoping for the previous :D also can vouch for the loving scent of NO VAC

as a smoker who is naughty with his nocotine in the car NO VAC is like a miracle cure, pregnant non smoking workmate could even smell smoke it :D