Car Smelling bad! HELP!

[Antnvlz1294]

Hey everyone,
so pretty much what happened is my mom used my cb7 for work because her car broke down. it rained overnight and when i went to go out to grab something from my car i noticed that the sunroof and windows were open:/. so everything was damp(seats, carpet,etc.). So my natural reaction was to roll up the windows and close the sunroof and its been two days, i got home today from work and looked and saw that my car in the driveway had its windows fogged up. so i opened the door and it smells horrible in there! How do i get rid of the entire smell for good?

Thank You !

[wherm]

pull the car into a garage and leave all windows down, doors open, etc and let it air out. Or if you have one, put a de-humidifier in there to draw out the moisture. Best thing to do though would be pull the carpet out completely, hang it up to dry, shampoo it, dry the floorpans, then reinstall everything.

[Chevsica]

The smell will not start to go away until the interior is completely dry. After that try febreze or something like that.

Edit: What the person above me posted, lol.

[HardInThePaint]

I would get a small carpet cleaner (the one that you carry and has the hose) and use it to suck all the funk ass water out. It'll dry faster that way.

I would also consider choke slamming your mom for that shit.

[crazymikey]

Several ways you can go about this.

First, how much water got in? The insulation under the carpet traps tons of water and moisture, it's like a big sponge.

The seats will dry out, but will take some time if the foam has been saturated. No need to worry about it, it's okay for the foam and upholstery to get wet, it will eventually dry. Sit on a blanket or carboard for now.

Take the carpet out and let it dry, and try and wring out some of the insulation underneath. I took my vinyl floor out of a Toyota truck, and it was soaked with water underneath and smelled horrible.

Once you've got it all dried out, the best bet is maybe use an odor bomb in the interior if there is still residual smell left over. Sometimes even just putting a cup of vinegar in the cupholder overnight will help.

Closing your windows after it got wet was the worst thing you could do. It needs to air out. By removing the seats and carpet, you'll help a lot.

[deevergote]

That would be the start of mold forming... it may never smell the same.

As said, take everything out, lay it in the sun, and let it dry COMPLETELY. Spray it down with febreeze or lysol (doesn't smell as nice, but works to kill anything growing much better).

[crazymikey]

I also have one of those portable deep cleaners...man do they ever work good. I got mine on sale for $100 at Canadian Tire.

[Accrdwgnguy]

Vinegar, febreze, lysol, none of that stuff will help. Bleach is only thing that will kill mold. I went thru this with my Jeep, in fact the interior still has a slight vinegar odor.

You need to find the mold, likely is in the seats as they are giant chunks of foam. Mix up a 4:1 mixture of water to bleach, you want a mostly water mixture so you don't bleach out the color in the fabric. Wear rubber gloves and spray on the bleach/water and scrub the affected areas. Vacuum with a wet/dry vac to suck up the excess, should fix your smell.

My Jeep smelled awful, nothing took out the smell. I pulled the front seats and found the underside of the seats moldy, sprayed on the bleach mix, scrubbed a bit and blew it out with compressed air. All clean and no odor.

[DOMpower]

bleach and a wet vac

[4U2H8ME]

The best way to get rid of the odor is
1. Get the interior completely dry.
2. For the carpet, buy carpet fresh with arm & hammer baking soda. The same way baking soda absorbs odors in you fridge it will do the same for your carpet. be generous and let it sit in the carpet for a day or two then vacuum.
3. For the seats I recommend automotive febreeze.

[10thAnnivCB7]

I used lysol and it made the mold smell worst. Febreeze works and now it smells fresh. Mold can make you get sick.

[bravedude]

if you can put it in a garage. open all doors, place a fan directly in each doorway. as long as air is moving mold will not form and it will dry quicker. the idea of vacuuming the excess moisture is a great idea as well. my 2 cents. best of luck with your problem. here in California it's been pretty damn hot so just rolling your windows down will work here.

[dysfunk]

Look at it this way. Say, you washed clothes but left them in the washer for a couple days with the door closed.... Yeah. Same concept.

[Antnvlz1294]

Thank you all for helping me out, and I don't think the choke slamming thing will work to much:b although I might because she killed the fresh air of my cb7 but besides that its really sunny out and she had the windows rolled up an the car in the sun for 3 days. So it's got to smell terrible in there. The car key is with her and she was on a business trip and doesn't get back till tonight so is there a different process considering its been sitting there in the sun with the windows up for 3 days? Also how do I take out the carpet and seats? When she gets home I want to get this done ASAP. As for the baking soda mix, do I just buy that and how do I apply it? Thank you all!
I wish my cb7 was clean o_O

Look at it this way. Say, you washed clothes but left them in the washer for a couple days with the door closed.... Yeah. Same concept.

[4U2H8ME]

As for the baking soda mix, do I just buy that and how do I apply it?

You can buy it already mixed. I get it at my local supermarket in the cleaning supplies isle. This method will work for getting rid of the odor. The dealer I work at I had a minivan that had a bad water leak. Completely soak the carpet front to back. We used a wet dry vac to get out as much water as possible, left the windows and doors open and left it out side for 3 days to air dry. Once the interior was completely dry. I picked up the scented carpet fresh that has the baking soda mixed into it, sprinkled it on every area of carpet that was exposed(like I said earlier be generous or you'll have to do it twice). let it sit in the carpet with the doors and windows closed for 24 hours, had the interior vacuumed. No odor after that.