# Getting rid of old musty interior smell



## CoupeDTS

I bought an old car I'm restoring and it has an aweful old car smell inside. Mice were in there but I think sitting in a barn for 15 years is most of it. I removed the interior and shampoo vac'd the seats carpet and wiped down everything with cleaner. I used lysol anti bacterial on stuff and so far the smell is still there.

From what I read online the mildew is in the foam padding and behind things. People say put a air purifier on high enclosed in the car overnight that has an ion filter, I have one of those ill try that. Also people say use charcoal and odoban and leave that stuff in the car for days and it will soak up any moisture or smells. Also febreeze works well.

Anyone have experience with this and what really works? New carpet is $170 so of course I wanna try cheaper methods first.


----------



## lone star

Try arm and hammer....once my restroom over flowed and it was a mess and went under the wall into my closest.....pulled carpet up and used fans it dried but smell was still there.....put an open box of arm and hammer baking soda in there and in a few days the smell was gone.


----------



## Dylante63

We had new f 150 at work, cust was deployed vehicle sat for a year and had a water leak at the 3rd brake light. Mold and stank every where on a new truck. Replaced carpet, headliner, front and rear seat covers to get it right.


----------



## ramiro6687

Sometimes it's the deadener behind door panels and under headliners, Got an S10 with the same problem and all over the forums for S10's that's how they fixed it. I might try the baking soda though.


----------



## lowdeville

Coffee grounds....spread your grounds over carpet and rest of interior,and let sit for a few days,vacuum up,it'll smell like coffee grounds after,but much better than mouse piss.
Used car dealer showed me this trick on a truck I painted for him recently,smelled it before and after,definitely a huge improvement.


----------



## Hydros

did not read all replies. Mice and dead kittens can really smell a car up, best thing I have found, in hot weather, leave windows open for days and days and use intake and exhaust fans on full blast, leave them on for hours and for days. hot days are best. hot direct sun light seems to help too. At night I sprayed the interior down and shut windows until the next afternoon, repeat and repeat, unit you can't tell anymore. I am pretty sure it may have taken up to 6 weeks to rid the car.

there is an atomizer that puts out very fine moisture particles, like a fog. use this with anti microbial solution. You can rent these. Close everything, some other good killers of bacteria and mold is 10% hydrogen peroxide, alcohol. Alcohol can catch fire, HP may discolored. 

avoid breathing mouse droppings and urine , I hear it can kill you.

If appears the carpet padding, might have some issues, maybe you could pull the carpet and seat and let them sit out in hot sunlight for a few days. Not too sure is it a good or bad idea to leave them out on cool mights, but seems rain would help with the deep cleaning. ALL IMO


----------



## CoupeDTS

Ya hauntavirus, from infected deer mice, will kill you :wow: not too common but I've been avoiding contact and inhalation as much as possible anyway.

I have time, so I think I'm going to put a small bag of charcoal, box of baking soda, that odorban all enclosed in there for like a week and hope it soaks up the moldy smell. If that don't work then ill have no choice but to pull the carpet and headliner


----------



## Typical Cholo Stereotype

ayyeee buy this zeo trap http://www.amazon.com/ATP-ZE-1-Zeo-Trap-Lb/dp/B001LMWQ44

and watch this video, it works :happysad:


----------



## CoupeDTS

Lol corny ass video but interesting. For $11 its worth to have around


----------



## CoupeDTS

They're 20 some bucks on ebay but someone is selling them for $6 shipped so I bought a couple at that price :wow: couldn't hurt to throw them in your car


----------



## dameon

fabreeze


----------



## CoupeDTS

dameon said:


> fabreeze


That too, I'm gonna use a whole bottle of that stuff


----------



## Typical Cholo Stereotype

CoupeDTS said:


> They're 20 some bucks on ebay but someone is selling them for $6 shipped so I bought a couple at that price :wow: couldn't hurt to throw them in your car


ayyee if you bought the zeo traps dam good deal :thumbsup:


----------



## maximus63

Airborne :thumbsup:


----------



## CoupeDTS

Ok update.

Febreeze did nothing, nothing noticeable anyway.
The zeolite traps definately aren't a quick fix, though I'm sure they work and ill just keep them under the seats.

Shampoo carpets didn't work.

Air purifier running in the car 2 overnights didn't work.

The thing that DID work was the baking soda. I used a big box and dumped it all over the carpet and left it for a few days. The moist smell was still in the car bad but it was just the baking soda that had soaked up the moisture. I vacuumed it up and now its much much better. I'm going to do a 2nd treatment and rub it into the carpet all over to get any remaining moist smell out. But it works!

Now the febreeze and other methods MIGHT have worked to get out odors but they didn't get the mildew smell out. So once the mildew is out then atleast there won't be any other odors in there


----------



## Hydros

CoupeDTS said:


> Ok update.
> 
> 
> 
> Now the febreeze and other methods MIGHT have worked to get out odors but they didn't get the mildew smell out. So once the mildew is out then atleast there won't be any other odors in there


The best way I can say this, my advise, is to only date nice girls.


----------



## lone star

Glad it worked out.


----------



## CoupeDTS

:thumbsup: I had heard about it doing google searches too but also a lot of methods that don't work. Always nice to find something that works and is cheap as fuck lol


----------

