Car Advice

How to fix a bad smell in your car

18 Nov 2021

Practical Motoring 8

If your car smells like smoke, milk or like the kids have been sick, here’s how you can get rid of that bad smell.

There are many things that will make a car smell like it should go to the tip – mold, smoking in it, spilling dairy and not cleaning it up, or the dreaded kiddy spew. And despite best effort, hanging a little pine tree air freshener hanging from the rear vision mirror isn’t going to help.

The good news is that smells can be gotten out of a car with a little bit of elbow grease. Here’s how to tackle smells in cars.

1 – Cars that smell like an ashtray: For a start, as Yul Brenner said, ‘Whatever you do, just don’t smoke’. It’s good advice, but I’m not going to get preachy. That said, nothing will ruin your car’s resale quicker than smoking inside it, a non-smoker won’t want to go near it, no matter what it is. Smokers might not notice, but the smell gets into everything.
So, how do you get rid of stinky cigarette smoke from a car’s interior? The trick here is to plan to go to work on a nice, hot and windy day. Drop all the windows and let the car air out while you prepare a solution of 50:50 white vinegar and water… don’t use apple cider vinegar or anything other than white vinegar. Then, with your bucket of vinegar and water, dip a cloth in, wring it out and then wipe down every single surface of the car, including the dash and the seats. Let them dry and continue to air out. If you’ve been smoking in your car for a considerable period, it’s likely you’ll need to give the interior a good clean with vinegar and water a handful of times. Ask a non-smoker friend to take a sniff and tell you if they can still smell smoke.

2 – Takeaway smells in cars: If you eat on the run and use your car as a dining room then there’s a good chance it’s going to stink. And, if you’ve got kids who eat in the car and spill stuff regularly that doesn’t get immediately cleaned up, then that too is going to contribute to a pot-pourri aroma of yuck. Like getting rid of cigarette smoke, you need to stop the habit… meaning, no more eating in your car. Clean out the rubbish that’s in the car, and look under the seats for old chips that have fallen underneath them. Once you’ve cleaned out the car, on a hot sunny, windy day, open the car and let it air out. Once you’ve done that, like with cigarettes, mix up a solution of 50:50 white vinegar and water and give all the surfaces a good wipe. Don’t drench the carpets in the stuff, so make sure you wring out your cloth. And you might need to change the water regularly to avoid smearing dirt all over your car.
If you’ve got dried on stains, you’re probably best off getting a stiff brush and carefully rubbing it on the stain (check that you’re not damaging the surface before getting too stuck in), once you’ve loosened it, get you vacuum and vacuum up the dust. And then use the vinegar and water solution to clean up what’s left.

3 – What about damp smells in the car? This is usually an issue for older cars where the sealing rubbers have started to perish allowing water to leak inside the car and onto the carpet. You’ll know what a damp smell is. If you can smell it in your car then, you should take your car into the mechanic and have them check all the seals on the car to see if they can identify quickly where the water might be leaking in from (if they do, get them replaced). After that, you’ll want to get rid of the smell… you can just call a car detailer, or you could go and hire a wet-and-dry vacuum suitable for use in cars, and then use that to clean the carpets and mats in the car. Most of these wet and dry vacuums will have a drying agent that you add to one of the tanks that will help to dry out the moisture from the carpet.
The short story is, you want to extract the water that’s soaked into the carpet and caused it to stink, and a wet-and-dry vacuum will be the best way to do it. At the same time, you could also go and hire a commercial fan and use it to help blow air through the car and complete the drying process after you’ve cleaned the carpets.

4 – Muddy carpets: These aren’t smelly, but… Hopefully you’ve got mats in your car, meaning you’ve got a sacrificial layer between your feet and the car’s carpet. Having mats in your car, front and back, will ensure an easier clean-up of mud and dirt.
The first thing is to remove the mats from your car and place them on a hard surface, like brick paving or a concrete driveway. Once you’ve laid out the mats, get a brush and scrub the dried-on mud. Once you’ve loosened it, use a vacuum to clean up the mess, and you may need to hire an industrial-strength vacuum. Be patient when vacuuming and keep going even when you think it looks clean as the mud and dirt can be worked deep into the carpet pile. If that doesn’t shift it, you can give the mats a clean with laundry powder made into a paste and applied to the stain. Let it sit for a few minutes and then rinse the mat clean. After that, get a pressure cleaner and spray the carpet mats. Then place the mats over outdoor chairs or a saw horse and leave them in the sun to fully dry before placing them back inside your car.