Interior odor that won't go away!

T

Tarik

New member
The car in question is a 2010 Subaru Forester XT with leather (perforated, which makes no sense, but so be it).

My wife drives it daily and my daughter (23 months) sits in the car seat and generally snacks on whatever she's given while in motion (rasins, cheerios, apples, cheese, etc).

At first, I thought a thorough cleaning of the seats would abolish the odor - this included removing said food items from the car seats and child seat. After a good Lexol cleaning of the leather seats, and conditioning, the odor persisted.

4 months in to this and the odor is just as bad, in spite of a secondary Lexol treatment, comprehensive vacuum and overall interior detail.

Is it possible that the leather itself smells bad? Can leather age with humidity and kid food junk to simply smell bad like this?

Is there anything I can do at this point to pinpoint the source of odor and kill it once and for all?

At a loss...and I've been postponing posting this for 3 months in hopes that the problem would go away, but it hasn't!

Thank you!
 
Justin Murphy said:
Zep Smoke Odor Eliminator at Home Depot has done miracles for some bad off vehicles.
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Zep. Got it.

I'm on it tonight and pray it'll do the trick.

THANK YOU!
 
I have used a cup of vinegar left overnight to get rid of the smell from people that smoke in there car.
 
Probably something spilled down into the seat foam, pretty common issue with ventilated leather. You may have to end up removing the seat, pour water/vinegar or a liquid odor remover into the seat and wet-vac it out.



After you get rid of the smell, put a thick towel down under the car seat and change it out weekly.
 
Scottwax said:
Probably something spilled down into the seat foam, pretty common issue with ventilated leather. You may have to end up removing the seat, pour water/vinegar or a liquid odor remover into the seat and wet-vac it out.



After you get rid of the smell, put a thick towel down under the car seat and change it out weekly.
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+1 with Scott's advice since I used to do that with my kids. Makes a huge difference when things get spilled, dropped, ground in, etc. It will also protect all seats regardless of type.



Grungy
 
Ron Ketcham said:
Make sure that you spray under the seats and into the a/c vents, under the dash.

Grumpy
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Yes! Do this and let the a/c run for awhile.

Spray the headliner also.
 
Smell smell and smell again. Smell is coming from something or somewhere. Find the area and source of the odor to remove it.



I just deodorized a minivan that the 'wife' read on the internet about a vinegar concoction, to remove dog smell. Months later the 'husband' was ready to trade off the van for the vinegar smell. Also not the first one I have done for vinegar smell.
 
Time and time again this is posted. Yet we can have 100 steps on paint perfection.



Find the smell and use a product the removes that type of smell. Sprays, odor bombs, witch craft, do little. Find the source, use the right remover. That usually means soak the area, because it is usually worse than you think.
 
Some sorta-random thoughts follow:



-Some vehicles/leather interiors do have a "signature smell" that people might find unappealing

-Odor Eliminators are a lot better for this than vinegar

-The product has to contact the source of the odor (hence the seat disassembly/etc.)

-Spray the product in the *intake* for the HVAC so it goes through all the ductwork and change the setting (heat/ac/defrost/etc.)

-It's possible to eat/smoke/transport animals in a vehicle and still keep it smelling like new, but, like keeping paint marring-free, it's not easy
 
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PŪRWorld offers a very similar product
 
Accumulator said:
-It's possible to eat/smoke/transport animals in a vehicle and still keep it smelling like new, but, like keeping paint marring-free, it's not easy
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Not as easy as you think, just like smokers think if they don't smoke in their car (but they always stink like smoke) or smoke with the windows down, their car wouldn't smell like smoke. It does. They are just so used to the smell that they don't notice it.



With pets, it often depends on the type. My brother has a terrier and it reeks all the time, they have oily, stinky skin. Some breeds have very little odor.
 
It's just that a car is so confined with little air flow. There are a ton of fabric surfaces that can hold odor.



Most of the odor controllers aka air freshners out there just cover up an odor. Only a few actually remove it. One of the biggest culprits is the a/c system.
 
Scottwax said:
Not as easy as you think...
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Not easy, but possible. BTDT. Yeah, really ;)



Every one of my vehicles has been smoked in and all but the Jag and the S8 haul dogs.



..smokers think if they don't smoke in their car (but they always stink like smoke) or smoke with the windows down, their car wouldn't smell like smoke.
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Yikes, anybody who smokes so much that their car smells like it even if they don't smoke in it...well, sheesh, that'd be a lot of smoking for somebody to reek that badly :eek:



Justin Murphy said:
There are a ton of fabric surfaces that can hold odor...
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Crown Vics are just awful that way; smoke in one of those and it won't go away (by itself) for ages.
 
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