Dan:
I had a similar problem with Miss Molly. To cure it, I basically
disassembled the interior, and cleaned everything.
If the seats are/were ripped and the odor causing agent got into the
padding, it will be very difficult to remove the odor. You can either
replace the padding or remove the seat covers and wrap the offending
parts in a heavy plastic bag.
Remove everything: panels, seats, carpets, pads, vents, console, etc.
Wash everything down with warm soapy water with a disinfectant (Pine-Sol,
etc), including the floor pan and interior metal surfaces.
When I did my carpets, I had them completely out of the car, vacuumed
them, sprayed them liberally with cheap (Wal-mart brand @ $0.89 per can)
carpet cleaner, hosed them off with a strong pressure spray from the
garden hose, and let them dry. I did mine on the picnic table to avoid
stretching the carpet with the weight of the water; the water drained out
between the boards. I also sprayed both sides, doing the back side first
to force the dirt to the surface, then spraying the top side at an angle
from left to right and front to rear. The amount of dirt that comes
out of an otherwise clean carpet is just amazing; also, the nap came back
up and the color brightened nicely.
Check inside the heater box and vent hoses, and clean those. Pay
particular attention to areas that are padded with the pad glued in.
These act like big sponges and may just need to be replaced.
While the panels are out, check inside the body cavities; rodents are
crafty little buggers that can find the most unusual hiding places in
which to set up residence.
Look under your dash (in and around the wiring) for evidence of rodents
that you may have missed. Blow out under the dash with compressed air
and spray the heck out of it with Lysol. My guages were out and I was
feeling lucky so I hosed mine out with a soft stream of water, but you
may not wish to tempt the ghost of Lucas....
Don't limit your cleaning activities to just the interior -- do the boot
and under the bonnet as well.
The bad thing about tackling this is that it is a pain in the tuckus.
The good things are that it gives you the opportunity to really clean the
interior up, make repairs to small things, and really inspect the body
for damage.
While doing Molly's interior, I removed about five pounds of assorted
dust and dirt, found a few missing parts (and a very nice 1/2 and 7/16
combination wrench that fell into the fender at some point in the past),
and cleaned out all the interior body cavities using a vacuum and wiping
out what I could reach (prior to spraying with Wax-Oil). Got rid of the
musty nasty smell and increased her longevity.
Best of luck,
Rich
|