This funk just won't go away

simple

simple

Senior Member
I got a sweet 06 sport almost 6 months ago. But it had an awful pet or weird smoke smell when it sat. As soon as you turned the car on the smell dissipated though. Still, I underwent a serious project on cleaning, but now I'm stuck.

I took out the carpet and washed it, took apart the seats and steamed, laundered the covers, took out the headliner and washed it, used the Toyota AC refresh kit, and replaced the trunk carpet.

The pet/smoke smell is completely gone. However, there's now a stank like gym locker/sock smell that is present only when the car sits in my garage, or any enclosed space I guess.

I know its not the carpet, because when I pulled the carpet out, thats when I started noticing the gym locker smell. When I pulled out the headliner, the smell got better, but it was still present. Either way, I washed that too.

My last remaining idea is maybe the AC? Since its like a gym locker smell, but when the AC is running/car is on, there's no issues at all. Also one of the first things I did is use the Toyota refresh kit. Also, when I go to my car after work in the parking lot, or in my driveway there's no smell. Just when its parked in an enclosed space. Yes, I've replaced the cabin air filter.

Any ideas?
 
Last edited:
Register to hide this ad
One time I ran over a deer carcass in the road. It was winter, really thought nothing of it until Spring. Oh yeah then, then it was noticeable. Ymmv
 
There's a couple other threads out here with odd odors from the PO.... Make sure you sweep out from under the seats, get inside the glove box and check the carpeting under the floor mats for any unusual stains that might explain it.

In the past, I've had success with tossing a aluminum pie pan full of ordinary charcoal (not Match light) onto the rear floor board and leaving it for a week or so. It managed to soak up the odors. Not sure if that'll work in your case, but might be worth a try.

Problem is, you're not sure what's soaked into the sears over the years.
 
There is an ozone treatment used car dealers use to get the stank out of their more exotic purchases.

It ozoneates (is that a word?) the oils inside the AC vents and hoses.

I balked at a super sweet 05 white V8 Sport that had stainless Borla exhaust because it looked like someone smoked three packs a day in it for 10 years. The guy said "I can run the ozone machine on it again". It only works so much. The whole inside was stained brown.

I bet that would work for you. A detailer or used car lot could find one for you maybe.

Good luck.
 
Last edited:
I've essentially stripped down the car to nothing except for pulling the dash. I took that opportunity to install sound deadening material on everything I could, which has been awesome. I also got a sweet deal on an 08's seats from a junk yard that were in amazing shape. So the seats are definitely not the issue. I'm just wondering what would cause a smell when the car is sitting in an enclosed space vice being open to fresh air.

From everything I've found, AC related issues mostly are the culprit for 'stale' or 'gym locker' smells. But there's no smells when the car is on. Maybe I'll try ozone.
 
I had a used Corolla I bought from a smoker and I used a car bomb. I used 1 a month for 2 months. Had air fresheners, etc. You will never get the smell out but it was tolerable.

Other things to do. If you use the AC, turn it off about a mile away from your destination but keep the fan running and lower the windows. And if you park in the garage, lower all the windows. Good luck.
 
point in case

84759580.jpg
 
I like to turn the ac vents on high. And not recirculating. Pop the hood and spray Lysol Into The outside vents to be sucked in.

Now maybe their is something in the headliner. Clogged ac drain line. Clogged sunroof drains. Maybe something climbed in your vents under the hood.

I had a lizard or frog die under my carpet once.. had to spray vinegar. Then bleach later. And I swore the smell never left.

Maybe when you cleaned the interior and shampooed the carpets it didn't completely dry.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Good ideas all around.


I replaced the seats, taken off the covers/washed them, steam cleaned the carpets and head liner, you name, I've done it. Even my wife agrees, the car doesn't smell stank like when I first got it, so I've made great strides. I just tried the wire through the moon roof drains, but don't really know if that did anything. I tried pouring water down the front drains, and it poured right out, so I imagine the rears are clear too.
 
Last edited:
check the rear hatch, water might be getting trapped back there.

do you have cats in your garage? they like to pee in the hood vents sometimes.

very odd it only happens when its in an enclosed protected area like that :shrug:

I think you need to make it funky, then follow your nose in short spurts, pop in sniff the dash and front seat area for strongest scent. take a break for an hour to let your nose recover then go try again but do the back seat and center console area and then take a break for an hour to let your nose recover then go try again but do the back cargo area and check the hatch door.

when you think you have an idea where the strongest scent is, then have the wife repeat your checks the same way, or maybe just give it 30 minutes after you make your checks to "funk up again" and then have her do it.

just don't try to compare notes until you both finish. so you get independent results and not convince the other of imagining anything. when you both are done see what you both thing is the strongest spot and if they match, that's where you need to dig into farther.

also make sure you don't have a dead animal splattered on your tranny and in a non windy area like your garage that smell is allowed to waft up into the truck
 
Last edited:
Smells can be from unknown origins; frankly the possibilities are endless. MY battle was when I found out that a dead mouse had been removed by the previous owner, but they didn't clean up the brown pool of remains from under the mouse completely. The remains stayed, and festered, but there wasn't hardly a visual indication that something had died except for a tinge of brown staining in the carpet. I stuck my nose to it and BAM!!! Found the smell that filled my cab while I was parked over night anywhere.

From there I would spray a pet-odor eliminator spray on it, let it soak, then vacuum... rinse and repeat until now I can enter the vehicle after parking in the sun and there's virtually no built up odor.

TL/DR: Stick your nose to every inch of carpet, or to any vent where odor could come from, isolate it, and just hit it hard with whatever you have.

-Dereck
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

Total: 591 (members: 1, guests: 590)

Forum statistics

Threads
278,316
Messages
3,554,105
Members
248,016
Latest member
Advally Service

Share this page

Trending content

Back
Top