This journey began in 2019 when the wife hit a deer with her 2006 Kia. Long story short, insurance totaled it even though the damage was minor. We kept it, took the payout, and I fixed it myself. But that process took some time and she needed a reliable car in the meantime. So we go car shopping.
The local Kia dealer didn't have anything she wanted, so we widened the search area and found a 2019 Kia Sportage with 19K miles that had come off lease. She liked it and could swing the payments, so it went home with us.
Now the dealership of course had cleaned the car. But there was still a slight odor like the leasee might have been a swarthy type of questionable personal hygiene and his "essential oils" had leached into the upholstery. Once the dealers cleaning/smell good agent wore off, the smell returned and got worse if the car was closed up in the sun.
Over the course of the ensuing months, I tried all manner of carpet shampoos, pet smell deodorizer, baking soda, wet washing the floor mats, half a bottle of Fabreeze sprayed liberally on all interior surfaces, etc. Once the perfume in the cleaner wore off, the funk smell returned, maybe a little less than before, but still there. So here we are 3 1/2 years later, and I've run out of ideas...until I saw this youtube video.
So, in the video, the guy has a car with an odor problem like mine. Nothing seems to get rid of it.
His remedy is dry ice. He puts several chunks of dry ice in a bucket and closes it up in the car. I make a mental note to try this.
Saturday we were at the grocery store and they have a small chest freezer with dry ice near the checkout. I noticed it as we were leaving. I asked the wife if she still had that insulated bag for cold items in the car...yes. Go get it while I pay.
Got a bag of dry ice. 7lbs. @ $1/lb.
Got it home and laid a couple of bricks in the passenger front floorboard and put the bag on them. Cut the bag open carefully so as not to touch the dry ice. The bag started to roll a fog out like it was a werewolf movie. I shut the door. Checked it before I went to bed and about half the dry ice had evaporated. By the next morning, it was all gone...and so was the smell. For the first time since owning this car, it smelled like...nothing at all inside.
Time will tell if the smell is gone for good once we get some nice hot days. That will be the acid test. But right now it seems to have worked...and no spraying, no scrubbing, no vacuuming up the powder. And just $7. I'll wait a week or so and see if the last remnants of curry connoisseur extract have been purged before reporting back.
The local Kia dealer didn't have anything she wanted, so we widened the search area and found a 2019 Kia Sportage with 19K miles that had come off lease. She liked it and could swing the payments, so it went home with us.
Now the dealership of course had cleaned the car. But there was still a slight odor like the leasee might have been a swarthy type of questionable personal hygiene and his "essential oils" had leached into the upholstery. Once the dealers cleaning/smell good agent wore off, the smell returned and got worse if the car was closed up in the sun.
Over the course of the ensuing months, I tried all manner of carpet shampoos, pet smell deodorizer, baking soda, wet washing the floor mats, half a bottle of Fabreeze sprayed liberally on all interior surfaces, etc. Once the perfume in the cleaner wore off, the funk smell returned, maybe a little less than before, but still there. So here we are 3 1/2 years later, and I've run out of ideas...until I saw this youtube video.
So, in the video, the guy has a car with an odor problem like mine. Nothing seems to get rid of it.
His remedy is dry ice. He puts several chunks of dry ice in a bucket and closes it up in the car. I make a mental note to try this.
Saturday we were at the grocery store and they have a small chest freezer with dry ice near the checkout. I noticed it as we were leaving. I asked the wife if she still had that insulated bag for cold items in the car...yes. Go get it while I pay.
Got a bag of dry ice. 7lbs. @ $1/lb.
Got it home and laid a couple of bricks in the passenger front floorboard and put the bag on them. Cut the bag open carefully so as not to touch the dry ice. The bag started to roll a fog out like it was a werewolf movie. I shut the door. Checked it before I went to bed and about half the dry ice had evaporated. By the next morning, it was all gone...and so was the smell. For the first time since owning this car, it smelled like...nothing at all inside.
Time will tell if the smell is gone for good once we get some nice hot days. That will be the acid test. But right now it seems to have worked...and no spraying, no scrubbing, no vacuuming up the powder. And just $7. I'll wait a week or so and see if the last remnants of curry connoisseur extract have been purged before reporting back.
