How to remove smells from car upholstery

[Deleted User] · 9 November 2005 at 10:49AM

loungelizard wrote:

Hope this is the right place for the post.
My little girl (4)was ill last week and threw up in the back of the car (only 6 months old {sob!}).
That day I cleaned up the sick and borrowed one of those wet/dry vacuum cleaner and used upholstery cleaner to get the rest up.
There is still rather a nasty lingering smell which gets REALLY bad if the sun shines and the car warms up.

Please can anybody help with any suggestions as to how to get rid of the smell. The sick went on the seatbelt, the car seat and the carpet.

Thanks in advance!!!

I used to be a taxi-driver, and the worst smell was split milk in the boot of a car it lingers forever.I found that if you spray the car with aftershave it helps to disperse it a bit. Anyone who hurled in my cab I had to take in to a valeters and it cost the customer the cleaning fee, plus my loss of earnings whilst it was cleaned.
It is a rotten smell though and I know how whiffy it can get especially on a hot day !
Good luck ,Jackie ,happily retired ex-cab driver.

PIPPER_2 · 30 May 2006 at 4:48PM

I know a horrid thought, but my son has had a fever and got sick in the car yesterday. The smell is quite strong, but being a mum, now quite normal(!?)
The one thing I want to do is clean the car upholstery as his car-seat is 40deg washable. Also the carpet below his seat got a doing and even though I scrubbed with dettol, it still smells.

Any home remedies appreciated, otherwise I may well have to fork out for a valet - Galaxy - so quite pricey I would imagine.
Thanks in anticipation!!

djtonyb · 30 May 2006 at 5:00PM

If the patch is still damp - try putting bicarbonate of soda on it leave for a few hours then hover the power up.

Worked on fresh stains on home carpet

Pink. · 30 May 2006 at 5:22PM

Hi Pipper,

We have an existing thread on the same topic, so I've merged yours with it as it helps Old Style readers to find all the suggestions together. As always, the posts are listed in date order, so you'll need to read from the beginning to see all the replies.

Pink

PIPPER_2 · 30 May 2006 at 8:39PM

I popped into the local hand car wash and they quoted £20 for that small area plus normal clean of car. When I asked how much for all seats, he shook his head and said, "Too much.." I must have looked like a right wrong-un! He actually meant to say £95 madam!
Anyway, thanks, read all the above and I'm just off, again, with me rubber gloves and some biological w-up powder!!

Quincy_3 · 30 May 2006 at 8:44PM

Odour Fogger they are brilliant.

Gets rid of any smell

HopeElizzy · 30 May 2006 at 10:12PM

Do your seats move at all? Our back seats tip forward to make the boot space bigger - if yours do this have you checked underneath? :embarasse Sorry this is very icky but our daughter did a bit of an exorcist job in our car last week, even sprayed her little brother, and though we cleaned and scrubbed with various things we couldn't get rid of the smell. OH who is a musician, moved the seats to get his gear in the boot 2 days later and found a large pool of vomit underneath the seat!! I know, I know, VERY disgusting but I felt I had to share!:p

full-time-mum · 15 April 2007 at 6:44PM

My delightful daughter threw up all over my car a week ago.

As soon as we got back, I cleaned it out with some detergent and then sprayed with Fabreeze. I've been leaving it on the drive with the windows open all week but it was still smelling yesterday so I cleaned the carpet and the seats with carpet cleaner, let it dry and hoovered as per instructions and then sprayed more fabreeze for good measure.

The car is still smelly - admittedly not so bad - so I was hoping one of you good people would have a better idea. I really do have better things to do with my time than shampooing the car's interior every week.

Thanks

nearlyrich · 15 April 2007 at 6:50PM

I once had a carton of milk spill in my week old car and it really did smell bad. I got some Nuerodol (?) products and it got rid of the smell very quickly, it was a long time ago but I think I used the carpet freshener which you then hoover up and a car air freshener.

Gingham_Ribbon · 15 April 2007 at 6:55PM

There're masses of ideas in the cleaning index and here's a thread on exactly the same topic.
I'll merge your question to the older thread later to keep all the answers together.

For what it's worth, there was a decided cat smell on our pram the other day and I sprayed a weak vinegar solution on it with a little lavendar in it. Then I sprinkled with bicarb of soda, left to dry and hoovered it up. It worked a treat but I'd check on a small patch first to make sure it won't stain.

Doh! I got the links mixed up. They're both there, just the wrong way round.

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How to remove smells from car upholstery

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