diesel smell in car

wannagobacktogreece

does anyone know of a way to get rid of diesel smell in a car? my partner has just purchased a car used, and it has a high smell of diesel in there, his clothes stink of it and i am worried about his health.
there is no visible spillage, but any advise would be great. thanks

goldspanners

is it burnt diesel or is it unburnt diesel?

it could have been a spillage possibly in the boot, or it could be the exhaust thats leaking into the cabin area, ive had this before, its stinking, even after exhaust had been replaced it wasnt sealed properly and still leaked,it took the repairing garage 2 attempts, and they still couldnt seal it, so i had to fix it myself.

wannagobacktogreece

Erm im not sure, it smells like it would if you tipped it on yourself by accident, so im guessing unburnt?
he said hes checked the boot and cant smell it as strong in there so he thinks some may have been spilt on the seats at some point. is there any solution to get the smell out, like wash powder or dettol etc. his passenger he commutes to work with has now refused to go in the car as she has asthma .
thanks

swiftnick

If its been spilt on the seats and carpet a good weekend session with a wet vac hired from your local dry cleaners wouldn't do any harm.

Nick

wannagobacktogreece

is there a magic solution, like vinegar or lemon lol. they always seem to fix everything???

hewhoisnotintheknow

leave the windows open at any chance, it will go down hopefully

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

Good luck. Diesel takes a very long time to dissipate. I'd hunt around with my noise and find out exactly where the source is - and don't forget the air vents and engine bay.

tomstickland

Hopefully it's just a spillage in the boot of the car, in which case it will dissipate eventually.
Otherwise it could be a tank leak, filler cap leak or pipe leak.

kitchpoo

Lift the rear seat swab, see if there is a large plastic disc underneath - on some card this is where the tank feed and return are located below it. Sometimes the plastic disc is not a good seal. If you can get the disc off - you can check the feed and return pipe to the tank for any signs of leak.

wannagobacktogreece

thanks for all replies,, turns out its in the floor of the car under the back seat there was a massive pool of it. cleaned out the fluid visually but it still smels. short of scrubbing the floor - i dont know what else we can do.
cheers

kitchpoo

Begs the next question.... why was it there