My Truck Stinks

My main kid hauling towing dragging stuff back from home depot driving across the country vehicle for the past seven years has been my truck. 123k faultless miles. As much as it drains my soul to drive the beast, it just works. The problem is that it's sort of stinky. If I drive it every day it's not so bad, but if it sits for a week it smells like old gym socks. I suspect this is the natural consequence of hauling four kids around for it's entire life, but I don't want it to be stinky. I want it to smell nice.
I've washed the seat covers that have been on since new and they go back on tomorrow. What else can I do to reduce the funk?

Pull the seats, empty the cab, vacuum everything, steam the carpets and wash the seats.

First you should probably get the carpet and other fabric steamed or at least throw down some baking soda, let it sit in the sun for a few days, and then vacuum it up.

For the day to day, I've had some good luck with the "Air Sponges" they sell at auto parts stores and Walmart. They're not air fresheners so much as they are deodorizers. For the amount of effort you need to open the cap and put it under a seat, they're very effective. It's taken the stink of gear oil out of my interior before.

The only downside is that they're relatively expensive (about $5 per for me, and I usually need two, a few months apart, to get rid of a really bad stench).

There's some threads on here about getting rid of tobacco smoke stink; they might help. For the root cause, I'd be wondering about a small but real leak somewhere. Water soaking into something over time equals mold, which equals funk. If you drive it every day, maybe heat from the cat or ordinary ventilation mitigates the effect. OTOH, sitting for a while brings it back. I hate to suggest pulling up the carpets or whatever else suggests itself to you, but.... (You didn't say what the truck is, but would there be a forum out there with brand-specific or model-specific advice?)

Grizz wrote: Pull the seats, empty the cab, vacuum everything, steam the carpets and wash the seats.

^This

Maybe throw down some baking soda on the carpet before vacuuming to soak up some stink.

Could also me mildew in the HVAC system. Some over the counter sprays in to the intake ducts can help. Crank up the heater more often and always shut down the A/C, but leave fan on, a few minutes before you shut off the car.

Vinegar is amazing. Get a spray bottle, and spray inside the vents, spray everything. It kills any mold/typical organics and the smell goes away eventually.

Also, airing out your vehicle is critical. My truck smells a million times less bad then it did (sat all winter) after I left the windows down for 24 hours.

Thanks. It's a 2007 Silverado. NNBS for thse that speak Chevy truck. It had a leak around the brake light but I fixed that six years ago. I'm in south east Texas so the AC runs about 80% of the year. I'll implement the mentioned strategies and see what I can do. Now that I think about it, I should really pull the rubber floor mats and let the carpet air out I suppose. I'm not sure why it never occurred to me that they might be trapping moisture underneath them until now.

FWIW, I tried vinegar on my scoobaru.
Car smelled like Vinegar for a month, then back to the smell of the PO's smoking habit.

SnowMongoose wrote: FWIW, I tried vinegar on my scoobaru. Car smelled like Vinegar for a month, then back to the smell of the PO's smoking habit.

Yea, vinegar is definitely NOT for getting out smoke. Its meant for musty/moldy. Also, you typically air the car out when doing so. You don't need to soak everything in vinegar, a fine mist will do wonders.

It ain't the be all end all, but its cheap and effective. For serious stank, harsher measures may be required

I'm a fan of DampRid.

Check for water leaks, you probably have one somewhere. The AC condensate drain hose is a good start, followed by however the cowl drains.

http://www.zoro.com/g/00108929/k-G3527605?utm_source=google_shopping&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Google_Shopping_Feed&gclid=Cj0KEQjwjtGfBRCN4-LU9ODG1-wBEiQAy_Xp787dxF9bKb5NAMKCTgF1yeDIc7uCyxN6CXWY3jO5RNsaAjPr8P8HAQ

or Gonzo

http://www.organizeit.com/gonzo-volcanic-closet-odor-eliminator.asp?cmpid=gpa&gclid=Cj0KEQjwjtGfBRCN4-LU9ODG1-wBEiQAy_Xp7xFNlexvBbZEzTW-GYEW0JGtFj0Oqgi1h1Wn5lKcdY4aAsrr8P8HAQ

you can recharge the gonzo in the oven

At the risk of losing any GRM cred I may have had, might I suggest a professional detail? The Miata gets one once a year, but it never really needs much. My various wagons always look 100 times better than my best effort when I get them done. Most I ever paid was $200. Most of the time I barter

If it were me I would do what has already been mentioned: remove the seats and carpet-steam clean if possible, de-odorize the A/C, fix any leaks, etc. THEN I'd have a nice $150ish in and outside detail done (DO NOT LET THEM UNDER THE HOOD!). It should come out looking new.

Bonus: if you do all that and it still stinks, it's now shiny, clean, and ready to sell!

Leave the windows cracked open if you can or are parked in a garage. Will let things be nicely vented and aired out.

Dryer sheets under the seats after you've pulled the seats and steam cleaned the entire carpet and seats. Every used car we get that's the first thing we do. Pull the seats, steam clean, reinstall and throw a dryer sheet under the front seats.

In reply to Bobzilla:

Anybody ever ask why your car smell like a laundry mat?

My new work truck reeks from years as a work truck and every single person before me that drove it chain smoking. I need to figure out where the intake for the HVAC system is and spray something in there. It's a most unpleasant place to spend six or seven hours a day.

A cheapie way to help get rid of odors is to lay down some newspaper then sprinkle damp used coffee grounds. Change this out a couple of times, combine it with leaving the windows gapped a bit and a lot of the funk will go away.

I am a BIG fan of the Vent Shades on my DD, I can leave the windows gapped about 1/2" all the time when parked. No stink and the interior isn't a bazillion degrees when I start it up.

pull the seats, pull the carpets, go to car wash, hit with pressure wand and soap, rinse, then let sit out in the sun for a few days until dry, reinstall.

Might be a PITA to pull the carpets, but it will get the job done.

Might as well clean the inside under the carpets while apart.

I kept coffee beans under the seat. seemed to do the job.

I cleaned the carpets and seats in my minivan with some sort of foam upholstery cleaner, then did a few rounds of boiling vinegar in a pot, putting it in the van, then setting the fan on high for 15-20 minutes, to pull the vinegar fumes through the HVAC system. It helped, but still wasn't perfect.

I used a decent amount of febreze on the interior of my truck when I bought it. PO used to smoke in it, but it wasn't too bad. Got the seats too damp to sit on with the spray stuff, and then let it sit in the sun to dry out. Also sprayed all the carpets, then had a new-car smell air freshener thing hanging in it for a year, but the smell was mostly gone within a few weeks.

For stinky quick fixes, I keep a can of Axe Phoenix sitting around.

I'd wash it really good outside the check inside for wetness to check for leaks.

After the leak search and fix, do the thorough cleaning with proper cleaner.

Then try to keep and incandescent shop light on and hanging inside a mostly closed up truck to dry it out for 48hrs.

Does it have a cabin air filter? If so, changing that can help a lot.

I wish it had a cabin air filter. I like cars with those.
Everything is out of the truck and it's baking with windows open in the sun with car carpet covered in baking soda. The last of the seat covers just finished in the wash and are going out to dry. They're wet Okele covers that have been on since week two and the underlying light gray (almost white) upholstery is pristine. I also washed the covers for the booster seats that live in there and scrubbed down the boosters themselves. I also bought a closet deodorizer/dehumidifier that will live in the truck for a couple of months and we'll see how it goes. I'm going to hold off on the vinegar for a bit, but will come back to it if needed.