🙁

away for weekend and 10 yr old emptied his inards over himself and rear footwell. Wiped up at time, then later washed down. Seats are leather so they are fine, Footwell carpet area wet and smelly. Gave it all a blast with Febreze last night, and on way to work this morning it was a good bit better, but still wet and smelling of combination of puke and Febreze….

Any practical tips for getting rid of smell ?

The car is 5 weeks old, and has definitely lost its ‘new car smell’ !

When things get like that you need to wash the smelly bits but then suck up the dirty water – that’s the key – otherwise the smelly stuff stays put. Do you have a proper carpet shampooer or know someone with one?

I’ve heard that used coffee grounds left on then hoovered up after a few hours can work but never tried it myself.

The car is 5 weeks old, and has definitely lost its ‘new car smell’ !

I feel your pain ! My daughter put her hands all covered in toffee gue over the seats of my first ever new car before we’d even left the dealership !

Do you have car mats ? Just buy new ones. IME smells, eg spilt milk, just don’t go away

Spend £50-£100 on a damn good valet.
Let someone else get rid of the problem 😀

You can buy stuff from the Vet to clean old cat’s piss. Apparently that also does the job on kid vomit.

Bicarbonate of soda left of the offending area then hoovered up was the tip I was recently given

Take the mats out and wash them with hot water and detergent. Wash down the rest and hire a carpet shampooer thingy for the upholstery. Then air the car a lot in warm weather.

Valet.

[video]https://youtu.be/I8CTscW3dpI[/video]

I feel your pain Iainc.

My middle one unexpectedly,and with absolutely no warning, decided to blow chunks 10 miles into a 550 mile drive to Cornwall at 3 a.m.

He tried to stop it coming out with his hand which only had the effect of spreading it even wider within the car.

Seats, carpets, brother, sister, roofcloth, backs of the front seats and one side of my face were all liberally sprayed with barely digested Weetabix.

The next 10 hours on a hot Saturday in July were somewhat fragrant.

Thankfully, I own one of these……

Had this fairly recently myself

Autoglym interior shampoo works well.

Spray it on, wipe with a damp cloth. rinse the cloth in clean water.

Repeat until the cloth stops getting dirty.

Take the foot mats out and do the same with them separately.

thanks for suggestions. The mat is fine, it’s been out, washed and dried, so it’s just the footwell carpet. Phoned local mobile valeter and he is coming round this evening. He did say best thing would have been not to wet it as that takes the smelly bacteria into the foam underneath the carpet 🙁

What arrpee says ^

When we bought our current house the previous owners had had cats, and there was a whiff of cat wee about the place. Bought a spray bottle of stuff which is specifically for pet ‘accidents’ (yellow, brown and technicolour.) It’s magic in a bottle.

Also, it works wonders on stinky shoes and bike helmets!

But, I’d get a valet place to shampoo the footwells first, then try the spray for any lingering pong.

when it happens again… use fullers earth or cat litter to absorb as much of the liquid etc 1st before cleaning up or shampooing… getting a much out of the car before wetting anything seems to work well. (mum borrowed my new car to go shopping and spilled 4 pints of milk in the rear footwell then attempted to wash the carpet by hand…. after many attempts I had to take the seats and carpet out to clean everything)

The car is 5 weeks old, and has definitely lost its ‘new car smell’ !

I had almost exactly the same (although I think my car was 3 weeks old) – 350 mile drive with my 3 yr old girls and one of them threw up just as we arrived at the holiday home we were staying in – all over herself, the car seat, rear seats (thankfully leather too), back of the front seat, footwells etc.

I got rid of the smell by giving it back to the lease company two years later…

You need a cleaner with an enzyme in to break down the protein in the vomit. If you can get the carpet out all the better. You need to clean under the carpet. It will have seeped through. Normal cleaners are worse than useless in this case. I use a George vac with some old cleaner with enzyme in it.

I’d do the Valet then try some nice leather odour…

I got my seats off a bloke who upgrades cars … and he recommended Gliptone for the seats… (just being a nice guy – didn’t make any difference to him he just cautioned me against using cheap stuff) … it cleans well but best of all it leaves the new leather smell afterwards… if you get it all clean then use the conditioner on the leather it will smell like “new leather car” again…

got rid of the smell by giving it back to the lease company two years later…

Git! I have to put up with people like you every day! 😉
I pick up and deliver lease and Motability cars, and the latter are frequently less than well looked after, the stink of fags and pets makes them less than pleasant to drive for a couple of hundred miles. 😐
One poor sod I was talking to at one of the hub drop-off picked up a Motab car that had dog shit on the carpets… 👿

Rent one of those carpet cleaners from the supermarket- they’re pretty good. Got cat shit out of a fancy rug the Mrs bought, baby shit and puke out of the sofa and manky chain lube off the carpet 😳

Wash the carpet with white vinegar. Did the trick in my new car after no.1 did the same stunt…

Valet man has been, car smells of fresh lemon, sorted 😀

He washed carpets with some enzyme and 65 deg warm water, found some lumps of unpleasant stuff in seat seams, the water that came out the machine was not too pleasant. Hopefully that’s it cured, and only £20, but I do know the guy …. (he only wanted a tenner for 20 mins work)

I remember spilling a whole scalding hot latte into the rear foot well of my last car.

It took months for the milky smell to disappear despite much scrubbing, car shampooing etc. I did it in mid winter and was doing three hours a day in the car with the heating on bleeuuuugh!

Bung a handful of coffee beans over the affected area. My neighbours lad threw up in his car. He thought I was barmy chucking the beans on the seat but a week later the smell was gone.

Valet man has been, car smells of fresh lemon, sorted

If you want new leather smell back (over the lemon) check out the Gliptone (there is a shampoo and conditioner) … I’ve been really impressed keeps the leather smelling like new leather (and it’s good for the seat leather as well)

^ yeah Gliptone is good stuff.

got rid of the smell by giving it back to the lease company two years later…

I projectile vomited (bad apple juice) in the front of dads company orion a few months before it went back. The vomit bounced off the windscreen and shot down the dash vents so even though it wasnt too bad in terms of upholstery after a while you would always get a very nasty surprise whenever you turned the blower on, especially with heat! There is no getting that stuff out of dash vent ducts.

We felt really sorry for the poor sod who thought he/she was buying a nice clean car at the lease auction and then turned the heating on on the way home..

toffee gue

Haha, seriously!? How middle class are you!? 😆

hmmmm, the morning after the valet and there is still a little bit of a pong….

looking at the tips preceding, I think I’ll go the white vinegar route with it this evening..

my missus gave birth in my car on the way to the hospital.

I wish it smelled like vomit.

Fit fitted rubber mats beforehand, lift up carefully (or after allowing the sick to solidify) and hose down.

Hope this helps.

aye, thanks Luke…. 8)

after no.1 did the same stunt

Could have been worse – could have been no. 2….

smell is now gone…I think… Mobile valet man got rid of most of it with enzyme shampoo. I then used a mix of white vinegar, bicarbonate of soda and warm water, in a spray bottle to dowse some aromatic patches. It’s not fully dry yet, but appears to be just about sorted 🙂

HaHa… you think its gone…… its just waiting until you least expect it..

just like when you clean dog poo off a shoe ….your never quite convinced its all gone…

Exactly – the next mildly warm day will see a return….

mix of white vinegar, bicarbonate of soda

Won’t these have reacted and cancelled each other out?

^^^^ Al – not according to google, no 🙂