Help with Cigarette Smoked interior!!!

[DixonL]

How do you guys get the smell of cigarette smoke out of an interior? I have tried to mask it with Frabreeze and I just can't seem to knock it out. If I have to I will end up replacing the seats and carpet... but I hope there is a better solution.



Thanks,

Thad

 

[duckcarvr]

I just took my bissell carpet cleaner with upolstry attachment and did mine really well. even the headliner and it came out well. but it was mid summer and i had a very hot day to dry it out. you might check at the places that professionally detail cars. robert

 

[TAbbott]

This may gross some of the more squeamish of you out, so don't read it if you are easily offended. Many years ago, we had a driver who had a heart attack and died in one of our trucks while parked at a service plaza on the Indiana toll road. It was late summer and he was in an enclosed cab for a few days before he was found. Not pretty. Anyway, the county coroners office told us of a service they recommended to clean up all kinds of crime scenes as well as those similar to ours where they found dead bodies in homes that had been there long enough for them to literally liquify into the floors, etc. Long story short, we hired these people and when they got through with the truck you couldn't tell anything had ever happened. Some things needed replaced, like the mattress for instance, but most were just sanitized with whatever kind of chemicals and cleaners they use for that sort of thing.



I've seen (smelled) cigarrette smoke interiors that I'd be surprised if anything would work on but if anything would do it, I think it'd be the stuff these kinds of companies use. If I were you, I'd call your local coroners office and find out who they recommend for those kinds of clean-ups in your area. Good luck.

 

[Kry226]

I think part of your problem is in the vents and dash. See if there is a way to sanitize the air ducts. I know Dodge has a TSB procedure they perform to get the musty smell out of the ducts that occurs in the summer. I had it performed and it worked pretty well, but that was on a 3rd Gen.



I would then shampoo/steam clean the rest of the interior, including headliner. I would even go so far as to pull everything out of the cab and clean it in the garage to ensure I got all of the nooks and crannies that were unreachable while installed, like under the seats, etc.



If that didn't work I would replace the whole interior... I hate cigarette smoke.

 

[DennyDay]

Spray the interior with Fabreeze (grocery store item) comes in a pump bottle. Spray seats, headliner and carpet, up under the seats as well as spray into AC vents. Keep windows closed and heat interior. Do this twice over a couple of days and odor will be gone. This will kill thge odor not mask it. My wife smokes and the above is how I de-stink her Ram



Denny

 

[BigPapa]

Take it to a professional detail shop and let them run their ozone pump in it for a day or two. We bought a car for my wife that had been driven by a little old lady that chain smoked in the car with all the windows up. It was stinky. We took it to a detail shop and they ran the ozone pump in it for two days, they said it normally only takes one, and it has never smelled since. Cost us about $25 if I remember correctly.



Scott

 

[JasonBrown]

Some years ago a friend of mine who is in the funeral business had an unfortunate drinking incident in a vehicle of mine in the hot summer time. He had some odor neutralizer that is used in his business for obvious reasons. That stuff was amazing. It had no smell, but there was no smell at all after he sprayed this stuff. And it was really funky beforehand. If you know somebody in that business, give them a call.

 

[ToolManTimTaylor]

Two things here.



A: careful with commecrial ozone generators. They WILL destroy rubber and soon your windows will leak and vaccuum lines will fail. Trust me I have seen windows fall out of casings in apartment homes! If done wrong things cansuck.



B: Call a local Servpro or something of the like. Ask them if they have what is called a "Vapor Shark" And see what the cost is to rent it for a day. We use them on Burned out homes and buisness just days after a fire and with a fresh a membrane it is tough to detect the smoke odor.



Fabreeze is a temporary fix. Steam cleaning is a more lasting. It is all about converting and even removing the layer of "Source odor" or in this case smoke and tar that is on everything at this point.

 

[TORQUE THIS]

VODKA! Put it in a pump sprayer. Trust Me!

I own / owned a cleaning service!

 

[sdstriper]

I have used a small 12 volt plug in ionizer I got as a gag gift, something about a lingering fart I left in my sister in-laws car! Anyway back to the cigarette smell. My father smokes stinky mini cigars, like a chimney too. He used my truck one summer for a few months and I could barely use the truck when I got it back. I used that ionizer and it worked, it took weeks but it worked. Plugs into the cigarette lighter, I left it in there and actually forgot it until I realized there wasn't a stench anymore.

 

[4 wheelssmoking]

Have the interior re done, I know it will cost more,but you can customize it to your taste.

 

[boatpuller]

Not smoke, but when we bought our 93' it smelled like a cat had urinated on the carpet. We ended up pouring about 1/2" of kitty litter on the floor and leaving it for a few days, then vacuuming up, I think it would absorb some of the smoke smells also.

 

[Arkapigdiesel]

How do you guys get the smell of cigarette smoke out of an interior? I have tried to mask it with Frabreeze and I just can't seem to knock it out. If I have to I will end up replacing the seats and carpet... but I hope there is a better solution.



Thanks,

Thad

This WORKS!: http://www.homaxproducts.com/products/odormoisture/04/index.html



Go to Home Depot or Lowe's and get two of the neutral scented ones. The technology behind the osmagen absorbers are unbelievable. One of my co-workers is a heavy smoker and smoked in his work vehicle (mini van) all day and every day.



My boss bought my co worker a different vehicle and took the van back. As you can imagine, the odor was pretty rough. Anyway, he bought two of the osmagen absorbers that I linked above and in two weeks there was ZERO odor. My boss even got down and smelled the carpet fibers and there was no odor at all. I've read about the osmagen absorbers but have never used one. My boss is a 100% believer after using it.

 

[wcjp]

I bought a Jeep Cherokee once that belonged to a chain smoker. Used a rental Rug Doctor. Did the carpet and seats twice. This cured 99% of the problem. The rest of the smell was gone within a week (vents).



edit:don't steam clean the liner.

 

[terrywerm]

I used to smoke back when I drove over the road, and always made sure a window was open, but that smell still gets into the fabric. I hate air freshener trees hanging around and tried something a little different. I picked up a can of Carpet Fresh and dumped some in the ash tray. In addition I had a small soup can under the passenger seat with Carpet Fresh in it, about an inch or two deep.



Whenever I got home, which was every four to six weeks, my wife would launder my sheets and other items and would always go out to put one clean set of sheets on the mattress in the bunk. Well, the first time she did that after I started using Carpet Fresh, she came back in the house asking if I had quit smoking.



"No, why?"



"The Pete doesn't smell like an old ashtray inside any more. "



When I sold that truck I remember one guy that came to look at it saying "Doesn't smell like smoke! I wouldn't even consider buying it if it did".



Carpet Fresh worked well for me and I still use it in my RAM just to keep regular musty odors down.

 

[foolkiller]

i am a smoker who occasionally gets digusted with himself and attempts to quit for anywhere from a hour to a couple months. part of the routine is desmoking my vehicle.





the previously mentioned watered down vodka trick works quite well combined with a lot of airing out when possible... i see you are in ohio so airing out could be chilly. the watered down vodka works.



good luck, jeff

 

[donnier]

Being a smoker, I can suggest a couple of things that have worked for me.

Febreeze when I park the truck and Simple Green sparyed in the vent at the bottom of the windshield.

After spraying the Simple Green, let the truck idle with the fan on for a few minutes.

It has worked on the truck I used to drive at work during the summer as well.

 

[EricBu12]

I second the Ozone treatment. . the Ozone won't dry out the rubber in one or 2 day treatment. . it does reduce its overall life but not like next week...



Ozone is a natural neutralizer. . ever been in the woods after an electrical rain storm? clean smell, huh, that's Ozone. . the de-stink used by detailers is high level, it is permanent. . we use low level in our house to keep the formaldehyde in our paneling at bay. . Use Ozone. . it works

 

[CFowler]

tre something called ozium in a aerasol can. some parts places like auto zone might have it ,surgical supply store is another place ive seen it. hospitals use this stuff. turn on the a-c to max spray into where it sucks in air by pass. foot area. good luck it works good for me i smoke cigars.

 

[Ol'TrailDog]

VODKA! Put it in a pump sprayer. Trust Me!

PLUS a match... works first time every time.