What is that smell?

So the wife has informed me that that there is a terrible fish odor in the old hatchback. I've certainly been aware of certain spills in the past, a sturgeon bait spill from February stuck around for a long time.... However, it appears I've become immune to said smells and it makes it difficult to locate. I removed and washed the carpet from the rear hatch area but that didn't seem to work. I'm not really sure where the smell is coming from but I'd like to get rid of it if possible. When I first got the car it had been smoked in and I left open containers of white vinegar in it overnight for a few weeks and that seemed to work well. Any other advise on making the V-Dub smell like new? Thanks in advance!

If you know the spot, vinegar is a good one. So is boiling hot water. If you mix the two - don't breathe the fumes; even on accident. (doh!)

For the whole car, they make these ionizing aerosol cans that are used for fogging out cigarette smell. You set your car's circulatory air and press the nozzel on the can. Leave it for an hour, or whatever the can states, and it does a really good job.

Like this one I found online:
http://www.amazon.com/Dakota-Odor-Bomb-Car-Eliminator/dp/B001UOYNK8/ref=pd_sim_auto_2/188-3500871-4499526

Odor Bomb.  That's a new one for me.

I don't know what the trade name is, but try using what they clean crime scenes with.  If it can neutralize the smell of a human corpse it should handle fish.

Odor Bomb.  That's a new one for me.

I don't know what the trade name is, but try using what they clean crime scenes with.  If it can neutralize the smell of a human corpse it should handle fish.

Can you point me toward a crime scene supply store I have a few murders I'm planning....

I had a friend with a stinky truck, he had to take his truck to an auto detail shop to fix the funk.

Storytime.

We went on a coffee break one September afternoon, this was during the 2009 pink run.  It was a brand new truck at the time (Toyota Tacoma TRD package and all).  I got in the truck and it hit me.  "Dude, wtf is that smell???"  He said "I don't know, I've looked all over and can't figure out where it's coming from"

If you remember, that 2009 was a really warm year.  3 Weeks later I borrowed his truck to run to the dump, and it was so bad in there that I had to keep the windows down the entire time.  It was still pretty hot out.

Rewind back to that August.  I was a bank maggot in those days, and it was my first salmon year.  I kept every pink I could.  When I would catch them, I'd put them in a garbage sack, then inside my cooler, so as to make cleanup easier.  The garbage bag would make things even more convenient, because my buddy would swing by and grab the bag full of fish to take home to his smoker - this happened to be the same buddy with the truck.

By now you might have guessed where this is going.  For those of you who haven't:

It turns out one of the fish slipped out of the bag, and over the period of 2 months, a pink salmon was slowly rotting away in the high 90 degree temperatures of that fall.

Dude on NCKA had this happen in his minivan. Might try a search.

Renting an ozone machine will do a better job than anything out of can. The industrial ones pressurize the interior, forcing it into the fabrics, but just letting one run inside there should help immensely.

Let the bacteria do their job; it'll go away eventually.   

Scent shield fall blend.

I had a really stinky car that I wanted to sell, and I tried this.

Worked really well.

Noah, if you want the new car smell back, maybe look into getting a new car.   

I had the soft-top leak on my Isuzu.  I hadn't drive it for about 4 months so I didn't notice the leak for that period of time.  The entire inside was moldy except for where the dogs rode...go figure.   It was so bad, I didn't dare get into it to drive it to a detailer.  I even called USAA hoping they would look at it and total it out so I wouldn't have to deal with it.  They said leaky roofs do not count under flood insurance so I was back to square one.

Around this time, I had some training for work and learned of this wonderful stuff used by home brewers called One-step.  I went to the local brewing supply store and bought a pound of it.  It not only killed all the mold, but it removed the mold stains and the odor.  Then, to be on the safe side, I took it to a detailer to have it ozoned to kill any mold/mold spores in the ventilation system.  Now it only occasionally smells like the ocean (at low tide), fish, and beer farts. 

+1 on the one step. Started using it when I worked for Michigan Brewing Company, and believe you me, if it took care if some of the undocumented biological experimentation our customers would bring in, I bet it'll do wonders on bait funk.

I might have to try some of the Step 1 in my trash can.. It has developed a very distinct rotten fish smell!!  Pine sole didnt work, neither did vinegar and hot water..

I have a friend whose dad was a sheriff in Calif. way back when.  Unless it's an apocryphal story, the protocol for dealing with decomposing corpses in enclosed areas at crimescenes involved dry heating (unused) coffeegrounds in a skillet. It is supposed to get rid of the smell fairly effectively although, of course, doesn't deal with the source much. It could be tricky to do in a car though (great youtube material?) I've never tried it as I have thus far been fortunate enough to do all my corpse-decomposition work outdoors.

An auto detail shop should be able to pump ozone through the car, vents and all, for a price.

First time I ever bothered to get my car (a '92 Civic) professionally detailed came as a result of the birth of my second kid (2006).  We made it to the birth center 7 minutes after he was born.  We were on I-17 in Phoenix, somewhere around the Indian School Rd exit.  Not totally sure as I was going 80 or so at the time - MIL was in the back seat with SWMBO.  Took the car in to the detail shop before the smells started, probably 2 days later.  Forgot somehow to tell them what the circumstances were.

Best way to rid a vehicle of odor is to not let it get started.