cleaning an old car

I've been cleaning out an old car that had a rat nest in it.
I got all fabric out of the car, seats, door panels, carpet, headliner and cleaned the car out but the stink is still powerful

How do you get rid of it?

 

I don't know if you CAN get rid of it. But, you know those little trees that smell like Pinesol? Makes it smell like rat **** in a forest, but it's somewhat better.

Not much help, I know, but...

 

thats FUNNY!

 

I use Tilex Mildew Root. Works every time, it will smell like bleach **** for awhile rather than rat ****. Pick your fragrance.

Gary

 

Well, as long as the interior is complety stripped of everything, you might as well hit it with a good rust treatment.
Did you yank the dashboard and the rear panel?
Make the interior a metal shell and paint it.
At least the interior will smell of paint and not rat ****....

 

Bleach then dry, then paint.

 

May sound odd but cut a bunch of apples in half and close them in there they soak of most the smell

 

I just went through this exercise with my Olds that had been sitting in field and covered under tarps for the past 6 years.

After stripping the entire interior the smell was still there so I ended up treating the floors with POR 15 to cover surface rust. It just about killed all of the residual smell.

Also, be thorough in your cleaning and make certain you hit every nook and cranny. I though I had all of the **** out, but still a lingering stink---it turned out to be two dead mice behind a small panel next to the rear seat.

 

Go to a pet store and buy some enzyme cleaner.
They sell it in both spray form or bottle.
The enzymes will eat all the bacteria causing the stench.
How do I know... I spilled a whole gallon of milk into a carpeted car.

 

ANY fabric in the car will hold the odor. Apples, a box of Arm&Hammer, bleach, etc will work, but like said, you will need to trash the flooring, sound deadeners, firewall stuff, etc...

best of luck!

 

i plowed over a skunk a few months ago, and the smell was terrible. i took some of those throwaway "tupperware" containers lined them with a few papertowels soaked in vanilla extract and put them in the car. two in the car itsself, and one in the trunk. killed the skunk smell, should work for mouse **** too....

 

my car was loaded with mice. i just kept bombing the fabric with febreeze and or ozium. i got i nthe habbit of using it before and after every drive. my wife came up with the idea to use drier sheets too. they seemd to have helped. i think they also keep the mice away.

 

Chlorine bleach! Since all the fabric is out there is nothing to hurt. Also keeps them from coming back, rodents hate chlorine.

 

I'll second the enzyme cleaner from the pet supply, Nature's miracle is one brand name that i've used with success.

 

I'll send you 7 our feral barn cats. They'll take car of your rat problems quickly. Then they'll mark your car as their territory and the rat smell will be gone. Of, course you may want to do something about the cat piss smell. A strong perfume should work.

 

After you tear apart the interior and remove all the rat pee soaked materials, a good thing to do is sand blast the seats/springs. It's a nice time, like someone said earlier to hit everything with a rust treatment also.

And yeah, trash all the fabrics in the car. That's really the only thing that'll do it.

 

If you can't get rid of the smell does that mean you have a "Rat Rod"

If it still smells then you haven't gotten rid of all the stuff that can **** up that odor, i.e anything that is fabric or holes where stuff has ac***ulated. Paint will make it smell better but then you won't have a Rat Rod.

 

Isn't chlorine highly corrosive?

 

Good advice there.

Also if you're in a decent sized city, should be a crime scene cleanup business. Call and explain your situation and they'll probably sell ya a magic bottle that may work better than the pet store stuff.

Good luck

 

as the norm you got a ****load of good advice , on a side note i would like to say a 410 shotgun is good for the rats i know its a little over kill but its just so much fun..

 

I was in st pete a few weeks ago and i see your new.. You used that **** in our motel room didnt you?
Well It didnt work. Maybe it smelled ok to you but we dont work in that **** all the time..
Dave

 

Another thing I didn't see mentioned: I have seen dead mice stuffed in the A, B and C pillars, and also behind kick panels in the most bizarre places. Make sure all those areas are clean, too. Also, wear a mask. We have this neat disease called Hanta virus that is carried by deer mice, you get it by breathing the dust and it can kill you.

Enzyme cleaner works better than anything else. Also, someone told me that dryer sheets will keep them away also.

Fred

 

Strip it then power wash it.

 

its because they can't swim!

 

Hahaha, thats too funny!

try burning some incense in there, that might work?

 

I gutted every piece of fabric from the hardtop when I got it and sprayed all the surfaces, inside the doors, under the dash etc with a bleach and water solution. I took all the fabric off the seats and gave them a double dousing. 90% of the smell was gone and as it happens I store parts in plastic coffee cans, I got the idea to pour a cup or two of the new grounds on the bare metal floors and let in sit, after a couple weeks it smelled like starbucks (marginally better than mice piss). I will have to blast, treat and paint as I can find the the cash, but as least I can work around the car now.

s.

 

Thanks guys, I tried the baking soda, (dry) and some of the odor was still there so I went to the pet store. I had never heard of those enzymes but I sprayed the interior and the odor seemed to disappear right away. I will see how it is in the morning

 

nothing smells as good as a new car ...cept for may be *****....

 

the dude who puts ode de ***** in a spray can will be one rich mother

 

ever hear of canned tuna?