How to get rid of a musty smell inside a car

I have a car (not my Roadrunner) that sat in damp garage with a dirt floor for a number of years. Any suggestions on how to get rid of the musty smell from the seats and carpet? I have been airing it out in a dry garage the last month but the smell is still strong. I can shampoo the interior but is there a product that specifically addresses old odors? Thanks!

Fabreze works pretty well to get rid of tobacco smoke etc. It might do what you need.

bannas ive heard also i think baking soda to

A used car dealer told me a trick he always did to remove the smoker's smell in a car.... it might also help in your situation. Take a paper plate and spread out un-used coffee grinds on it. Sit it on the floor in the middle of the interior. For strong odors, more than one plate of grinds might be required. Coffee grinds are a filter and they will soak up the smell. It will take some time but over a period of time, the smell will go away. At first the car will smell like a coffee shop (which isn't so bad). About once a week you will need to stir the grinds up a little. After a month you'll need to replace the grinds with fresh grinds.

I bought an '87 Ram Charger about 5 years ago and the guy I got it from smoked almost a pack a day. It was bad in there. I did the coffee grind trick and let the truck sit in the hot summer sun, and after a few months, it was all gone. Hope it works for you!

Justin
"CornDog"

A shampoo would be a good idea. Add some disinfectant to the shampoo mix then let it bake in the dry garage.

I'd be pulling the seats and carpet out and set them upside down in the sun, then have a look/see if there is anything obvious molded or mildewed that needed cleaning.

my jeep had a weather seal leak and the carpet got wet. so it started to smell musty. then it rained more and the leak got worse, so i put some news paper under the floor mat soak it up...then i forgot and now the car smelled like musty wet newspapers.

long story short i sprinkled some baking soda on the carpet and left the rest of the box wedged under the seat...smell is pretty much gone now.

Try Simple-Green scrub interior /vac & let it dry in the sun ... Good Luck

Your best bet will be to take the car to a shop that has an Ozone machine. They put the box in the front seat, leave the car running and the blower on recirc. The ozone gets all through the duct work and works its way into the soft materials in the car. Ozon is a powerful oxidizer and will kill musty, smoke and most any other organic odor.

A shop in my area charged me $70 to do this and it worked. 2 full interiro shampoos and lots of fabreeze had failed, so the ozone was actually cheaper than the failed treatments!

Astrobuf

Pull to the side of the road and tell her to get out of the car

Musty is mold. That needs to be killed and removed to eliminate the smell (as opposed to covering it up). Don't forget the insulating materials, too. It all has to come out, be dried/treated/replaced.

Mold or mildew is almost certainly the cause of the smell. Many molds can cause health problems. Sometimes the health effects are small or minimal, other times the effects are more serious. Often the effects are difficult to trace back to the mold, so I wouldn't take any chances. Remove or kill the mold and mildew and the odor problem will also be gone.

yep, full strip and clean.
Dryer sheets have been mentioned also, but I'd wash first.

Well- I learned this trick from an old Hippy...
Take 3-4 incense cones (not the sticks- you want the cones) and light them. Place them in the ashtray(s)- your choice, and then shut all the windows and leave the car sit at least overnight- longer if possible.
The car will initially smell like whatever scent of incense you used. But after a day or two, that will dissipate, and there you have it.
I've done this on a couple of former smoker's cars.
I know Fabreeze works well on material- so might be a good shot.
I have a Dodge Stratus that sprung a leak in the trunk seal. Water filled the spare tire well with water- which then mildewed.
I scrubbed it all out with Simple Green- then put a bag of cat litter in the well, slit the bag on the top and left it in there for a week.
After I removed it the smell was gone. Had to replace the seal of course....

Hope this helps,
CC.

Fabreeze, Bounce dryer sheets [off brand doesn't cut it IMHO] Get some charcoal, place in paper bags and put some in the trunk/inside.

Considering the cost of new carpet, and the relative ease of installation, I would at least consider its replacement. Think how nice new carpet would look too.

Headliners can also trap smells (especially tobacco) and are really cheap, but they are a pain to install.

ZorbX is a commercially and readily available odor remover but it won't kill mold or mildew.

To kill mold or mildew you'll need to use bleach or ammonia. Bleach will harm the colors in any fabric so I suggest ammonia. Either should be used in a well ventilated area.

The problem you're going to face is you'll only get it off the accessible surfaces. However, mold and mildew aren't that particular and will form on virtually EVERY surface. They particularly like heat and moisture so baking things in the hot sun is doing nothing more than drying the fabric and airing it out - it isn't killing the fungus.

Good luck.

I can't believe nobody said---- LYSOL. It says it kills mold and mildew on contact right on the can. My garage is a bit damp, I blast the carpets/ under the dash and under the seats once in a while if the car dosen't come out. Seems to work. I go through a costco size can in a year. It's also important to keep air circulating. Most important to find the cause.

"Pull to the side of the road and tell her to get out of the car '

"MAKE HER WEAR UNDER WARE"

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Pull to the side of the road and tell her to get out of the car [/quote Yeah man that's what I was thinkin.