My 84 F250 has a slight odor on the interior almost like a musty smell. I see no leaks or water anywhere. This is sitting and running both. So I have thought about putting vinegar and charcoal as well as one of those dehumidfying cups in there. What do you guys suggest?

 

I once had someone as a joke! put a container of bait shrimp behind my trucks seat. I didnt locate it for about three days!! (in august here in florida)I finally got rid of the smell buy sprinkeling bakeing soda and coffe grounds over all the carpet and seat, let sit over knight then vacume. Hope this helps.

 

I never even realized how bad my truck interior smelled (I guess I was used to it! ) untill I replaced the bench seat. I used a entire can of upholstory cleaner on the replacement seat and let it bake dry in the sun. After it was installed it smelled like a brand new vehicle! I had also replaced the old rubber floor mat and found the jute pad was soaking wet and stunk pretty bad also. The floor mat is easy to pull out once the seat is removed. I found enough coins under the seat and floor mat to pay for the upholstory cleaner!
Good Luck,
HARFEND

 

Thanks a bunch. What I amhaving a hard time with is it smells musty like there is moisure some where inside the truck but I can not find it anywhere? Would a dehumidfying bowl with the granuales like for rvs work? My family has a carpet cleaner so I may run that but I'd rather not mess up my interior cause its nice.

 

Also you may want to check out the vent,heat/AC ducts. Dirt, leaves and other crap gets in there and start rotting.


Ah yea, the ole tuna can with hole odor. I got nailed with that one too. I got good revenge on the perp after I found out who did it......hence needing to check the AC duct works!!!!

 

I used a trick in a house with cat urine smell. I took a few of those big chlorine tablets used for pools and set them in a cup in the room. It did okay, but I still ended up painting the underlayment with Kilz. I did the same thing under the musty kitchen sink and it worked well. Charcoal or baking soda would probably work, too.

 

Copious quantities of vanillaroma christmas tree air fresheners.

 

First you need to remove the kick panels on each side under the dash, and either remove the floor vents (NON Factory A/C) or the inspection plates, ( Factory A/C) and check the bottom of the cab workings for debris.

Next remove the heater blower motor, and blower motor resistor, and check for debris in that system as well.

That should take care of the rotting leaves or other debris. You may be surprised what can be collected in there. Fresh air (and debris) come through the slotted cowl and go through the heater and ductwork. Can even cause heater fires. Why the 1987 and newer have a different designed cowl.

Then you can try using fresh baked cat litter, or some other dehumidifyer.

If that still doesn't work, you will need to remove the carpets, or floormats and soundproofing if equipped, and check for severe mold and possible water leaks etc...

 

Fresh baked cat litter????

Are you implying putting the cat litter in the oven before using in the cab, or is that a figure
of speech?

Never can be toooo careful out here as ya never know how people might interpret things.

I wonder what a box or two of baking soda would do, anybody else remember the Arm &
Hammer commercials touting putting that stuff in your fridge to absorb odors?

 

Yes put it in the oven as it will dry out the Cat litter more. Not sure what temps to bake it at though. Numberdummy taught me this secret, he may know more.

Then put it in the truck overnight.

Obviously don't let the litter burn anything, including yourself.

 

I would guess around 300F.

 

Fantastic appreciate the help gentleman! I haven't spotted any mold, but I was just out messing with my pickup. It took me about ten minutes to get the hook open I was pulling on the wrong release system under the hood after it was popped. I figured it was just good and stuck. I then decided I was either a weakling or had the wrong thing as the sucker was not budging. So I found the right one and popped it open what I saw :

Opened the air cleaner and the cover had a bit of water on it,filter was dirty, coolant resevoir was empty. I opened it up and it appears that either the gasket was molded to the top or the PO tried to silicone the top on. I checked the oil and it was blacker then a coal pot. It appears that its a non catalyst motor, has the duraspark system with a blue tip meaning D2? The master cylinder had rust around the outside as well as some of the other under hood components. It also had leaves in the engine bay pulled some out but not all of them. . It didn't appear to be a computer version but didn't spend enough time/know what exactly to look for.

Current plan of action it:

Change oil, air filter, spark plugs, coolant and a good flush, thermostat, vaccum it all out good, replace master cylinder, and re loom the wires in the bay. I also need to figure out what the sucker isn't kicking down from high idle also. So good signs from what I could determin quickly, no blown head or cracked block and obviously been sitting for a little while. I would assume at max 4 years as there were receipts from 2006 in there, and it was insured up until 08-09. Near as I can tell I made a good haul, nothing major needs replaced but it will require some work which is what I anticipated!

 

Go down to the local home depot and get some OdoBan - Odor Eliminator - Home its an industrial strength product and make sure to mix it right. One gallon makes up to 32 gallons the stuff works wonders its all we use at work for mold control and mildew smell. You can also use the ZEP brand odor eliminator also at home depot but the odoban works on the first try. It costs about 10.00 a gallon and you will find plenty of uses for it.

 

That rubber seal is glued to the cover at the factory.

It may be OK that the coolant reservoir is empty when the engine is cold, depends on how
much fluid is in the radiator.

 

Thanks for the smell removal tips I will go ahead and work on that. One good note the headliner does not sag even one big, looks brand new. Dodge is much newer and it sagged even when I got it. Yeah either way I had to get the cover off because I wanted to clear out that sludge in the radiator overflow. I stuck my finger in it and it looked like a muddy type solution it clearly stuck to my finger. I am going to do all the routine maintanence just to get it back on track as there is no telling how meticulous the PO was with that stuff. I figure I can either buy another gasket or make my own, if that indeed the piece that was glued and got ripped out or fell out.