So i bought my current 05 from an older gents because the price was right and the mileage was low (83K), one owner rust free Florida truck. He traveled with two large dogs and it had a wet dog smell when I bought it. I figured nothing a new cans of deodorizer wont cure. It's been a month and the funk is still there. Anyone have any success getting rid of old car smells like that.

 

Have the carpet professionally steam cleaned as well as the seats if cloth.

Use Stanley Steamer or eqiv. If that does not work, you might have to replace the carpet.

Finally rent an ozone machine and set it up in there for a couple of days.

 

Pull the carpet and padding. If you have a pressure washer...do that and let it sit for a few days to fully dry

Clean the bare vehicle floor with a disinfectant to kill any residual smells from piddle and whatnot



Been there, done that. Have to do it again to this X (prior had Pits inside all the time)


Don't waste time trying to leave carpet inside the rig. Smell will come back. It will also get activated by dampness even after you think it's all gone. I've learned this the hard way

 

I will add it is not that hard to remove the carpet. You just need some designated down time to park it of a few days/week. Don't be intimidated by removing the carpet.

 

Before you spend a bunch of $$ getting the carpet professionally cleaned or ripping it out try this.

My spousal unit left about 2500 wet bottles of water stacked in the back of the truck for three or four days. Carpet got soaked and mildewed. Then I exacerbated the problem by forgetting about some leftover food from a family dinner for, ohhh, a week or two (THAT was a Science Fair Project) let me tell you.
Anyway, the truck developed a truly heinous funk.

Two Steps.
1: Capture Carpet Cleaner. You can get it at home depot. Amazing stuff, follow the directions and that will take care of 90% or everything. Capture is unscented, so it's not just covering up the smell. It's finely ground polyethylene glycol, in conjunction with the activator spray it actually absorbs the crud in the carpet and allows you to vacuum it out. I'm not going to go into the chemistry, but unlike a lot of the stuff you buy at Wal-Mart, Capture actually works.

2: Follow up with a little Ozone generator like this:


It's little, cheap and has a very low output so you want the truck as tight as you can get it. All the windows up and doors closed. Set it to run full blast and leave it for a couple hours. Turn it off let the truck just sit, still closed for a couple more hours then air it out if need be.

If this combination doesn't work, then yeah, I'd say that you are down to replacing the carpet.
MDH

 

That little ozone generator is cool and cheap. Thanks for sharing

 

Guys, thanks for the help. I'll get the carpet cleaned with Capture and then look for the ozone machine. I'm hoping to knock this out next weekend. I'll yank the carpet and blast it from both side if that doesn't work. Thanks again

 

If you have the budget and you need to remove the carpet, just put new carpet and backing in for $300. You are going thru all that work to remove it, just replace it. Plus you can change the color if you like. See my cummins build thread as I show it there.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-o-pics-2.html

Starts at post #29

 

I bought my Ex from a guy that did animal rescue, owned horses AND had a huge dog that was always in the Ex. Wet dog in a barn anyone?

The smell was so bad it was impossible to drive with the windows up. People wouldn't last more than a few minutes before lashing out in anger at the offending smell.

First I pulled the carpet out and washed it with a powerful cleaning agent and a power washer.

That took away about 20% of the smell I was dealing with.

Then, I spent a long time trying out pretty much anything and everything out there I could come across and google.

These items were a complete waste of time and sometimes introduced more headaches:

Onions - Does nothing to neutralize any odors, but it does give you an idea of what a wet dog eating a hotdog would smell like.

Baking Soda - Does nothing to neutralize and your vehicle will be covered with a super fine white powder much like a scene from "Narcos". Vacuuming up that fine powder took me quite a while

Vinegar - Also doesn't neutralize and it smells very strong in a car with the windows up

I also tried a half dozen or so different odor neutralizers and they never lasted more than a couple weeks.

What finally worked for me was a product called NATURE'S MIRACLE ADVANCED FORMULA - SEVERE STAIN AND ODOR REMOVER.

It was recommended by someone that worked at PetSmart and it did the trick after 2 applications.

Good luck to you and your nose

 

Thanks SESSLAND, I'll hunt that down and give it a try. I agree with you I think it's embedded in the leather and everything else in the truck as well as the carpet.