i was out wheelin and my truck fell through a man made bridge into a rather deep swamp. i was out by myself unfortunately so i had no help and no chance of gettin it out so it sat in this stinky swamp overnight till i could get help. needless to say the interior smelled worse than the swamp after a few days. i tried all sorts of chemicals to try and get rid of the smell... powersteaming didnt even really help. it has that mildew smell and i dont know what to do... i was thinkin about ripping out the interior and spraying in something like a rhino lining. does anyone know any good cleaners that i might try first... or anything to spray in like the rhino lining... or does anyone have any custom molded floor mats like the husky liners... do they really fit well and do they fit in over the carpet interior or does the carpet come out first.

any help anyone can offer would really be appreciated
thanks
john

 

Rip the interior out and replace anything not made of rubber or steel. Foam rubber, cloth, carpet, and cardboard etc will cary the smell forever. That muck is in all of the wiring, HVAC ducts, and switches also. Your wiring harness will have to be removed and cleaned also. That muck is in every nook and cranny also. Every time it gets humid out the smell will come back just from the stuff you don't get out.

 

I think once you get that smell in a vehicle, you're pretty much stuck with it. I don't know what you could do, short of dipping the whole thing in Febreze.

Or you could set it on fire. That would definately get rid of the smell.

Disclaimer: I'm not trying to convince you to commit insurance fraud.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

 

Torque's got it right. Man ur in a bad way. If you didnt sink to far might can get away with just carpet and such. If you went real deeeeepp then there is propably no hope other than air freshener by the case. Sorry man that suxs hope it was just a truck for playn not a daily drive.

 

hey everyone,

thanks... thats what i was afraid of... and unfortunately it is a daily driver... and it was pretty deep. i am thinkin about rippin the entire interior out and put in some kinda liner or a new interior if i can get it for cheap... do u think i could get away with febreezin the hell outta the seats and get new covers or try to get some from a junkyard ?

 

One option is to pull out the carpet spray it down and hang it out to dry. the seats are a LOT harder to clean up due to the padding so If I were you I would maybe upgrade to some excusion seats.

 

If that muck got to your seats then theres no hope for them. Frebreze is no match for that stuff. You might could get away with using it on yur headliner front and back (assuming you have one) If it got that high and got into your dash you propably need to pull all your panels and your dash (theres gona be muck in them) remove anything electronic, or that could be damaged by a hot water pressure washer and a mild cleaning agent like some dish soap (the scented kind would propably be better). Anything that cant be hosed down needs to be cleaned carefully by hand. Make sure you get inside the door cavities good as well. Plan ahead for this cause its going to take quite a while to get it done. You may want to remove everything you can get away with and still be able to safely drive the truck (assuming it is still running) back and forth to work etc. Then use the weekend to pull the rest and clean all of the surfaces in the truck. Take your time to do it right and dont rush. Above all make sure you get everything that can be damaged out of harms way before you start cleaning. It may even take more than a weekend considering all the small things like fuse box/wiring harness etc. thats whats gona take the longest to clean. Like torque said humidity will bring out the smell of anything you missed in full force. You need to get this done as soon as you can because anywhere that stuff is thick like inside the door cavity it can set up like concrete as it dries out and be a pain to get out. Wish you the best of luck with it.

 

Park it in my back yard, leave the doors open and lure in our n/h polecat. You'll never have to worry about that swamp smell anymore...........

I think 96bronco58 said it best. It's going to take some sweat - But hey you play you pay, right

 

hew guys
sorry for the delay... am in the process of moving... thanks one and all for you time and advice
john

 

one thing i have found that works better than fabreeze is the powder carpet deodorizer. It smells like a field of flowers or something else manly, but it better than a swamp smell. You just sprinkle it on, wait 5 minutes and vacuum it out. might be a temporary fix

 

aight cool... ill try that too

thanks for the tip
john

 

Cleaning it is a band aid on a broken arm. It looks better but you have accomplished zilch!! Strip er bare and forget keeping anything that is not made of steel. You may find some relief with the enzime cleaner used to remove pet urine stains and smells from carpet. You can get it at any farm store. Best of luck