odor problem

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JHZR2

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Hello,

THis is car related, but I wanted to post it here for wide viewing and because it is kind of an off topic problem - nothing to do with vehicles per se.

A few weeks ago, I bought a small watermelon, and accidentally left it in the trunk.

A week and a half later, I opened the car again (the car doesnt get a huge amount of use except on long trips), and it stunk. Opened the trunk to find the watermelon completely flat, its liquid absorbed throughout the trunk, etc.

We immediately removed everything, including the trunk lining, the rear seats, spare tire, etc. We dried every surface off, and left the stuff out of the car. Water was everywhere, and where it hadnt pooled from the melon, it had recondensed... so the trunk was damp on the opposite side from where the melon was, and the underside of the seat was damp from where the water had pooled due to the melon.

We got everything dry, then went over all surfaces with lysol wipes. The seats were left out, and since the rear seat bottom cushion was soaked, we pressed it as dry as possible, then rubbed and covered it with baking soda.

We also opened multiple boxes of baking soda in the car.

We air it out as often as possible. We spray anti-odor spray, as well as pure orange odor killer...

The rear seat isnt even back in the car yet and the odor still remains in the car. I cant get it out. THe rear seat may be done for and need to be replaced, I cant tell yet... but I want the odor out of the car.

Nothing has worked yet, and we leave the car as open as possible, as often as possible... I dont know what to do next.

Any suggestions or thoughts???

Thanks,

JMH
 
Don't feel bad, a college friend of mine worked EMS back when we were youngsters. He had the "privilege" of finding a Corvette in the woods, in the summer, in which the owner had OD-ed and expired about a week prior. His skeleton kept him from "going flat", but when they tried to get a hold of him to remove him, his arm pulled off like the drumstick on an overbaked turkey. Except he didn't smell like a baked turkey...
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OK, now to add some actual value to this post, check out Griot's Garage (good website, don't have address, just google the name), they've got some really good cleaning products, including mesh bags of odor absorbent crystals that work nicely. I've used them myself, and they're effective, if not miraculous. Toss in a couple packs and give 'em a few days.
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Mothballs or those things that they put in urinals (same stuff??)

I had one of these in my truck one time and the wrapper tore open. I picked up two young girls (I was only 21 ..they may have been slightly younger). They asked me how I got it to smell so clean
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There is some sort of "good" bacteria you can get that you spray on and keep slightly damp that will eat all the nasties, it works on just about everything. On Tuesday at work I will ask about it.
 
Have someone that does auto interior steam cleaning come to your house. Make sure it is a system that hooks up to their vehicles engine. This creates a very strong suction. I had a can of tire fix a flat get punctured on the inside of an extended cab Ford Ranger (that stuff is like glue!) and I tried to clean it out myself with Dawn dish soap and anything else I could find. Put it this way I had to wash the rags and towels I used to clean that vehicle out 5 to 7 times in the washing machine just to get the smell out of them.. Well it was a terrible smell and even made some of my friends sick to their stomach with a headache. Well the only thing that worked was getting it steamed cleaned. Made the interior look very nice anyway and smelled better than before. Also you can look into Ozonators they are perfect for organic based smells like this and some auto detailing shops have them for this case.
 
Up at the top it says "odor problem Welcome jorton[log out]

Anyways I'm glad you posted because something like this(probably not a water melon!) could happen to anyone. I catch possums in a garbage can, then transport them in my station wagon to someone else's property. Might accidentally get possum [censored] in the back someday.
 
I found a shrunk and dessicated mandarin under the boot floor cover the other day... never stank... the bugs must've got to it quick
 
I have used a product found in the pet department called "OdorOut" its an enzyme thats eats the odor, rather then cover it up. BarBQue charcoal will absord odors as will wadded up newspaper.
 
The humidity has temporarily activated the decay microbes on every single speck of dust throughout the vehicle. A flood car probably smells the same.
 
Like mcrn said, in this situation a steam cleaning would be ideal. It will get out just about anything. I knew someone whose dog had diarrhea inside of a K-10 pickup. Steam cleaning is the only thing that worked.

There is a product sold in the automotive section of Wal-Mart called Odor Cide that works pretty well, but I don't know if it would be up to the task of rotting melon smell.
 
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