I recently purchased a very nice, pure silver 02 MCS, with very low miles (22K) however it was owned by a smoker. My fiancee is very sensitive to odors and I am at the point of having to sell it if I can't resolve the issue. I've been cleaning the interior and vents with every known cleaner, deodorizers, cedar chips, and rented a ion/ozone generator which ran in the car for 24 hrs. I've shampooed the carpets, cleaned the headliner, etc. We love the car but I'm at the end of my rope.... any good ideas?

 

did you swap the in cabin air filter?

 

Thanks, I did take it out and cleaned it, until I can get a new one, but I think today I'll just take it out completely and see if it makes any difference.

 

Smokers.
Not I.

 

Take it to a professional cleaner, they have stuff that will clean it up. But it may be costly.

Good luck

 

Load it up with dead fish on a hot day with the windows closed. You likely won't notice the smoke smell any more...

 

Seriously...replace the filter asap and place a couple boxes of activated charcoal on the rear foot wells until the smell is gone...

 

Take it to a professional, they will run and super strength ionizer in it for up to a couple of days as well as clearing out the duct work and shampooing all materials. This should fix it.

I though the cabin air filter was only for outside air? If so it won't help this.

 

In my former life, I used to sell airplanes and every so often a trade-in would arrive where the interior smelled like a gym sock or worse. Finally after many failed attempts at deoderizing,we hired a smoke restoration company that put an ionizing machine in the aircraft overnight. Next morning the odor was gone and never returned! That then became SOP for for trades so afflicted. There was a thread while back on the Mini forum where an owner left some meat in the back seat for days in the heat of summer and basically destroyed the interior with odor. She was looking at major $$ to replace the interior. I suggested renting an ionizing machine-which she did and the odor was totally eliminated and saved the car. Cost her about $75.00 for the rental.

 

Where can one rent one of these ionizing machine?

 

The owner in the thread found it in the yellow pages.

 

I used a little can of a smoke smell remover from autozone or pepboys. It was a small white can with blue lettering. I also place a few bounce dryer sheets in the car and leave it sitting in the sun all closed up for a day or two.

good luck

 

Febreeze, chlorox wipes, leather conditioner and a Rainbow vacuum. It is enough to rid my car of the smell from an autoshop or someone who smoked then got inside.

 

I hope you did get a good discount on that car for being smoked in...

 

The machines you rent are pretty good but nowhere near as good as a the ones they use at a detail shop or smoke restoration place. I took a volvo that we were doing some bodywork to a detailer we use and I almost gagged driving it 2 miles.

It literally made me sick. When I picked the car up two days later, I couldn't tell it was a smoker's car in the least.

Mark

 

While looking for real work when just out of college I sold Rainbow Vacuums door-to-door. That was back in the early 80s. The commissions were great, but the vacuums sucked ...and not in a good way.

Dean.

 

Maybe that is why the link does not work anymore lol lol

 

One thing to try is an ozone generator. This is the device that people use when there has been a fire in a home or strong odor in an enclosed space... the ozone somehow interacts with the odor to knock it out. We recently had a dog get into a brawl with a skunk and several people recommended the same thing.

 

I think I would give up the girlfriend and keep the MINI.

Did I say that out loud?

 

It's ok as long as you didn't say it loud enough for her to hear.
Of course, if she's a NAM reader, all bets are off...
-skip-

 

I think I'm safe seeing how he's the MINI owner and she may cause him to sell the MINI.

Out, out, damn spot!

Now time to sit back and watch the fireworks!

 

nose plugs.

or Odor Exterminator from Griots:

 

Have you thought about maybe putting nicotine patches on her while she sleeps?
After a few weeks I'm quite sure she wouldn't notice the smell in the car anymore, as a matter of fact she might find it quite pleasant.

 

u could take up smoking

 

We had this problem with a used car we bought many years ago. Actually, there were three problems: odor of cigarette smoke, dog dander, and a steering wheel drenched in eau de cheap cologne. We tried a bunch of stuff and finally hit the yellow pages. I can't remember who we hired, but the name was something like Scent-be-Gone or OdorAway. They applied an enzyme-based spray to the entire interior of the car and let it work for about half a day. Then they deep vacuumed with a steam solution. This completely solved the problem forever, though it cost about $200 in 1996.

The best way to find out who does this in your neighborhood is to drive by detailing shed at a nearby car dealer's used-car lot. Ask the guys there who actually do the work (why you drive there instead of calling). They'll know who comes by to do it for them.

Another home solution that offers decent results is thinly slicing green apples and leaving them all over the inside of the car for a few days--that seems to absorb a lot of the odor.

Good luck, you CAN get rid of it.