I'm not quite sure if this is the right forum, but here's the situation:

My Cooper S rear-ended another car earlier this year. (Yeah, I did something stupid.) The grill was cracked and the bumper was bent and a little askew. Not major damage...could've been much worse.

Progressive sent my car to A Car Repair Shop to get fixed (the shop's name isn't important). It seems to be a deal where Progressive can't fix this type of thing so they subcontract it out or something. Anyway...

I go to pick up the car, and the Progressive guy drives it up. The grill is replaced and bumper looks okay, but it's still a little askew. If you look at the edges where the bumper meets the rest of the body and compare left vs. right, you can see it. Progressive told me I should take that issue up with the shop that actually did the repair. I take the info and open the car door. The seat (and floor, maybe) is covered with a plastic wrap, which seems like a nice touch. I figure they took care of my baby.

Then I sit in the car. It smells odd, and I can't quite place it initially. Then it hits me...it smells like ***. Seriously. I don't know how else to describe it. I figure maybe someone had a bodily function mishap or just didn't notice their pants were...I don't know...I just figure it's an honest mistake. It's not like I'm sitting next to a steaming pile, but it lingers.

My car has that smell throughout the week whenever I get inside. Then I think: If they used the plastic seat cover during any repair, why would it still smell? I wouldn't be shocked if it were just for show, so I become more suspicious. I sniff the seat (really), and don't smell anything. Yesterday I lean forward to smell the air coming from the vent, and I definitely catch the odor.

Okay, I think. Let's open the windows, air out the car, don't use the ventilation, then see how it smells today. This morning it doesn't smell. All the way into work it doesn't smell.

It seems paranoid to think someone would intentionally do something to make my car smell bad (I'm thinking about someone putting something in the ventilation intake or whatever...I haven't yet figured out how that works), but the car didn't smell at all this morning.

So my plan is to keep the windows closed and run the vents as normal on the way home to see if the smell returns. If it does, I'm not quite sure what I'll do. I have some ideas, but I'd like to hear what others think. I'm not a litigious guy, but if this could be something intentional then I'll be all over it and want to go about things the best way. Not to flat out sue someone, but make sure I don't make some stupid move if it should go that route.


In a way, this is kind of a rant, but I'm also looking for any advice. If the smell returns, I won't trust the same shop to take a second look because:
1. Best case scenario: someone with a bad odor sat in the car and the plastic covering only went on when I came to pick the car up. That's best case scenario, and it's disingenuous. I wouldn't trust the place to do a good job. I'd want a different place...a MINI dealership?
2. Worst case scenario (that I can think of): someone actually put something in a vent. If it could even be found/detected, would I want legal advice first before even having someone look at it?



By the way, I had similar repair done last year to the front end and had no problem with smell whatsoever. That was a different shop, not one partnered with Progressive.


I'd appreciate any feedback, and I'll update this post tomorrow. Do y'all think I'm crazy, that I'm jumping to conclusions, or what? Has anyone had a problem with this before?

Thanks!

 

start by changing the cabin air filter

it is a one minute job and is the best place to start

you can get one from the dealer or any on many online vendors

Just open the box under the pass' side dash by pulling the plastic tabs

pull out the old filter

slide in the new

close the box

done

you want the carbon impregnated filter

http://new.minimania.com/web/item/G2.../InvDetail.cfm

dig around and you can find 'em for less

 

It might not be the shop's fault, if a mouse got into the car while it was parked.....

I agree, change the cabin filter and see how it does. Also, take a flashlight and look down into the vents, see if there is any detritus in there such as torn up foam or cloth, or nuts. acorns etc.

If you want a shop that will treat your car right, find out where the Jaguar, MBZ, Audi and Lexus folks get thier cars fixed - that's where you want to go. You think a guy who owns a $150K MBZ will accept a car back that smells like a$$? Neither should you...

 

oh man, that is terrible! I hope changing the air filter works for you.

On a lighter note, wasn't there a Seinfeld episode like that? No offense meant--just tryin' to make you feel a little better . . .

good luck!

 

Capt bj, MINIdave
I'll plan on getting the filter and see what happens. It'd seem odd to me that it suddenly stopped working, but I'm sure that's possible. Maybe it got loose or something.
And I think I should've gone with my first instinct and returned to the folks who worked on my car before. They did a good job.

wpb mini
Thanks! I hope it works too. And yeah, I'm sure Seinfeld had something like this covered.

 

Yep. Jerry valet-parked his car & when leaving the restaurant noticed a foul, impenetrable stank in his car. It was not just BO, it was BBO (Beyond BO). It also lodged itself in Elaine's hair.

Hope the OP doesn't have to get rid of the MINI as Jerry did his Saab!

 

I'm thinking more along the lines of the multitude of glues and solvents that happen in a body shop - any of which might have gotten into the vents and contaminated the filter. So step one is change the filter element.

When my kid delivered pizza the car developed a strong smell of that. Changed the filter and put a couple of those 'fridge boxes of baking soda under the seats for a couple of weeks b4 we tried to sell his car . . .

 

Front end impact, any chance that it could be spilled and or leaking coolant onto an engine surface that gets hot? If that's anywhere near the cabin air intake then it would quite easily stink up the whole car and possibly even smell worse if it's getting heated before being dumped into the cabin. It would be a little more stink bomb/ rotten egg type odor; but if it's going through the heating system that may change it some.

 

The other thing you can try is getting something as simple as lysol spray. Turn the air on high and recirculate and spray the lysol under the dash. It will pull it through the system.

I’ve had to do that on quite a few cars in the past.

HTH’s,

Mark

 

I'm with Mark on this one. Fabreeze makes a good car freshener spray. Turn on the vents on high and spray into the cowl area.

Of course the cabin filter should help too.

 

Put a Bowl of White Vinegar on a Towe,l set it on the Floorboard and leave it overnight...smell should be gone. I wouldn't stink it up more with Lysol or Fabreeze, those only cover up the smells, not eliminate them.

Good Luck...hopefully you will find the culprit and be rid of it soon!! :-)

 

I hope anything will work however Lysol is a disinfectant spray, it will kill any mold or algae. Fabreeze, well that will mask it. Your vinegar may remove the smell inside the cab but does nothing for the inside of the air conditioning system which is more than likely where the problem lies.

In either case, I hope the OP gets rid of the smell.


Mark

 

OK, I'll go out onto a limb here, and offer the thought that just possibly, the smell has been there all along. You were just use to it, as anyone would become. Once people get use to our daily odors, we stopped smelling it (ask any cat or dog owner if their home smells... they will always say 'no').

For the time your MINI was being repaired, you had time to get un-use to the smell. And once you were back into your MINI, Bam!, your nose picks up the odor as if it was new.

 

Man, I hope that is a thick branch....

 

Jerry Seinfeld had the same thing happen. BO from hell. He had to sell the car...lol

 

My car smelled like rotting food for a couple of days which I thought odd since I never eat in my car, except for the occasional donut. Realized eventually that it came from the boot where I had forgotten to remove the used MF towels from the previous wash. (I had gone to a coin operated place since the home setup was frozen.) The towels never dried and although the smell wasn't overwhelming when I opened the boot, the problem was solved after removing them.

Prima products only smell great when they are fresh.

 

The best advice when looking for a body shop. The one I use always has a multitude of BMWs, Mercs, Audis, VWs etc parked our front and out back getting worked on.

Depending on which state you live in you can choose what ever shop you want. Virginia law states that no insurance company can dictate which shop to use.

 

No, he TRIED to sell the car but the used car dealer didn't want it so he ended up giving it to a homeless guy that was sitting in a door way on the street. They showed the guy's face as he smelled it, classic Seinfeld.

 

why is it that so many things in life can be found in a Seinfeld episode???? BBO? No soup for you!!!

 

Um, I think I may have figured it out.

I thought back to the fact that we've had a fair bit of snow and ice, my car sits outside all the time, I end up tracking it into the car, it melts, it freezes, it rested indoors for a few days getting repaired...

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's the floormat. The nose test concurs. As for why it smelled more when I moved closer to the vent, I guess it's because I was moving closer to the front where the floormat is.

So with this as my prime suspect, I figure it's a bit of mold and maybe bacteria or something. I don't have any Lysol, which may be the best pick. The closest thing I have is "Green Works", which contains:
filtered water, coconut-based cleaning agent(nonionic surfactant: alkyl polyglucoside), corn-based ethanol (ethanol SDA-3C), fragrance with essential oil, biodegradable preservative, blue and yellow colorant. No phosphorus, no bleach.

I'm not thinking that will fit the bill, so I'll get Lysol tomorrow.

Thank you to everyone who gave suggestions! They're all awesome. Except for "Maybe you just stink to high heaven and spent time in an environment not pervaded by your stench". Dude!!

Just kidding. That thought crossed my mind and kind of made me worry briefly.

And I'll take your advice on car repair shops. In the midst of things, I thought it was a crapshoot no matter what. Turns out there are a few things I can use to pick a decent one. Actually, that's kind of what I do when I look for a new place to live: check to see what cars are in the driveways so mine doesn't stick out too much. Of course it's bound to catch attention anyway. It's a MINI.

 

maybe those sporty rubber floormats would be a good investment for you, since you live where it snows . . . that way, you'd avoid the problem again. Glad you figured it out and that it was not a dead animal or BBO . . .

 

I found carbon impregnated cabin air filters at RockAuto.com

DENSO Part # 4542052 Charcoal; FILTER-CABIN AIR-

$14.90

It fits and works as well as the original MINI filter as far as I can tell.

 

Just a vote here for the rubber floor mats. I have them in my MINI and love them. My floorboards underneath the floor mats look like they did the day I bought the car and I live in the Pacific Northwest where it snows and rains and is muddy and gross a LOT. I like the MINI floor mats because they velcro in to the drivers' side, but I have after market mats in my son's corolla and they do the job for his car too.

Glad you found the source of your eau du stank.