Please help with gas spill

**DrewD** · 08-18-2005, 08:19 PM

My father filled a gas jug at the station and it leaked the whole way home soaking the entire trunk. He used cat litter and some rags to soak up the spills, but the remainder of the gas and the smell are what we don`t know how to clean up. It`s a serious mess!

Does anyone have advice on removing the smell? What could we do to clean up the tar like remainder in the trunk? It is a late model Toyota Camry.

Thanks in advance!

**imported_truzoom** · 08-18-2005, 08:28 PM

I believe if you`ve got all the liquid out, the rest should dry up fairly quickly. Not sure what to do about the odor since gasoline leaves a pretty potent smell.

**blackcarwoes** · 08-18-2005, 08:35 PM

Originally Posted by DrewD

My father filled a gas jug at the station and it leaked the whole way home soaking the entire trunk. He used cat litter and some rags to soak up the spills, but the remainder of the gas and the smell are what we don`t know how to clean up. It`s a serious mess!

Does anyone have advice on removing the smell? What could we do to clean up the tar like remainder in the trunk? It is a late model Toyota Camry.

Thanks in advance!

I recently had a gas spill in my trunk, i had to fill up a gas tank and it had no cap, so i shoved it with paper which obviously didnt work, but fortunely the smell dissapeard in a day or two.

**White95Max** · 08-19-2005, 06:54 PM

I would think if you got most of it soaked up, the rest will just evaporate over time. I`d leave the windows wide open as often as possible, and run the fan on high while you drive it.

**DantePasquale** · 08-19-2005, 07:17 PM

did you try Fabreze? It works great on a lot of odors, but I have never tried it on gasoline.....

**smak** · 08-20-2005, 08:58 PM

pour tomato sauce all over your trunk and the smell will come right out! or i hear toothpaste works great also! or was it bubblegum? or was it toothpaste to get out bubblegum?

;P

all joking aside, if it were me i`d probably just go at it with a mini carpet cleaner and normal industrial strength soap approved for the machine.

maybe get a spot out spray and soak the area for 12/24hours beforehand also..

the newspaper mentioned may be a good idea.. i know its fairly common knowledge among bikers that stuffing wadded up newspaper in a well worn motorcycle helmet overnight every once and a while works great to de-odourize it.

after wetvacing, allow to try and maybe fill the trunk with crumpled newspaper for a few days.. then remove them and take a wiff. if it seemed to work a bit, repeat wet-vac and newspaper trick as required.

good luck