Gasoline smell in carpet

[seturner]

Hello,

I am a new poster, but long time lurker. I recently purchased a 1995 Honda Prelude VTEC with black paint. Car finish was not well cared for (bird damage, etc.) Overall, finsish appears shiny. I purchased some Zaino and was attempting to strip finish of wax. No matter what I do, I can`t remove old "wax". When I try to apply a wax such as meguiars liquid, the finish seems to actually repel the new wax! If I rub over an area with plenty of wax, only about 20% of where I rubbed has wax on it. I tried dawn, no luck. I tried 50/50 alchohol/water. I then tried 3M Tar, Wax and adhesive remover. This causes visible smearing in the finish, but does not remove it. I even used 3M Perfect it II with a cheap buffer and no luck. In fact, some of the 3M PI2 seemed to almost "bond" with the finish and was very difficult to remove. I went ahead and zaino`d over this and it does look good, but I know something is not right. Sorry this is so long.



Any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks, Scott

[Ron Ketcham]

Could you tell us a bit more?



Is there any evidence of some refinish work on the car.



Like paint on the trim, tape marks, etc.



Also, a close up digital picture of what you are talking about.



May be simple, may be difficult, may be that nothing can really be done.



Ketch

[seturner]

I will try to get some pix. The only place with refinish signs is the driver side door. There is a rough, dull area under the mirror that obviously was not sanded and buffed. I believe the rest of the paint is original as there are numerous small lumps of touch up paint on all panels. Car doesn`t look that bad, though. The lady I bought it from had it detailed before I bought it and I called the guy who did it to find out what he had put on it. In one breath he said he used 3M products and the next he said for wax he used Meguiar`s gold class. I find it difficult to believe he does not use at least the professional line. He seemed a little defensive at my inquiry. Whatever is on it is the most durable stuff that exists! LOL.



Thanks,

Scott

[YoSteve]

Looks like you just need to add souveran or blitz and you`re ready to go. Most of us want wax to last that long. What`s your swirl situation?

[theisab]

A friend of mine spilled some gasoline in the back of her Toyota Highlander. She blotted it up from the carpet, but of course it REEKS. Any ideas on how this can be fixed short of replacing the carpet (about $300!!).

[mikeyg402]

More gas and a match? :

Is it on the cargo mat or the floor matts? Or is actually in the carpet? Either way some good carpet cleaner and extractor would probably work fine. We had a lawn service truck come in for a detail once and they spilled easily a gallon in the rear ext cab part of the truck. I almost passed out when pulling it into the bay. I got it out with just a ton of steaming and carpet cleaner. Then we car bombed it. We have little odorizer canisters that are made for 3000sqft rooms that if the car is bad we will fog it with an entire can : lemme tell ya that will usually at least mask the smell once you get it out of the carpet.

[theisab]

Thanks Mikey. Most of the gasoline was on a piece of carpet that was easily removed from the hatch area. I washed it - first with liquid Tide, then with Greased Lightning, then with regular carpet cleaner and then dusted it with baking soda before the final rinse and extraction. It seems like the smell is 99+% gone. I`m claiming success and having a couple beers.