Epimetheus
New member
Hello again all Autopians,
For those who haven't read my other thread from a couple of weeks ago, I've acquired an old Volvo 240 which has really begun to turn into a quasi-restoration. Car was parked outdoors under trees for years, and didn't see a bucket of sudsy water during that time, let alone any semblance of mechanical maintenance. But I digress.
Between work, school, and family, I haven't a whole bushelful of time to give this car each day. This will be a car for which work may progress glacially.
I have stripped the interior bare, sans dashboard, with the intent of playing seek and destroy with the car's odours. Those just tuning in should know that my original complaint of the car was its strong, musty odour. Because the interior was so filthy, I thought yanking everything away and cleaning it properly would be problem solved.
Seats, carpets, door cards, pads - the whole lot - were removed and cleaned correctly. They now smell nice and have turned out beautifully, as they are currently adding decoration to my kitchen. I really couldn't be happier with how they've turned out. And yet, after cleaning its bare steel inner doors and floorboards, and letting that air out for the past two days, the old girl's still got a strong presence about her. Again, it is a strong mustiness, a very earthy odour. I am so, so frustrated. But then it hit me, what the smell was!
Being parked under those oak trees for so long, naturally, lots of leaves fell on the car. Some fell into its cowl. These old Volvos have fixed cowls, meaning there's no black plastic panel beneath the wipers that I can remove to gain access to the cowl's innards. I have removed a kitchen garbage bagful of leaves, in various states of decomposition (many have literally turned into soil, thus the smell), and yet have lots more I simply cannot access.
Since the interior is down to bare metal, I pulled the drain plugs, duct taped a length of 3/4" vinyl hose to my shop vac's hose, and jammed away at the channels, from these drain plugs. While I came away with maybe another gallon or so of rotten leaves, there are a ton of leaves still in the car that I still cannot reach. The worst part seems to be at the outer edges of the cowl, ahead of the leading edge of the front doors. Trying to use a smaller vacuum hose is fruitless, because it's too small to pull the leaves through. The 3/4" hose is already too big to fit into the slotted metal cowl vents.
I'm thinking about trying the pressure washer, both from the cowl and from the floorboard drain plugs. I am convinced these leaves are the cause of my stink.
Anyone ever come across anything similar? How did/would you tackle this problem?
For those who haven't read my other thread from a couple of weeks ago, I've acquired an old Volvo 240 which has really begun to turn into a quasi-restoration. Car was parked outdoors under trees for years, and didn't see a bucket of sudsy water during that time, let alone any semblance of mechanical maintenance. But I digress.
Between work, school, and family, I haven't a whole bushelful of time to give this car each day. This will be a car for which work may progress glacially.
I have stripped the interior bare, sans dashboard, with the intent of playing seek and destroy with the car's odours. Those just tuning in should know that my original complaint of the car was its strong, musty odour. Because the interior was so filthy, I thought yanking everything away and cleaning it properly would be problem solved.
Seats, carpets, door cards, pads - the whole lot - were removed and cleaned correctly. They now smell nice and have turned out beautifully, as they are currently adding decoration to my kitchen. I really couldn't be happier with how they've turned out. And yet, after cleaning its bare steel inner doors and floorboards, and letting that air out for the past two days, the old girl's still got a strong presence about her. Again, it is a strong mustiness, a very earthy odour. I am so, so frustrated. But then it hit me, what the smell was!
Being parked under those oak trees for so long, naturally, lots of leaves fell on the car. Some fell into its cowl. These old Volvos have fixed cowls, meaning there's no black plastic panel beneath the wipers that I can remove to gain access to the cowl's innards. I have removed a kitchen garbage bagful of leaves, in various states of decomposition (many have literally turned into soil, thus the smell), and yet have lots more I simply cannot access.
Since the interior is down to bare metal, I pulled the drain plugs, duct taped a length of 3/4" vinyl hose to my shop vac's hose, and jammed away at the channels, from these drain plugs. While I came away with maybe another gallon or so of rotten leaves, there are a ton of leaves still in the car that I still cannot reach. The worst part seems to be at the outer edges of the cowl, ahead of the leading edge of the front doors. Trying to use a smaller vacuum hose is fruitless, because it's too small to pull the leaves through. The 3/4" hose is already too big to fit into the slotted metal cowl vents.
I'm thinking about trying the pressure washer, both from the cowl and from the floorboard drain plugs. I am convinced these leaves are the cause of my stink.
Anyone ever come across anything similar? How did/would you tackle this problem?