REMOVING Odor Eliminator scent?
- Thread starter MJRLLK
- Start date
Preachers Sheets
New member
Just use a wet towel and then use a dry towel to buff dry, I don't have a window cleaner and thats what I use 99.99% of the time, it works perfectly fine and it won't strip your Aquapel.
When you remove that stuff just use a strong cleaner to make sure before your next application it's sqeaky clean.
When you remove that stuff just use a strong cleaner to make sure before your next application it's sqeaky clean.
pjvosotas
New member
Hi Gang!
I just bought an Acura TL for my wife and part of the stipulation to the sale was to get the super strong, perfumy scent out of the car. It was barely tolerable for me, but my wife was actually getting dizzy from the scent! The dealer used a ozone machine in an attempt to get the scent out, to no avail. We decided to purchase the car anyway, confident my detailing skills, the right product and some heavy cleaning would be be able to solve the problem. Yeah...
The first thing I did was clean the interior from top to bottom, including the vents- Lexol leather cleaner, Meg's heavy duty vinyl cleaner and finished it off with 303. The smell was unaffected. I then sprayed Meg's Odor Eliminator on the carpet and headliner- the smell was compounded! Now I had the Meg's scent AND the other scent!
So the next night, while vacuuming the carpets again, under the drivers seat was this 2in x 2in square with "Wonder Wafer" stamped on it- this stinky little piece of cardboard was the original source of the problem. I threw it out into the driveway and I could still smell it- I ended up throwing it out into the street to get it away from my house!
But now I am still left with the smell of the Meg's Odor Eliminator. I'm fine with it, but my wife is still getting dizzy (nose of a Bloodhound, that one...). So far, I have, 1). soaked it with hot water, scrubbed with a brush and shop vac'd it dry, 2). Used Zorb-X multiple times, 3). baking soda worked into the carpet, let dwell for an hour and vacuumed, and 4). sprayed a 1:10 diluted water/P21S TAW, brushed it in and toweled/vac'd it dry. No effect at all for options 1,2 and 3. I had limited success with option #4, but the scent is still there and I can still feel that greasiness of the odor eliminators in the carpet fibers, so I know I am not getting it all up. It's been another week of trying to just air it out, but the Meg's scent is still holding like a pitbull.
I've looked into multiple cleaning/odor killing products, but most seem to leave their own scent and I need to be careful with the headliner. Since the ozone machine had no effect on the "Wonder Wafer", I doubt it would work on the Meg's, as they work on the same principle. I talked to two professional steam carpet cleaners, but I got the impression they would give it a shot, but didn't seem certain the scent would be cleared up.
So my question is, anyone know of a SUREFIRE way to get this scent out, leaving no/little scent behind? I'm getting bored with experimenting and I'd like to be able to drive my own car again, one day!
Thanks all!
I just bought an Acura TL for my wife and part of the stipulation to the sale was to get the super strong, perfumy scent out of the car. It was barely tolerable for me, but my wife was actually getting dizzy from the scent! The dealer used a ozone machine in an attempt to get the scent out, to no avail. We decided to purchase the car anyway, confident my detailing skills, the right product and some heavy cleaning would be be able to solve the problem. Yeah...
The first thing I did was clean the interior from top to bottom, including the vents- Lexol leather cleaner, Meg's heavy duty vinyl cleaner and finished it off with 303. The smell was unaffected. I then sprayed Meg's Odor Eliminator on the carpet and headliner- the smell was compounded! Now I had the Meg's scent AND the other scent!
So the next night, while vacuuming the carpets again, under the drivers seat was this 2in x 2in square with "Wonder Wafer" stamped on it- this stinky little piece of cardboard was the original source of the problem. I threw it out into the driveway and I could still smell it- I ended up throwing it out into the street to get it away from my house!
But now I am still left with the smell of the Meg's Odor Eliminator. I'm fine with it, but my wife is still getting dizzy (nose of a Bloodhound, that one...). So far, I have, 1). soaked it with hot water, scrubbed with a brush and shop vac'd it dry, 2). Used Zorb-X multiple times, 3). baking soda worked into the carpet, let dwell for an hour and vacuumed, and 4). sprayed a 1:10 diluted water/P21S TAW, brushed it in and toweled/vac'd it dry. No effect at all for options 1,2 and 3. I had limited success with option #4, but the scent is still there and I can still feel that greasiness of the odor eliminators in the carpet fibers, so I know I am not getting it all up. It's been another week of trying to just air it out, but the Meg's scent is still holding like a pitbull.
I've looked into multiple cleaning/odor killing products, but most seem to leave their own scent and I need to be careful with the headliner. Since the ozone machine had no effect on the "Wonder Wafer", I doubt it would work on the Meg's, as they work on the same principle. I talked to two professional steam carpet cleaners, but I got the impression they would give it a shot, but didn't seem certain the scent would be cleared up.
So my question is, anyone know of a SUREFIRE way to get this scent out, leaving no/little scent behind? I'm getting bored with experimenting and I'd like to be able to drive my own car again, one day!
Thanks all!
GoFast908Z
New member
I think at this point the next step would be having it professionally extracted.
Sent from my HTC EVO 4G using Tapatalk
Sent from my HTC EVO 4G using Tapatalk
imported_Stokdgs
New member
I have a little experience with this -
What absolutely has to happen first, is to eliminate all the source/s of those nasty things, there may be more under the other seat or the seats in back.
Make the Dealer take the car back and on their dime, take it apart, get all those nasty things THEY put in there OUT.
Next, consider that fact that this car may have been heavily smoked in, and that is the reason for the extraordinarily futile attempt to Cover Up the smell, rather than truly removing as much of the original odor out of there.
What has to happen is they have to thoroughly remove all the Nicotine off the Headliner of the car, the Leather, Carpets, and the Seatbelts. The strongest concentration of Nicotine is usually the Driver Seat, Seatbelt, and the Headliner area above and behind, all the way back to the Rear Package Tray. However, if both people or a ton of people smoked in that car alot, then everything has Nicotine on it, and it doesn't remove easily..
I would recommend Steam by someone experienced in using it on everything top to bottom, and then another thorough cleaning with a good APC that doesnt smell "loud" like Meguiars APC+, etc., White Towels, so you can see if you are still getting stuff out of the car.
Then all the carpets have to be Extracted by someone with a big enough unit to actually pull all the water it injects back out to again, get as much of the odor causing stuff out of the vehicle.
I have used Meguiars Odor Elimninator successfully many times, and never had it smell as you described above. Perhaps you drenched the carpets, which is a no no; it uses enzymes to kill odors, but wont dry or work well if its on too heavy. Use this after everything is dry if you still smell that odor in the carpets, if you want.
Then, they have to remove the Interior A/C Filter usually behind the Glovebox, replace it with a new one, and then run a can of Einzett Klima-Cleaner through the Front Vents only, let it set for 24 hours, and the follow the start up procedure on the can, and then air it out another 24 hours or so.
The A/C Unit is full of that nasty smell and the original smell too, and will hold those smells forever until you clean them.
The Filter definitely has to go, but not until everything else is done, or you risk bringing that smell back into it again and it will blow it back out through the vents into your car.
Then, they can possibly have better luck with their Ozone machine which I would recommend they do next. If it really does what it is supposed to do, it should be able to dump enough Ozone into the car to remove the rest of the smell/s in there.
I recently had an '01 BNW M5 that had a similar issue, made the driver so sick and dizzy, he didn't drive it for a year after he purchased it from a high end reseller of nice cars here in Bellevue. So over a year later, I open the door and the smell in there about knocks me out ! It was on everything in the car. It was wiped on and made all the leather greasy, shiny, and very smelly.
I was able to do all of the above, removed a ton of nicotine out of the headliner especially, used a non-smelling leather conditioner on all the Extended Leather after steaming, cleaning, etc., and after all was done, all you smelled was a very light clean smell and the original smell of the Nappa Leather, which is way better than anything that adds a leather smell in the first place.
Good luck with this, if it was me, I would take the car back, ask them why they didnt tell you it was a smoker car, and to get it back to normal, and maybe you wont sue them for non-disclosure, endangering the health of you and your family, children, etc.. If they balk, tell them you want to speak to the Acura Zone Rep., and start going up the channels. Be nice, polite, and FIRM..
Good Luck
Dan F
What absolutely has to happen first, is to eliminate all the source/s of those nasty things, there may be more under the other seat or the seats in back.
Make the Dealer take the car back and on their dime, take it apart, get all those nasty things THEY put in there OUT.
Next, consider that fact that this car may have been heavily smoked in, and that is the reason for the extraordinarily futile attempt to Cover Up the smell, rather than truly removing as much of the original odor out of there.
What has to happen is they have to thoroughly remove all the Nicotine off the Headliner of the car, the Leather, Carpets, and the Seatbelts. The strongest concentration of Nicotine is usually the Driver Seat, Seatbelt, and the Headliner area above and behind, all the way back to the Rear Package Tray. However, if both people or a ton of people smoked in that car alot, then everything has Nicotine on it, and it doesn't remove easily..
I would recommend Steam by someone experienced in using it on everything top to bottom, and then another thorough cleaning with a good APC that doesnt smell "loud" like Meguiars APC+, etc., White Towels, so you can see if you are still getting stuff out of the car.
Then all the carpets have to be Extracted by someone with a big enough unit to actually pull all the water it injects back out to again, get as much of the odor causing stuff out of the vehicle.
I have used Meguiars Odor Elimninator successfully many times, and never had it smell as you described above. Perhaps you drenched the carpets, which is a no no; it uses enzymes to kill odors, but wont dry or work well if its on too heavy. Use this after everything is dry if you still smell that odor in the carpets, if you want.
Then, they have to remove the Interior A/C Filter usually behind the Glovebox, replace it with a new one, and then run a can of Einzett Klima-Cleaner through the Front Vents only, let it set for 24 hours, and the follow the start up procedure on the can, and then air it out another 24 hours or so.
The A/C Unit is full of that nasty smell and the original smell too, and will hold those smells forever until you clean them.
The Filter definitely has to go, but not until everything else is done, or you risk bringing that smell back into it again and it will blow it back out through the vents into your car.
Then, they can possibly have better luck with their Ozone machine which I would recommend they do next. If it really does what it is supposed to do, it should be able to dump enough Ozone into the car to remove the rest of the smell/s in there.
I recently had an '01 BNW M5 that had a similar issue, made the driver so sick and dizzy, he didn't drive it for a year after he purchased it from a high end reseller of nice cars here in Bellevue. So over a year later, I open the door and the smell in there about knocks me out ! It was on everything in the car. It was wiped on and made all the leather greasy, shiny, and very smelly.
I was able to do all of the above, removed a ton of nicotine out of the headliner especially, used a non-smelling leather conditioner on all the Extended Leather after steaming, cleaning, etc., and after all was done, all you smelled was a very light clean smell and the original smell of the Nappa Leather, which is way better than anything that adds a leather smell in the first place.
Good luck with this, if it was me, I would take the car back, ask them why they didnt tell you it was a smoker car, and to get it back to normal, and maybe you wont sue them for non-disclosure, endangering the health of you and your family, children, etc.. If they balk, tell them you want to speak to the Acura Zone Rep., and start going up the channels. Be nice, polite, and FIRM..
Good Luck
Dan F
pjvosotas
New member
Thanks for the in depth reply Dan! For the sake of the reader's attention span, I left out some stuff from my original post. As stated before, my wife has an amazing nose (extra super sensitive and, I must say, attractive...). This is an Acura Certified car from an Acura dealership and I have no doubt that during dealer prep, which was minimal (there was some spare change and a mint under the seat, right next to the Wonder Wafer) that they did not put the Wonder Wafer in the car. I have no doubt this was a non-smokers car- no tell-tale visual signs and no "tinge" of nicotine- my wife would catch that right off the bat, regardless of any cover-up chemicals (Never in the cars, but I smoke. She knows the smell) No, this was just the "Wonder Wafer" and my hasty, probably overzealous, attempt with the Meg's Odor Eliminator.
I fly under the radar around here, but I have been a PAC customer for a while, a detailing pro in college and a detailing enthusiast for over 30 years. If I am not at the track, or honey-doing, you can probably find me in the garage cleaning or fixing something. Thanks to the extensive knowledge I have access to with you kind folks, I have and used every mainstay product and many of the techniques mentioned on this site and thus, my detailing knowledge and skills have increased at least 10 fold! For that, I thank you all. Good lord, I love my 7424, Lake Country pads, 105, 205 and Blackfire! Now, back to the issue at hand...
Prior to this post, I did remove the cabin filter and had my wife smell it. There is no scent on it (nicotine or otherwise) so I vacuumed it out good before re-installing. I also sprayed the intake ducts (internal and external) with Zorb-x with the A/C on high. Due to the location of the Wonder Wafer in proximity to the air intake duct under drivers seat, I also APC'd what I could of the intake duct and have spent considerable time cleaning the carpet in that area with P21S as well. I am pleased report the scent is not blasting through the cabin when the A/C is on. The seat belts are clean and have no scent. All plastic, vinyl, leather and cloth (sans the headliner I sprayed) have been thoroughly cleaned and treated with Lexol leather Cleaner, then Conditioner, Meg's Vinyl & Rubber cleaner/conditioner, 303 and Meg's Quik Interior Detailer, all where appropriate.
As stated before, after the above cleaning, the most effective scent elimination was by spraying with the diluted P21S, agitating, towel drying (the carpets are 99.9% dirt free now) then sucking out most of the remaining moisture with my 5hp shop vac with a claw type attachment. After all this, I had my wife use her super-sniffer all over the car. The leather smells like leather. The dash and all hard surfaces smell like they were properly cleaned and protected.
There is no nicotine smell. The scent is the Meg's Odor Eliminator in the carpet and headliner only.
The scent in areas that are harder to thoroughly clean- little nooks and crannies, the headliner, etc, retained the scent more than others. In large flat spots of the carpet, where it was easier to clean, I got far more of the scent out, but you can still feel the slickness of the odor eliminator when you run your hand over the damp carpet.
I guess my true questions are...
-what is the chemical make-up of these "odor eliminators". Is it petroleum (or silicone, or water) based to trap the prior scents and then emit the maker's own scent, or something else?
-Once that is answered, what is the appropriate cleaning agent and to what concentration? The P21S TAW was diluted to 10:1- should I increase the concentration for a more thorough cleaning? Or should I use a true automotive carpet cleaner, then resoak with water to remove the carpet cleaner scent? Any other suggestions?
-Last, I have been careful with my use and method of cleaning the headliner, which has retained the most scent. How sensitive is the glue holding the cloth to the headliner to cleaning agents? Are there cleaning agents I should stay away from to keep the glue from loosening?
As stated before, I have consulted with professional home carpet cleaners and I got a lack-luster, low confidence/knowledge response. So before acting again, I wanted to consult my fellow automotive detailing cohorts to see what the consensus was!
I fly under the radar around here, but I have been a PAC customer for a while, a detailing pro in college and a detailing enthusiast for over 30 years. If I am not at the track, or honey-doing, you can probably find me in the garage cleaning or fixing something. Thanks to the extensive knowledge I have access to with you kind folks, I have and used every mainstay product and many of the techniques mentioned on this site and thus, my detailing knowledge and skills have increased at least 10 fold! For that, I thank you all. Good lord, I love my 7424, Lake Country pads, 105, 205 and Blackfire! Now, back to the issue at hand...
Prior to this post, I did remove the cabin filter and had my wife smell it. There is no scent on it (nicotine or otherwise) so I vacuumed it out good before re-installing. I also sprayed the intake ducts (internal and external) with Zorb-x with the A/C on high. Due to the location of the Wonder Wafer in proximity to the air intake duct under drivers seat, I also APC'd what I could of the intake duct and have spent considerable time cleaning the carpet in that area with P21S as well. I am pleased report the scent is not blasting through the cabin when the A/C is on. The seat belts are clean and have no scent. All plastic, vinyl, leather and cloth (sans the headliner I sprayed) have been thoroughly cleaned and treated with Lexol leather Cleaner, then Conditioner, Meg's Vinyl & Rubber cleaner/conditioner, 303 and Meg's Quik Interior Detailer, all where appropriate.
As stated before, after the above cleaning, the most effective scent elimination was by spraying with the diluted P21S, agitating, towel drying (the carpets are 99.9% dirt free now) then sucking out most of the remaining moisture with my 5hp shop vac with a claw type attachment. After all this, I had my wife use her super-sniffer all over the car. The leather smells like leather. The dash and all hard surfaces smell like they were properly cleaned and protected.
There is no nicotine smell. The scent is the Meg's Odor Eliminator in the carpet and headliner only.
The scent in areas that are harder to thoroughly clean- little nooks and crannies, the headliner, etc, retained the scent more than others. In large flat spots of the carpet, where it was easier to clean, I got far more of the scent out, but you can still feel the slickness of the odor eliminator when you run your hand over the damp carpet.
I guess my true questions are...
-what is the chemical make-up of these "odor eliminators". Is it petroleum (or silicone, or water) based to trap the prior scents and then emit the maker's own scent, or something else?
-Once that is answered, what is the appropriate cleaning agent and to what concentration? The P21S TAW was diluted to 10:1- should I increase the concentration for a more thorough cleaning? Or should I use a true automotive carpet cleaner, then resoak with water to remove the carpet cleaner scent? Any other suggestions?
-Last, I have been careful with my use and method of cleaning the headliner, which has retained the most scent. How sensitive is the glue holding the cloth to the headliner to cleaning agents? Are there cleaning agents I should stay away from to keep the glue from loosening?
As stated before, I have consulted with professional home carpet cleaners and I got a lack-luster, low confidence/knowledge response. So before acting again, I wanted to consult my fellow automotive detailing cohorts to see what the consensus was!
The Megs odor eleminator has a weird dirty wet smell to me too. I use it on my cloth seats a couple of times after stinky customers got out of my tow truck which, is new. Not impressed by it.
You said the carpet was still damp. you live in Florida as I do and wet carpet is a no no. Moldy carpet is the last thing you need. I would set up a couple of high CFM blowers by both doors and dry the carpets fully and them resume your search after that. you have so much going on in there, its a concoction of wetness and mutiple chemical makeups that all react differently with each other and the wetness could be the problem now.
Good luck.
You said the carpet was still damp. you live in Florida as I do and wet carpet is a no no. Moldy carpet is the last thing you need. I would set up a couple of high CFM blowers by both doors and dry the carpets fully and them resume your search after that. you have so much going on in there, its a concoction of wetness and mutiple chemical makeups that all react differently with each other and the wetness could be the problem now.
Good luck.