I recently acquired my latest project and the interior was a carnival of different species of mice. It was also their bathroom. Anyhow, looking for advice on how to eliminate that scent. Much appreciated.
Wear a breathing mask and paper suit when cleaning it all out. Some nasty stuff they leave behind. Rather you than me.
remove all cloth , and wash with vinager , then let it sit in the sun for a few days and the uv will cook off any stink thats left , in the winter we use the grow lights as they are high uv .
You might want to try Natures Miracle, its an enzyme product used to get rid of pet pee stains and odor. You get it at Pet Smart or similar stores, spray it on with a cheap spray bottle and it "eats" the nasty stuff.
You can try the home remedies listed above. Find a place that has an ozone generator. Many established automotive trim shops and detailers will have one. It will clear any bad smells from an interior. I used mine frequently back in the day.. Dead animals, mildew, smoke/fire damaged cars etc. Also clean area with good stuff. I used TSP (tri-sodium-phosphate)
Before you tear stuff out of the car, be sure to spray it with a soap/water mix. doesn't have to be heavy, just to keep the dust down. and wear your gloves and respirator. Hantivirus is a nasty thing.
Having just gone through this, I can tell you what I had to do. Tore out all the interior seats, carpet, pad, door panels, headliner. With my respirator on the whole time! Used a wire wheel in a drill motor to clean all the metal, and then painted it all with rustoleum to seal it. After cleaning and sealing, I cleaned the door panels and reinstalled them, but had to replace all the seats front and rear, plus the headliner. The mice had nested in every area of the car, including under the dash, and inside the doors! Cleaned and painted the inside the trunk also, as they'd nested there too. No smell of mice anywhere now, but it was a lot of time and effort.
Be sure to wear some breathing protection...Inhaling the airborne particles from rodent (and bird) poop can make you super sick !!!!!!!! 4TTRUK
Well if it's a "project", then the time to be thorough and do it right should not be a problem. Good answers above, just don't forget about the cars heater/air ducting and vents. Those little bastards love to nest in there as well, and as said before, a respirator is a must!
I had same issue with my shoebox coupe, I stripped all the interior down to metal, then vac'd out all the crud...got a bucket of hot water with bleach and scrubbed down the inside of my Ford including the trunk and engine compartment and even in the air ducks and frame of the car.. they especially liked to place their nests in hidden places.. ugh..... still slight smell so did it twice then lowered all windows opened garage and let it air out for a couple of weeks... keep a couple of air fresheners in the coupe 24/7 afterwards..
Whoa! Thanks for all of the replies everyone. Some good advice here. I have already gutted it. Only thing left to do is pull the heater box. Going to do that this week and then pull the cab off of the frame. I will then pull it out of the garage and get to pressure washing and bleaching or I may try that "Natures Miracle" as I have some.
A friend of mine insisted putting "activated charcoal" in a few pans and leaving them in the closed up car for a week or two will do the trick as well,..... But I don't know this for a fact.
This had a bad case of the mice, about 35 years worth. Gutted the thing and powerwashed with very hot water, especially through the front pillars and in the hollow rear roof section. no more smell. If you could only smell pictures.....
When I drug the wagon out of the barn which it had been entombed for over 21 years the smell was definitely overwhelming,, Knowing mice and rats carry the hantavirus and that the wagon had been a home for hundreds of them,,I wore gloves,mask and opened everything trying to air it out,,unbelievable just how much damage they can do. I gutted the car,,amazing how they had gotten inside the headliner. After getting all the upholstery removed I pressured washed the car inside and out and used a couple of gallons of bleach to clean,,then it was time to begin work. HRP
My Falcon had so many mice nests in it that I filled my 5 gallon shop vacuum 4-5 times before I was done sucking them up! Not to mention a couple mice skeletons I found petrified inside the car!
I think that anything mice have been peeing on needs to be tossed, if not soap and water has been around for a few years try that out!
Bleach was mentioned a couple times, but to clarify- dilute the bleach in water, something around 1 part bleach to between 4-8 parts water. Also, cool or tepid water should be used. Very hot water diminishes the potency of the bleach. Seems counterintuitive to how we normally clean things but for this one step, wash with cool.
all the ideas above r gud. i worked @ a respected upholstery shop back in the 70s on alot of used cars. got rid of a lot of bad smels putting granny smith apples cut in half & setting the car or truck in the sun all day.got rid of bad smels and the car smeled like apples...............
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