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Spilled white grape juice in the trunk!

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Old Aug 11, 2003 | 01:58 PM
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Spilled white grape juice in the trunk!

So I left half a liter of white grape juice in the car two days ago, but the lid wasn't on tight enough so it all leaked out. By the time I discovered it, most of it had evaporated. Now there is some sticky residue on the black plastic parts. Fortunately the cloth/felt thing is not sticky but there is a slight smell from the juice coming from it and the whole trunk.

What's the best way to clean the plastic parts and how should I clean the cloth/felt portion to get rid of the smell? Should I just leave the trunk open every night for a week and hope it goes away that way? Thanks! I was kind of freaking out when I discovered it, but then I remembered there's always you guys!
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Old Aug 11, 2003 | 02:44 PM
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Re: Spilled white grape juice in the trunk!

Originally posted by midas888
So I left half a liter of white grape juice in the car two days ago, but the lid wasn't on tight enough so it all leaked out. By the time I discovered it, most of it had evaporated. Now there is some sticky residue on the black plastic parts. Fortunately the cloth/felt thing is not sticky but there is a slight smell from the juice coming from it and the whole trunk.

What's the best way to clean the plastic parts and how should I clean the cloth/felt portion to get rid of the smell? Should I just leave the trunk open every night for a week and hope it goes away that way? Thanks! I was kind of freaking out when I discovered it, but then I remembered there's always you guys!
Haha that sucks. For the plastic try a degreaser like very diluted simple green, I also think meguiars makes a plastic cleaner. For the felt area you can try foaming carpet cleaner in a can. Let us know how it turns out.
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Old Aug 11, 2003 | 04:11 PM
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me too

Two weeks old when I tipped over a can of Coke in the trunk. Got into the floor handle area. No problems. Blotted up the wet stuff, and sprayed some simple green down in the crevices, edges, springs, etc. Then after it cleaned out, I blasted a shot of lube/WD-40 on to the moving parts.

No problems, no stickiness leftover, etc.

HTH,

EDJ
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Old Aug 11, 2003 | 08:58 PM
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In college, I had a gallon jug of apple juice spill in the back seat floor of my Integra. Big lesson here...clean it up and make sure you dilute all the sugars as much as possible. I had an ant problem for the rest of the time I had the car. Anywhere I parked, the ants always seemed to find it. Ended up just keeping ant traps under the seats.
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Old Aug 14, 2003 | 03:36 AM
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I have a different situation, but i guess similar interior cleaning would work. In my situation, I took passengers to a theme park and it rained like crazy. They put their wet clothes into the trunk and changed into new ones. At the end of the day, one of them left a pair of wet jeans in the trunk overnight. For the past 3-4 days, it smelled BAD!! I tried airing it out, it will NOT work. I drove window down (back seats folded down to allow trunk access) across the highway and it still smelled just as bad. I went to Autozone and got some Fabreeze Auto. Sprayed it... not good enough. Used half the bottle and it still smells as bad. Two days passed, I can't take it. I'm dying in the car. I go to Target and get some Armorall Carpet and Upholstery. (couldn't decide between that and Prestone). This time, I went to aggressive mode. I open the trunk, sprayed Armorall Carpet and Upholstery all over the trunk. It's basically a white foam. Wait until the foam soaks into the fabric/trunk. Scrub on stubborn stains, and then wipe with a damp cloth. After that, it started smelling better, but the odor was still there. It's like Armorall was fighting the nasty wet jeans odor and it was an even tie. Went to the bathroom and picked up some lysol disinfectant. Sprayed and kill whatever is causing this smell. Left the window down a bit (again seats folded down), came back and the smell is ALMOST gone. It's slightly there, but maybe a little more cleaning, or airing out will do this time.
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Old Aug 14, 2003 | 08:47 PM
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Thanks for all your tips guys. In the end I ended up using hot water and a cloth to wipe off the hard dry stuff on the plastic and then I sprayed the cloth part with foamin carpet cleaner. I vacuumed it alot too.

I'm currently letting the trunk air out; I'll report back tomorrow.
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