Ryan A.

a few weeks back, my family and i bought fresh fish from steveston pier in richmond. since we did this on a whim, we didn't have a cooler or anything and placed the raw fish in the trunk (in plastic bags, of course). however, the smell seemed to still have leaked out and now still emanates strongly whenever i get in the car with the windows rolled up. i've tried everything so far to get rid of the smell: steam vac, lysol, taking out the trunk's floorboard, febreeze and even baking soda. the smell has lessened a bit, but is still there. anyone here have tips on how to get rid of it? any opinion will be appreciated. needless to say, the new car smell is sadly gone.

F18BEN

Go to Costco and buy a 2 boxes of Kirkland Fabric softener sheets. Leave all the sheets in the box. Just remove the clear plastic wrap. Leave the boxes in the area for 2 months. The smell will be gone. Your car will smell like fabric softener but its better than fish........ Good luck...Frank

chilledbenz

Sounds like the smell got into the cabin filter...might have to get a new one. Don't tell the service manager that you put a fish in there, just claim it smells like fish and see if they will cover the cost of the filter lol. And hope he doesn't read this message board ha ha.

TXGLK

you can go to bed bath & beyond and buy zero odor and see if that works.
here is more info: http://www.zeroodor.com/

or you can try this one ( saw it on discovery channel's pitchman show): https://www.whatodor.com/flare/next

MB_Owner

Chilledbenz's filter explanation sounds pretty plausible. You might also try an enzymatic odor remover on the carpet mats, I've found this class of cleaners to be quite effective.

EnigmaAW

maybe it's your nose? j/k. 2 things i don't mess with when it comes to my cars, fish and sand. both will live in the cars for a long time. no matter how much you vacuum, sand will always stay.

Ryan A.

i'm tempted going the farbic softener route, but 2 months is a long time to remove the smell. then again, it could stay for a year otherwise? but i might try that.

the enzymatic odor remover... what is that? i have never heard of that before. and how do i find it?

as for the cabin filter. i doubt that this is causing it as the smell builds up when the car is off and closed. but when i start driving, the smell subsides...

thanks all for the responses. off i go for more febreezing!

webada

enzymatic odor remover is like those Pet stain/odor remover, you can get them at any pet store. Its aimed for organic type of odor.

The problem with sprays is that its targeted at specific area... Febrez is good but may not be enough if you don't know where the fishy smell is coming from. You should have something like carbon active odor remover to leave in the car over extended period of time.

But I agree with chillbenz, if all else fails, get them to change carbon filter.

Ryan A.

good news! the smell is fading away. after a few weeks and constantly airing out the interior in the garage, as well as using up an entire bottle of febreeze and spraying the trunk every day, the smell has almost completely disappeared. it reappears once in a while but otherwise, it's gone. i was about to go for the enzymatic deodorizer but noticed the smell weakening, so i just gave it some time. also, thanks to me taking apart the trunk to find the source of the smell, i found where the fuse was for the cigarette lighter is, as i dropped a penny in that outlet and shorted it out.

i guess there's a silver lining in every situtation.

Baby G

Glad to hear the air doesn't stink as much

just joking....