Early 04 E55. Purchased car six weeks ago over the internet after my brother test drove it for me, and had it shipped. Upon its arrival there was a pungent odor in the car like bad air fresherner (anyone remember those hawaiin heads with feathers that were an air freshener but smelled horrible?). I have cleaned all the leather and the carpets, headliner, put all windows down everytime I drive and sprayed 2 cans of Fabreeze and the smell is just as strong as it was six weeks ago.

Is there a hidden air freshener compartment?

What is the next step for this smell that has taken on a life of its own and won't go away??? A priest?

 

pop the hood and on the ps there is a box, lift that up and its the cabin filter and replace. Also might want to set a dish of vinegar in the car overnite. That will work too to absorb the bad smell.

 

At worst case, if the above tricks do not work for you, find a good quality detailer that has an ozone generator. It's not the most environmentally friendly thing, but it is capable of neutralizing every odor in every surface of your car.

 

+1

 

Could be a combination of things, check fuel pump for leaks. I actually picked an air freshener up from pier 1 imports. It's a gel type. Set it in the car for a few weeks and the car has never smelled better

 

The 211 e-class has a problem with stinky evaporators which MBUSA really refused to acknowledge, they just milked all the problems until the warranties were up. It's worse in humid states, and the smell can be described as urine, or vinegar coming from the A/C vents at first start but goes away after a minute or two. There are some evaporator cleaning procedures but their success is questionable.

 

Not sure how true this is, but I had heard "cut a grapefruit in half leave it in the car overnight to absorb any stench" A buddy dropped an open container of milk in my p/u and the smell of rotten milk was atrocious

 

make sure you put some Versace colgone on the cabin filter and call it a day lol :P

 

Its in the carpet or more accurately the padding under the carpet.

Tried the vinegar and grapefruit and baking soda. Environment be damned, gotta find one of these ozone people.

Berti, that's essentially how I suspect this odor originated though it was a different brand and they used the carpet instead of the cabin filter.

 

Flood car?

 

Just get a truck stop prostitute to chain smoke Basic 100s inside with the windows up. You won't notice the old smell

You can buy an ozone generator for under a hundred bucks. Also you can get a Carbon hepa filter from home depot meant for home HVAC that is thin and cut to fit for like 10$
Try this in place of your cabin filter, and run your Ac on recirculate every time you drive it for a while.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Web-Absor...8#.UaTtRxB5mSM

 

Worst case, I've got an 06E55 I bought to part out that I'll have at my house shortly that you can buy the carpet from.