Removing interior cigarette smell

I recently picked up a classic (?) Mopar (I know, it doesn't have to be old to be classic, and it doesn't have to be a classic if it's old) and of its two prior owners, I think both of them were smokers. The interior is in fantabulous shape and I'd rather not take it apart.

I have some Downy sheets stuck around various spots and I've done some airing out and a little Febreeze, but I still have a lingering cigarettey smell.

How can I eliminate the smell?

Try using a Green Machine handheld carpet cleaner on the headliner and all the soft stuff. It did wonders for my truck - that just smelled like ass though. Smoke is harder to kill.

Maybe fight fire w/ fire... smoke some kielbasa in there.

Buy a carton of cigarettes, start smoking.

You'll never notice it after that.

Take car to abandoned airfield

add explosions and strippers

= problem solved

I got most of the cigarette smell out of the VW Golf I had earlier this year by cleaning the interior (especially the headlining) several times with Autoglym Interior Shampoo.

Shampoo every soft surface, wipe down all of the smooth vinyl and plastic, do what you can under the dash and inside the vents, then baking soda and charcoal are your best friends. Don't expect overnight results, it takes a while. You can get 90% of it, but there will always be a hint on a damp day.

Or light up a cigar, which will leave a different, but some think more tolerable, stench.

Vinegar.

Cigarette smoke leaves a film that you have to remove. Scrub out the entire interior - doors, seats, carpets, headliner, glass, dashboard, everything. There's probably a lot of it inside the heater ducts as well. A good product for removing (not masking) odors is Atmosklear. Spray this inside the defroster and heater ducts. If you can't find it locally, you can buy it online. Here's one source, there are others. http://www.5starshine.com/info-atmosklear-odor-eliminator.html

Try contacting a local profrssional cleaning service (Servicepro is one) that specializes in commercial and residential smoke damage cleanup. Most have a variety of products and techniques they employ to reverse smoke damage. Years ago, there was a type of candle they used that counteracted the smell of smoke in curtains and upolstered furniture.

The other big thing, as others have already pointed out, is thouough cleaning and lots and lots of ventilation. Try opening all the doors and placing fans on one side that push a large volue of fresh air through the interior.

Also, don't forget that your A/C and/or ventilation system will have a large quantity of residual smoke embedded within it and will need to be cleaned and air flushed or the smell will come right back.

Finally, ya gotta get one of those little green tree thingies to hang from your RVM.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: Try using a Green Machine handheld carpet cleaner on the headliner and all the soft stuff. It did wonders for my truck - that just smelled like ass though. Smoke is harder to kill. Maybe fight fire w/ fire... smoke some kielbasa in there.

Missed... Try Bacon instead.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: Try using a Green Machine handheld carpet cleaner on the headliner and all the soft stuff. It did wonders for my truck - that just smelled like ass though. Smoke is harder to kill. Maybe fight fire w/ fire... smoke some kielbasa in there.

Dare I ask why your truck smelled like "ass?"

Ozone machine. It's what hotels use to get the smell out of non-smoking rooms. Surely you can rent one somewhere.

The best way to get rid of cigarette smell is to start smoking cigars.

vinegar.

coffee grounds did nothing to the stink in my current rental. so i put a little vinegar into a couple of cups and put them in the cup holders. next day was better, second day can't tell the car was ever smoked in.

Another vote for vinegar. Put some in an uncovered dish and leave it in the car overnight, it should absorb the odor.

Groovy Newport. The 360 in my Barracuda came out of a Newport similar to that one, just in much much worse shape.

How bad is the smell? If it's a little, it's just character of a car from a time when ash trays were desired everywhere like cup holders are today. If it smells like you're driving in an ash tray, yea better do something.

Clean all the surfaces you can, but the headliner is going to be trapping a whole lot in there. I think those years still had the headliner held in with bows so you might not be able to get all of the stale smoke out. But like the others said get the carpets and seats shampooed, that will be a bid help.

Then start looking into forced induction for that low compression 400 or a stroker kit. Getting 496 cubes out of a 400 is pretty common these days. Bigger torsion bars and sway bars are available now too. A giant green Newport would be the last thing you'd expect to see at a track day.

-Rob

Better yet put the vinegar in a cup on the dash, then deliver Tofu!

Ozone generator is the correct answer. Gets rid of that neglected cadaver smell that so many object to when looking at a new apartment. No idea where you would rent one.

Once poured a bass smoothee down a friends defroster vents, that would mask the smell.

Ozone generator is the correct answer. Gets rid of that neglected cadaver smell that so many object to when looking at a new apartment. No idea where you would rent one.

Once poured a bass smoothee down a friends defroster vents, that would mask the smell.

Initiallllllllllll Deeeeeeeeeeeeeee......

The_Jed wrote: Better yet put the vinegar in a cup on the dash, then deliver Tofu!

GRM ended up replacing the carpets on their smoky 5.0 Mustang project car.

They said vinegar did nothing.

I'd add Griot's Garage "Stinky b Gone" to the list of things to try.

I'd also scrub the hell out of every surface with Blue Coral upholstery cleaner (the one w/ the odor eliminators in it). Maybe hose down the floor mats w/ Simple Green and let them dry in the sun.

A summer of hot days w/ the windows open a bit will eventually help a bit.

How about vinegar in a canoe?

First Vietnamese canoe I've seen, either here or elsewhere.

Dammit, now I want some pho!

As far as the smell goes, there's a lot of good advice here. As a smoker, first I'd reccommend seriously doing the headliner (smoke rises). And Stuart's right about the film. I often find that my night-time visibility "problem" often vanishes after cleaning the interior side of the glass..I can only imagine how much of that stuff must be inside the boxes/vents on the ventilation system. It might also help to scrub the areas around the ashtrays, especially the ones within the driver's reach (when you're looking at the road, you don't always quite flick in the right place..). Console, and on a car that old, the door cards in the rear as well (even on a car as "new" as my Corrados, there are ashtrays in the side panels in back. I consider that a "good thing", as the rear windows don't go down, and there'd be a bunch of burns in the rear seat if there weren't ashtrays..). And of course, the carpet underneath the ashtrays. As far as the chemical treatments go, look for stuff that removes the residue. Don't fall for anything that just covers up the old smell with a new `perfume'.

Good luck. And don't ever buy a car from me...

If you get the pet deodorizor cleaning solution from Bissel for their little green machine (walmart, target), you'd be amazed at what level of odors that liquid can destroy on contact. I'd wipe the entire interrior down (glass included) with that first, then use the carpet cleaning attachment on the headliners, carpet, matts...