Help! My Car Stinks

[LSC91_Rochester]

I enjoy all of the posts and very valuable assistance by the LSC experts in this Forum. Thanks to all for a great year.

I would appreciate your thoughts and opinions. My light Titanium 91 with 48K miles has been a bit of a recovery project replacing numerous parts and chrome parts with new. I have one remaining issue. The smell. It is hard to characterize, but I guess it is simply an "old car" smell. I suspect that there are interior parts that are degrading and outgasing the smell. It is not an overpowering smell, but it does bother me. The previous owner used it as a daily driver during the summer and perhaps the interior got baked a bit. I don't think that the was ever any significant smokers in the car. The interior is generally pretty clean for light gray with no signs of degrading.

I saw a post once that the odor could be caused by the accumulation of smelly things under the console, so I pulled it all out and vacuumed it clean (there really wasn't much there to clean out). I have used the "absorbant bags" for odor sold by Griot's Garage, and it may have helped. I have used the ionizer plugged into the lighter socket and that helps a bit, but only when it is plugged in. Now garaged for the winter, I have left the window open, hoping to get some outgassing.

My second Cranberry 91 Mark has 32K miles and was mint when I got it. There is a characteristic odor also with this one that is similar to the Titanium, but it is "sweeter" and not so objectionable.

I suspect the "old car" smell could be either the carpet or the carpet pad or the interior cushion material in the seat. I am toying with replacing the carpet as the next attempt.

I would very much appreciate any experience others may have had with this and any suggestions for what I can do to "sweeten" up my silver babe.

Thanks and best wished for the holidays and 2002. http://www.frontiernet.net/~svincent/

[Icarus]

Go rent on of those lil power washers (steam cleaner) and use it with the hand held attachment under the seats etc...
Our new '98 Silverado had a weird smell to it too last year, and after we did this it went away smile.gif
Jon

[TW/92LSC/SE]

If there is a musty smell I would check the A/C//Heater Core air intake side for accumulation of leaves,twigs,bugs,etc. I once had a used farm truck with so much straw stuck around the core it would stink with the slightest amount of humidity in the air. I know there's supposed to be a cover over the air intake but sometimes their broken or missing. Good Luck

[Charlie]

TW/92LSE/SE has a good point. I read a article once that said mold can start to grow in there because the AC condenser gets damp and encourages the mold to grow. Thay reccomended dumping some pine sol type cleaner through the air intake under the hood and it should run out the bottom. This was spose to kill the mold. I would think though that this would make your car smell like pine sol for awhile. Maybe you can find some other mold killer that has a smell you like and try this. I have not tried this myself so I do not know if it works or how well.

[Lscman]

Good points. My only other suggestion would be to look for leaks. Many Ford's have small leaks in the front, rear and rear quarter windows that cause dribbling on the carpeting and insulation. This causes mold over time that is difficult to eliminate.

[pro-five-oh]

The carpet is the main source of old car stink...when I replaced the carpet and padding in my Cougar it smelled new.

[LSC91_Rochester]

Thanks for all of the ideas of some things I can try. Looks to be some concensus that it is the carpet and that is where I was coming out on it.

Has anyone had experience replacing the carpet. At one point I looked into it and a Lincoln Replacement was around $800. I would like to keep it all Lincoln original for the light Titanium color. Is there anywhere to try to get this Lincoln carpet, like at a retailer of obsolete parts, etc? What are the other options anyone has had experience with. Thanks and have a great New Years.

[Bobs88MKVII]

Try this site
http://www.originalauto.com/carpet2.htm

they have what you want.

[SlowRide]

My wife puts those fabric softner sheets under the seats and are cars always smell nice Only a woman could have come up with that. I have to admit it works.

[pro-five-oh]

Before replacing the carpet you might just want to take the seats out and shampoo it like crazy. Get a strong Shop Vac too...

I would try Lincoln parts international for replacement carpet. I wanted to put the better Mark VII carpet in my Cougar but decided it wasn't worth the extra effort.

They claimed to offer the same quality carpet as factory and quoted me a price of about $250 for it. This was back in 1998 and I do not know if it'll match, but they said it would.

I would not recommend just buying any aftermarket carpet set as it probably will not have the same material as stock.

[ December 28, 2001: Message edited by: pro-five-oh ]

[franco]

If the smell is coming from the vents, try killing that mold/etc by closing off the vent openings and turning the heat on high for at least 10 minutes. You may want to be moving down the road with the windows wide open!
If you have an air compressor, use it to blow away any debris from outside areas where stuff can collect(like crevice areas by hood hinges). Also use LOW air pressure(30-50psi) to blow out water channels from the sunroof to the deposit area under trunk lid. If you use high pressure, you risk blowing off the plastic capped tubing thus creating more harm than good.