Hi Guys,

Just used the car and noticed something black on the stereo surround fascia, put my finger on it just made the black thing bigger, realizing it was the paint! My Ambi pure car freshener stuff I put in 2 days ago, has somehow leaked, peeled the paint off the fascia and bubbled (swelled?) the dash bit between the vents and stereo. Is there anything I can do to stop it/repair it/etc?:(

Not a Happy Bunny right now.

Having seen something simillar happen to someone at work, I dont use Air fresheners of any sort in the car. The liquid ones are especially prone to leaking, and the chemicals can cause a lot of damage.

TBH, The stereo surround I can handle, spray paint or a new one from a dealer, but the dash is all one big piece, Ill bet it isnt cheap :(

Ive wiped it all over and hopefully there's no residue left, praying it hasnt got to the stereo :(

Go and find a body shop that also does trim repairs- SMART repair is the term you want.

Moral of the story - don't use car air freshners!

Have you got a photo of the damage?

Steve

Moral of the story - don't use car air freshners!

Have you got a photo of the damage?

Steve

Steve you're a sick man!!!

Having seen something simillar happen to someone at work, I dont use Air fresheners of any sort in the car. The liquid ones are especially prone to leaking, and the chemicals can cause a lot of damage.

I don't either but you would think that they would use stuff that doesn't affect car interiors in them if they do leak.

Steve you're a sick man!!!

Why?? I'm after a photo so we can see and assess the actual damage, and hopefully recommend a decent resolution to the problem

Yesssssss

Maybe we should have a serendipity moment and turn this to our advantage. If it's done this sort of damage then it may actually be good in an emergency for something. It might work quite well as a tar or oil remover or bulb glass cleaner.

D

Ill put some pics up tommorrow, after giving it a good clean with warm soapy water, it looks better, obviously there's 2 patches missing from the stereo surround, but the colour has blended better with the dash, its just 2 raised ridges now (it was a dual canister one) about half an inch thick each where the dash seems to have 'swelled'. Too dark to see the effects of it well now, will have another look tomorrow.

Phoned Sara Lee, they were very helpful and are sending out a prepaid envelope to send the thing in for analysis, plus a disposable camera for photo evidence.

Hopefully as long as they dont think Im trying to diddle them, or have mis-used the freshener in anyway it will get sorted. (I only had it in for 2 days and didnt bloody touch it!, the other ambipur Ive had in for months was fine)

Just a pain in the **** :(

You would think that car fresheners would be suitable for cars.:confused:

Ive also removed the ambipur I had in the other vent now too!!

Thats the culprit.....

Edited 3 November, 200916 yr by Rhoobarb

Thats good of the company to do that and i hope you get a result out of this from them

What ever possessed you to put a liquid air freshener (or any liquid come to that) above an expensive piece of electrical equipment in the first place?

Sorry but it needed saying if only to warn others that these things do happen quite frequently.

What ever possessed you to put a liquid air freshener (or any liquid come to that) above an expensive piece of electrical equipment in the first place?

I understand what your trying to say, but I'm not moaning about it knackering my stereo (which it hasnt), and if it had blown because the liquid spilled and blew a fuse, short circuited it, etc. I would hold my hand up and say, yep, dumbass, I wouldnt like it but I would accept it as my fault. My problem with this is that a car freshener has corroded the rubbery dash and plastic stereo trim. Even coke wouldnt do that, just be sticky.:thumbdwn:

I would still be in the same position if I had used the side vents

Sorry but it needed saying if only to warn others that these things do happen quite frequently.

True, but I had used ambipur in my old cars since they first came out, no problems. Why would I think otherwise?

One similar thing I've seen is those anti-slip mats melting the dash in strong sun.

I use Richmond Poppy Coral and have done in a few motors.

Looks OK and no liquid. Only wish there was a variety of refills, I've been smelling lemon for years lol.

Good to hear the manufacturer has responded positively - good luck with it.

Do you think you'll use them again in the future, or has this put you off permanently?

I use Richmond Poppy Coral and have done in a few motors.

Looks OK and no liquid. Only wish there was a variety of refills, I've been smelling lemon for years lol.

I know quite a few people who use these and understand there was also vanilla available, but this has now been discontinued by Richmond, so there's only lemon available. Does seem a bit daft that the only one available :confused:

Steve

Good to hear the manufacturer has responded positively - good luck with it.

Do you think you'll use them again in the future, or has this put you off permanently?

Thanks Steve, I'm now reluctant to put anything in the car, it seems people have problems with all sorts of these things.

How would you know whats not OK until its too late?

I think that issue of 'not knowing' would put me off, apart from the fact that I've never felt the need to use something like this. My cars always smell OK to me

Maybe the internal mechanism that releases/regulates the fragrance had a problem or malfunctioned, leading to the 'gunk' going everywhere? :rubchin:

Steve

I use Richmond Poppy Coral and have done in a few motors.

Looks OK and no liquid. Only wish there was a variety of refills, I've been smelling lemon for years lol.

Nothing wrong with that me old fruit, better than stinking of BO or something else.

I use Magic Tree which is on a small elastic string hung on the RVM.

I hate the tree pinging back and forth when it's hanging on the mirror, I have one, but its hanging on one of the rear headrest posts. Down the back of the seat into the boot, out the way there but the thing is so damn strong I can still easily smell it!

Anyway sorry to hear about that, i'll be sure to learn from this and not use the liquid based freshners. Hope the firm decide to own up to it and at least help you out with any damage costs.

AutoGlym Autofresh is a spray that smells nice and doesn't damage the car

Just spray it on the mats or similar.

I can see a new warning appearing on the package, in line with packets of peanut..

"Warning. If leaks, will seriously feck up your dashboard. Not for use in cars"

I prefer a Chanel No.5 wearing lady to keep my car smelling nice.

It looks worse again this morning, the ridges have lightened in colour slightly :(

Close-up didnt work too good, bit blurry, will try to get some decent pics

The white patches are raised around 1mm from dash

It might not look too bad to some, but its certainly noticeable :(

Who would have thought that air freshener could initiate such a heated debate?

Sorry to hear about your accident.