Hi all,

 

The Scout's previous owner had dogs. Am fairly ok with getting rid of the last few dog hairs, but there is the distinct smell of wet dog that comes through the car, especially if it's been standing on a hot day.

 

What's the best / easiest way to get rid of this?

The previous car had a menthol bomb run through it at some point, which did the trick as far as cigarette smell goes.

 

Thanks

Never had to do this because we don't have a dog

Found this:

 

Here are 9 ways to remove the dog smell from a car:

1. Place a small bowl of baking soda in the car overnight to absorb the smells. If the smell is very strong, repeat this a few nights in a row.
2. Laying bread out on a dish towel will also help absorb the smells. Afterwards, toss the old bread out for the birds to eat.
3. Charcoal briquets that are crumbled and laid out in the car will absorb smells.
4. Vodka and water in a spray bottle in equal parts acts as an air freshener. As the solution dries, the alcohol carries off the unwanted odors. Leave the windows open to allow it to dry. Let this completely dry, you don’t want to drive around with your car smelling like a bar!
5. White vinegar also acts as an odor remover. Mix it with water in equal parts and spray it in the car, when it dries the smells should be gone or at least not as a noticeable.
6. Carpet cleaner and a wet/dry vac can clean and remove the smells from the fabric of your car. Spray the seats, floorboards, and hatch. Then using a wet/dry vacuum suck it all up.
7. Shampoo for pet stain and urine removal will thoroughly clean up the source of the smells more than a regular car shampoo. If your dog had an accident in the car, this may be the route you’ll need to go. The enzymatic cleaners made for pet stains breaks down the chemical compounds of pet urine and removes the smells.
8. Steam cleaning the interior will remove the odors, dirt, and debris. Open all the windows when letting it dry out.
9. If you travel often with your pet, you may want to lay out an old blanket across the seats or dog covers that can be found in pet stores. They protect your interior and prevent odors, dirt, and fur from getting onto the car seats themselves. They are easy to remove and can be tossed into the washing machine.

I had to have a few of mine professionally internally valeted, never got rid of the smell properly without professional/heavy-duty kit.

 

Just my experience. The waste water the valeting guy showed me after the rear bench had been done on my Mk4 Golf GTi was not pretty. Made up almost exclusively of dog saliva   

Valet Pro Enzyme Odour Eater. You can either spray on and leave or spray on, agitate, leave to dry and vacuum or spray on liberally, scrub and wet vacuum up.

"Vodka and water in a spray bottle in equal parts acts as an air freshener. As the solution dries, the alcohol carries off the unwanted odors. Leave the windows open to allow it to dry. Let this completely dry, you don’t want to drive around with your car smelling like a bar!"

 

Not entirely sure about wasting good alcohol on smells ;)

 

 

I had to have a few of mine professionally internally valeted, never got rid of the smell properly without professional/heavy-duty kit.

 

Just my experience. The waste water the valeting guy showed me after the rear bench had been done on my Mk4 Golf GTi was not pretty. Made up almost exclusively of dog saliva   

 

Gross.

 

By the looks of things, previous owner had small kids too (child locks on) so hopefully the dogs stayed in the boot

 

 

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Have also go an a/c cleaner that I'm going to run through too, so that could help a bit.

Ok, a bit of an update on this.

 

I picked up one of these last weekend, whilst getting some other tat:

http://reviews.halfords.com/4028/786335/reviews.htm

 

Did what it said on the tin.

 

So far, it's done what it says on the tin. I originaly thought that it was worth a punt for a tenner, and wasn't expecting much really. However, so far so good.

So bacteria in the air con system rather than dogs to blame?

Pass. All I can say is that the car hasn't smelt of wet-dog for a week.

Valet Pro Enzyme Odour Eater. You can either spray on and leave or spray on, agitate, leave to dry and vacuum or spray on liberally, scrub and wet vacuum up.

+1

You need an enzyme based cleaner, but if you can't get to the drool (or worse), you won't get rid of the smell. I've known buyers sell the car to get rid of the smell.

A butcher friend of mine left some meat underneath my passenger seat which was forgotten for two days in the summer .

 

The blood had leaked onto the carpet and as you can imagine the smell was terrible.

 

I tried everything to get rid of it without success.

 

In desperation I asked the salesman at my local garage if he had a solution, he told me to try lightly scrubbing with a diluted mix of Milton (the stuff they sterilize baby bottles in )

 

It killed the smell instantly and permanently without damaging or discolouring the carpet.

 

Used it a few times over the years for doggy smells, baby sick etc always done the trick.