ThomWV

I bought my decade-old CL from a fellow who smoked. CarFax tells me that he was the car's 3rd owner and who knows about the other two?

The guy had a fag in hand the first time I met him, his ignorant ass was smoking one when we took it for a test drive. He was civil enough to toss it before we got in the car but he laughingly said (yes, he was actually laughing when he said it) "Yeah, I know, I'm guilty. When I first got the car I promissed myself that I wouldn't smoke in it, but that only lasted a couple of days". And the only thought that passed through my mind was "what a Fucking idiot".

But the car was too fine to pass by and here I am today, its owner.

I spent last saturday cleaning the interior. When I took a paper-towel and some Windex to the inside of the windshield it removed a thick nicotine-sludge that had to be a major contributor to the stench inside the car. It did not smell so much like a dirty ashtray, it was more like the smell of a poorly vented and grossly over-filled Port-A-Potty at a NASCAR race track during the sweltering heat of August.

So, I cleaned the glass first. Then I went after the hard plastic parts. I used a general purpose spray (hand pump) cleaner and paper towels. The stuff was unscented, as are all the cleaning products I use on cars. After that I went for the leather. Here I used plain old fashioned "Saddle Soap" and soft rags.

Time was running out for me so I quit there, but before closing it up for the night I sprayed the interior with "Ozium", which is an air sanitizer that my son recommended. The next day I opened up the car for a few hours to let it air out.

I did not get around to trying to clean the headliner or the carpets. I'm not sure what cleaning products to use on them. I also still have the cabin filters to change, something that I'll do today if the rain stops.

The cleaning I gave the car went a long way to removing the cigarette stench last week, but when I took the car for a long drive yesterday (my son uses the car during the week for work) the damned odor was back - not as bad as before but still quite noticeable. I never thought a single cleaning was going to take care of years of abuse, and still don't. I know a lot of the poison is still trapped in the headliner, carpets, and of course the hard plastic on the inside of the car's ductwork. There's got to be some way to remove some or hopefully most of it.

So tell me, have you faced this problem and if so were you able to deal with it successfully? Have you had good success with any particular cleaning product or do you have an old standby favorite? Any tricks or hints at cleaning will certainly be appreciated as well.

CL-S progression 01

iTrader: (2)

u cannot remove the imbedded smoke in the upholstery, all u can do is mask it to the best of my knowledge.

try ozium

combat mediC

iTrader: (1)

Scrub the headliner and all that stuff, then leave the windows down for a while... it will help... but not fully remove it... cigarettes are nasty

exl124

Take it to a professional detailer. Maybe a good carwash shop will beable to help with the interior cleaning as well. The stuff you get from your local stores are usually for general purpose cleaning. But the detailers have the good stuff.

Terragotti

Change the cabin filter and febreeze the vents to death , even that concentrate orange spray is good, it helped me out

brian6speed

iTrader: (5)

Best bet would be steam cleaning. Also there are heavy duty type carpet cleaners that are like a water vacuum that injects soap into carpet and then sucks it out. After that you can use an air compressor to try and blow remaing dust etc out. If you need more info just type "steam cleaning car interior" in youtube, there are videos showing how to do it.

civicdrivr

iTrader: (9)

https://acurazine.com/forums/wash-wax-23/please-help-cig-smell-cars-previous-owner-833205/

ThomWV

CivicDrivr,

Nice link, thanks for finding it. I wish the discussion had continued a bit longer and that others who tired it would have piped in. Never the less it sounds like its worth trying. I think I might try one thing along with just letting it set over-night. I think that after it sets the required time I might start the car up and set the heater on high as well as recirculate. My thinking is that all the cabin air will then be forced through the vent system repeatedly and if the stuff works on the exposed parts of the interior then the recirculate feature may treat the hidden parts. The reason I say put the temperature on high is because most chemical reactions work more quickly when hot and also because it will cause the fan to run continuously at top speed.

I did change the cabin filter earlier this afternoon. The car has 217k miles and the original filters were in there. I don't think any further description is required.

ChangBanger

One thing you could try is turning the fans (heat or A/C) on high and spray like Febreeze through the intake of the fans (next to the windshield wipers on the outside of the car) and it should help a bit. And what some other people posted, clean the headliner, carpets, seats...

civicdrivr

iTrader: (9)

The OP in that thread tried the vinegar trick and said it worked. Ive heard of people using it in their houses as well with good luck. Give it a try.

fsttyms1

They make an actual spray for ventilation systems that helps get rid of odors, mold etc.. in the hvac system of cars.

ThomWV

fsttyms1,

Is there any chance you might have a brand name for the spray cleaner or should I just head for a couple of different auto parts stores and ask to see if they have that sort of stuff?

SlickShiftNall6

iTrader: (4)

The product your looking for is called frigi-fresh. Made by the BG company.
During my days at the dealership we would use it all the time, sprayed into the windshield cowl vents, and sprayed directly onto the cabin filter during installation.
Worked great but I don't know if you can get it retail.

Also as brian stated with smoke smells, steam is your best friend.

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

You're in for some hard work, but it can be done.

I'm pretty sure that this is what fstty was referring to.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...KYPWRG64GAMZXC

There's a number of other products on there as well that you can compare against. I bought a can of this stuff, but haven't used it yet. The seats are part of it, but like others said, you're going to need to clean the carpets, door panels, and headliner as well. But most of the smell is trapped in your vents. I've also heard of the vinegar trick, but never had to use it

1sickaccord

you wont get rid of it instantly but you will over some time ... i am a smoker myself but do not smoke in my car ever.. if you have leather use a good quality (like Lexol) leather cleaner and clean it really good then follow up with a conditioner then clean and condition the dash and such also .. and for the carpet i recommend just shampooing them and hang up some BLACK ICE air fresheners

StreetKA

iTrader: (8)

+1 ^what she said

brokslouky

http://www.bissell.com/little-green-deep-cleaner/

civicdrivr

iTrader: (9)

Jacobpockros

iTrader: (1)

+1 for vinegar trick