hold on, im gonna take a pic of how crappy my plastics look after i did an ozone generator.

edit: camera quality sucks and the damage is not visible to it.

http://community.cartalk.com/discuss...ator-damage/p1

BTW when i had my car ozones for the same problem you have it did not go away.
Ozone generators seem to be more useful in getting rid light smells

 

wow thx for the info. i would hate for it to destroy the plastic and wires in the trunk. surprised its that harmful/destructive

 

read my first post in this thread, the ozone generator did not/does not get rid of dead rat smell. just funky moldy smell

 

"Ozone is a powerful oxidizing agent, far stronger than O2". I suppose it might indeed be able to tarnish surfaces or even damage some materials. Not sure which materials will be more sensitive.
So even so it is good for breaking down the smelly chemicals, the benefits might be outweighed by certain drawbacks....
Chris

 

x2 thanks for the edumacation. I hadn't heard of this before.

 

After returning from the grocery,a brick of cheddar cheese fell out in a hidden crevice in the trunk area of my wife's MINI. By the time she realized what was causing the foul odor, it had really gotten rancid. Time and lots of various products finally dissipated it to an acceptable level. Here's a home remedy you might try but TEST it first on an inconspicuous area to assure that it won't cause any damage: 8 oz. of Hydrogen Peroxide, 1 level teaspoon of baking soda, 1 drop of liquid hand soap, then stir with a plastic spoon and apply to the affected area with a sponge. Good Luck!

 

Is it in the car or the trunk?

First thing is to remove the source of the oder.
Then use a cleaner on all the plastic, leather & vinyl.
Then have all fabrics "carpet extracted" This is hot water with shampoo, then vacuumed out.
Don't forget the windows.

Then you use this http://detailersdomain.com/carcarepr...maCleaner.html in the vents after.

That should really help, also make sure you keep your windows down & keep the car out of the sun for a while, that can bring up the odors.

Use of an Ozone machine should not do any damage to the car, I have used one on dozens of cars with no issue. But it does take a lot of time, & the whole interior needs to be cleaned after. Most hi-end detailers will have the machine & carpet extractor. But be prepared for a big bill.

 

I guess the smell is not coming from the trunk, it is coming from the engine.
try under engine lid if odor is strong there, if so:
Keep the temp **** on the CCU to blue cold.
try introducing a hose deep inside the bottom of the engine fan with engine cold, and open the water on top of engine. (hope you have your tray off)
If it went through the auxiliary engine blower, it should be dead in one of the engine exhaust manifold mesh where the orange tube goes atop the manifold
just a guess

 

One winter, something apparently got into the heat exchanger in my SC. At first it smelled like burning hair and then it smelled like fried chicken for several weeks. The chicken smell was not that bad..... ;-)

 

What about Nature's Miracle or some other pet stain remover?

http://www.ilovenaturesmiracle.com/

 

I had a buddy with a 993 that when he started his car, chewed up a rat. The guts (and stink).. went into the heat exchangers and vents. He spent months trying to get rid of the smell. He paid to have the vents pulled and professionally cleaned, but the smell remained. He really did end up selling his car because he could not live with the smell.

 

By the title of your thread, I thought your in-laws may have moved in.

 

Don't forget to change your air/pollen filters. This will help BIG TIME!

 

So over the long weekend, I sent more time trying to track down the origin of the smell (fun!).

I removed my cabin filters and thankfully didn't find any traces of mice infestation, phew. I've watched shows like "Chasing Classic Cars" and its always the number one place they hide. However, I noticed its possible for a small rodent for crawl from the front trunk and into the cabin area, right where the front dash is (amazed how this isn't sealed up).

So I removed my dash and there it was, a small pile of droppings and traces of urine (right above the glove box area). I removed/ wiped it away and sprayed it with Lysol afterwards (wore disposable gloves and had my N95 mask on). So my question now is, how dangerous is it to be potentially inhaling some of the leftover remnants (now that its in the cabin)? I’ve searched online and it says deer mice carries Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS): a deadly disease transmitted by infected rodents through urine, droppings, or saliva.

Based on the droppings, it looks like normal house mouse (smooth, like the texture and size of a grain of rice). Apparently deer mouse droppings are rough like a peppercorn. Regardless, its very disheartening. Fortunate for me, this is my track car so I’ll only drive it on the days I have an event. Am I subjecting myself to potential risk? I can’t see how it can be too bad since people have mice and rats as pets! Suggestions???

 

You're subjecting yourself to more risk on-track than from the mice droppings. We have a cabin and every time we go there, we're cleaning up after the little critters. It's gotten to the point that they must be thriving on mouse bait!