JoeFromPA

Hey all,

99 boxster, about a year ago it cracked it's coolant overflow tank and I'm guessing leaked it out into the trunk area (wasn't mine at the time).

Anyway, overflow tank replaced and all seems well...except the powerful smell of old coolant hits me when I open the trunk.

Any tricks to getting rid of this? If not, I think I'll pull and steam clean the carpet, and use a stiff bristle brush with an all-purpose cleaner to scrub the metal and then rub it dry.

Just wondering if anyone found something that works amazingly well...like sticking a box of arm & hammer in there

Joe

RollingArt

Try putting a dead rat in the trunk.

You'll never smell the old coolant again.

Sorry, that's not funny.

More seriously, I think you're on the right track with cleaning the carpet out. It is still holding the ingredients that make up the coolant. If you can pull the carpet out fairly easily for steam cleaning great, do that. If the carpets don't come out easy you can rent a steam cleaner with a hand held attachment. That would let you clean the carpets in place.



Phil

Macster

Been through the pain of dealing with anti-freeze smell several times with various cars. If you can a good flush with warm water.In the engine compartment this works. As much as I dislike washing engines I hate the smell of anti-freeze more.

My 02 Boxster's coolant tank cracked and dumped coolant out thankfully outside of the rear trunk. I intend to use a garden hose to flush/rinse the area to reduce the anti-freeze smell. However, I note the smell is diminishing every day so I may just let nature take its course.

In your car's case with the anti-freeze in the carpet of the rear trunk my advice would be to remove the carpet and rinse it with water from a garden hose and hang the carpet up to dry. You may have to do this several times. I assume the carpet can take a dousing and a drying and not fall apart.

Or replace the carpet. Either order a new carpet or visit an upholstry shop and see about getting a new one made up and fitted.

When the carpet is out take a bucket of clean water and a towel and wipe the surfaces of the trunk down to remove as much of any dried anti-freeze residue as you can.

Make several passes. Start with clean water then switch to using a kitchen cleaner but use just a tiny bit. You don't want the trunk smelling like a sink full of dishes soaking in dish soap.

Be sure you can leave the trunk open with a fan aimed at it to thoroughly dry the trunk.

Why? Well, you do not want to add any more moisture to what's possibly there and you want to in fact give whatever moisture is there a chance to dry.

What you want to avoid is trying to clean the carpet in place. You do not want to do anything that will add to the moisture content of the air in the trunk cause the Ecu/DME is located on the front bulkhead of the rear trunk just under the carpet. Any moisture in the rear trunk will be turned to vapor from the heat of the car and this moisture can't do anything but harm to the Ecu/DME its connectors.

Sincerely,

Macster.

fuhrius

if you were close to me (SF bay area) I'd sell you a nice full rear trunk setup cheap.

mdkelly1

Never did completely get the "antifreeze" smell out of mine after a cracked coolant tank. You have to wipe out every flat space in the trunk and clean the liner as best possible to get it down to a tolerable level. Best of luck.