Cleaning Fish Smell out of Hatchback

speedbird

speedbird

Life of the Party
My last fishing trip has left me in a lot of distress every time I enter my car. I have sprayed interior cleaner on basically every surface of the interior, literally hosed down both the trunk liner and the spare tire cover, and sprayed as much of the spare tire compartment as I could. Try as I might my car still stinks of rotting coho slime. Gonna buy some enzyme remover, take out the spare tire, and try dousing the entire compartment and the spare wheel with it to see if it helps, but I am wondering if the good folks here have some more practical suggestions that won't take a whole afternoon
 
You might try Meguiar's Whole Car refresher. I used to stuff to kill odor of wet dog that rolled into a dead racoon. It worked "well" and was pretty cheap. Plus, I learned that you can wash neoprene car covers in a front loader, no matter what CoverKing said.

 
Not salmon, but I called it "Eau du Lac". An F150 fixed it for good.
 
Follow up all the cleaning with a good wipe down of Odo Ban. And use the ionizers he's sending you.
Had a recent similar incident in the family Explorer. Kid left.....something on the floor, didn't tell us, and forgot about it....
 
Long ago, I had a buddy with a truck camper. A couple of my other buddies put a few Cowrie shells in the tube inside his roll of paper towels that was in a holder. The stench was horrible, and he did everything he could to clean the smell away. Finally he used all the paper towels and discovered that he had been pranked. If you have buddies like those guys...it might be something to think about.
 
I’d be careful using an ozone or ionizer gizmo, especially around people with respiratory issues.

“Although ozone can be used in reducing odors and pollutants in unoccupied spaces (such as removing smoke odors from homes involved in fires) the levels needed to achieve this are above those generally thought to be safe for humans.”

That’s from this EPA page:
www.epa.gov

What are ionizers and other ozone generating air cleaners? | US EPA

From: Indoor Air Pollution: An Introduction for Health Professionals - http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/hpguide.htmlIon generators act by charging the particles in a room so that they are attracted to walls, floors, tabletops, draperies, occupants, etc. Abras
www.epa.gov www.epa.gov

Have you tried a carpet/upholstery cleaner? Some hardware stores and supermarkets rent them.
Or, if you have the coin, take your car to a good detailer.
 
Hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and dish soap. Might be more of a skunk solution.

Most (probably all) cleaning issues I resolve include baking soda.

Others say apple cider vinegar specifically for fish.
 
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Mayeb take it to a car detailer? They have lots of chemicals and experience.
 
Old406Kid said:
I had buddies like that ...on my wedding day they put a dead trout under. the bucket seat of my car. It didn't take long before wondering what the odiferous smell was and where it was coming from. :ROFLMAO:
Click to expand...
We put 2 dead lab mice in the chair of my bosses wife because she was a pita...It took about 2 weeks for them to figure to out :-) By the time they had the HVAC engineers looking for dead stuff in the vents out we were scared into keeping our mouths shut. She thought they'd made a nest while she was away and she'd squished them. We all agreed...

Dave
 
i remember when some put herring into one old grumpy charter captains sea boots. It was many days before it rained and he went to put them on. I was told that he bought new boots. Maybe a new car?
 
after work one day in the early 60s, my dad told me about what he had seen while making a propane delivery on the Washington coast.. His customer had recently purchased a new Caddy and he observed a bunch of salmon in the back seat. He asked the owner why the fish were there. He responded "They paid for this car and they deserve to ride in it." Smell?
 
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