How to get smoke smell out of car?

[bumbershoot]

Almost 2 years ago, we bought a used car. It was the dealer's loaner and we thought it would be fine. Alas, I wasn't there when hubby got it, and he didn't notice the multiple cig burn marks in the upholstery, nor did he smell the cig smoke in it.

His brother works for the dealership and did a few ozone treatments, which "got rid of it" for about a month, but then it came back, once we were out of the return period they offered us.

I'm TRYING to be good, financially. It's hard, though, because the thing makes me sick. I'm very sensitive to cigarettes, being around the smell (not even second hand, from someone actively smoking, but from what a former Intel employee who made computer chips and wasn't allowed to smoke lest it damage the chips called "third hand smoke") does make me sicker than I should be, and I have GOT to get rid of the smell.

I've thought of getting new seats from a junkyard, but that might be trading bad for worse unless we haunted the junkyard and took seats just after they came in, before they could get dirtier.

Any really good, solid, ideas out there? I do not want to sell it and buy something else, b/c it's not even worth the smallest Kia that would work for us, and the person buying it would have to not care about the smell either.

Thanks in advance!

 

[rowbear]

Buy a smoker's candle and let it burn inside the car for at least 3 hours with the windows rolled up.

But don't do this with the car parked outside or in the sun because the candle can melt in a weird way, catch the car on fire, and then it really will smell like smoke.

Please be careful with this suggestion but I can almost guarantee it will work.

 

[rowbear]

It would probably work if the windows were just barely cracked too.

 

[bumbershoot]

Smoker's candle? Will have to google that one...



OK, looked it up. Isn't this just going to put another scent into the air? I should have mentioned that that's hard on me, too. I can easily be allergic to strong scents, and the really fun part is that my allergies change on a whim. One day I love a smell, the next day I can't smell it, the next day I'm sneezing like crazy at the scent.

Hubby liked to use febreze on his car (not smoke smell, just old rattly car smell) but it made my allergies nuts...

I have a feeling there's not going to be a good solution for me, but I do continue to welcome more ideas!!!!!

 

[rowbear]

OK, looked it up. Isn't this just going to put another scent into the air? I should have mentioned that that's hard on me, too. I can easily be allergic to strong scents, and the really fun part is that my allergies change on a whim. One day I love a smell, the next day I can't smell it, the next day I'm sneezing like crazy at the scent.

Yes but it will fade in a few days (especially in the summer) and take the tobacco odor with it.

 

[DISUNC]

Leave 2 Dryer Sheets in overnight with the windows closed.

 

[bumbershoot]

Yes but it will fade in a few days (especially in the summer) and take the tobacco odor with it.

Wow.

What about inside the upholstery? I have a feeling that the service people should have done a deep vacuum after the ozone treatment (I once borrowed an ozone machine for my apt, and had to do a huge cleaning afterwards to get up all the dust that had settled), and it's stuck inside. I mean, if the car gets warm, even though the (plastic) steering wheel has been cleaned, and we've had the thing for 2 years, my hands will smell like smoke after driving somewhere. It seems stuck in the molecules of the car, LOL. Sure do wish I'd nixed it when I first smelled it!

If only we'd known at the time that hubby's job would be changing in 2 months, and he'd be commuting by bus and train and foot ONLY, never driving to work...but at the time we thought we had to have a car...

 

[rowbear]

Wow.

What about inside the upholstery? I have a feeling that the service people should have done a deep vacuum after the ozone treatment (I once borrowed an ozone machine for my apt, and had to do a huge cleaning afterwards to get up all the dust that had settled), and it's stuck inside. I mean, if the car gets warm, even though the (plastic) steering wheel has been cleaned, and we've had the thing for 2 years, my hands will smell like smoke after driving somewhere. It seems stuck in the molecules of the car, LOL. Sure do wish I'd nixed it when I first smelled it!

If only we'd known at the time that hubby's job would be changing in 2 months, and he'd be commuting by bus and train and foot ONLY, never driving to work...but at the time we thought we had to have a car...

Trust me. If you leave it burning inside your car for several hours it will get into every place the smoke could have gotten to and it will eradicate it. You are probably never going to need the candle again so burn it in there for as many hours as you care to keep up with it. It is the only real solution that doesn't just mask it with something else.

I have used them for years and they have never failed me if I let them burn long enough.

 

[rowbear]

Do not be tempted to buy any of the sprays that are designed with the same enzyme that is in candle because they only work if the smoke is still on or near the surface. They will never be able to penetrate to the same degree the candle can.

 

[disneyatl]

If you have a local cigar shop - they should have the candle.

I also just googled - check this out.

http://www.smokercandles.com/html/vanilla_creme_smoker_candle.html

This site has items for your car to remove smoke that is safer than lighting a candle.

 

[bumbershoot]

Very interesting, thank you! Do you have a specific brand in mind?

 

[rowbear]

If you have a local cigar shop - they should have the candle.

I also just googled - check this out.

http://www.smokercandles.com/html/vanilla_creme_smoker_candle.html

This site has items for your car to remove smoke that is safer than lighting a candle.

Yes but sprays don't work when it is this bad. You have to have better penetration.

 

[rowbear]

Very interesting, thank you! Do you have a specific brand in mind?

There was a really good one a few years ago that really worked fast but they went out of business. The other ones work but they take a good long time.

This is one of the ones I use successfully:

http://www.gatlinburlier.com/index....arch&page=none&query=candle&token=10961516520

I also get the ones from cigars international but their website appears to be down so I can't give you a direct link.

I am not sure it is necessary but you might want to move the candle to the back seat for about a third of the time just so it gets maximum exposure.

 

[bumbershoot]

disneyatl, I didn't see you there. Thanks for googling for me.

 

[bumbershoot]

Thanks again rowbear.

I have a feeling I'm going to be setting up with a good book and a chair near the car for this process. Just my luck there'd be an earthquake if the car was unattended, and the problem (aka car) would go up in smoke!

 

[disszilagyi]

I bought a car thinking the smell would be easy to get out. We did cut up apples and put them under the seat as they dry up they absorb the smell. I love the Body Shop. It is a place in our mall they sell oils for fragrance. They have a kit for the car that you put these oils on a pad and put them in this holder that goes in the ciggarett lighter it really makes the car smell great. It was the best that I found and I think it costs $10.00 I recommend the satsuma oil.

 

[rowbear]

Thanks again rowbear.

I have a feeling I'm going to be setting up with a good book and a chair near the car for this process. Just my luck there'd be an earthquake if the car was unattended, and the problem (aka car) would go up in smoke!

The unsafe part is really that there are not many level surfaces in a car so if you can rig one up it will minimize the chance of something going wrong. Get a good size book and rap it in foil then use something to make it a level surface and set your candle on the book with the foil. If you get one of the ones without the jar go ahead and wrap the candle in foil too. I don't know if you have to be with it every minute but I would certainly check on it very often.

Just remember the longer you let it burn the less of a chance you will have to repeat the process. 3 hours is the least amount of time you should burn it.


Sorry. I don't mean to be talking down to you but it scares me to be suggesting this even though I know it is the only solution that has an almost guaranteed chance of working.

 

[SplashMtnCrew]

We had this same problem with a car a couple of years ago. We changed the cabin air filter, ran the ac on recirculate every time we got in it and never smelled it again. I know older cars don't have cabin filters, but it will tell you in your owners manual. We always use the recirc button, otherwise you're bringing in outside smells/odors and have to cool that air constantly.

 

[rowbear]

Did I mention you should smell for gas before lighting the candle? Oh and feel free to use the candle as the last effort if you want to try something else safer first. I have tried most of the other alternatives and they don't work as well IMO. I have not tried the kit from the body shop.

Geez this has me nervous.

 

[bumbershoot]

I bought a car thinking the smell would be easy to get out. We did cut up apples and put them under the seat as they dry up they absorb the smell. I love the Body Shop. It is a place in our mall they sell oils for fragrance. They have a kit for the car that you put these oils on a pad and put them in this holder that goes in the ciggarett lighter it really makes the car smell great. It was the best that I found and I think it costs $10.00 I recommend the satsuma oil.

Thank you!

Sorry. I don't mean to be talking down to you but it scares me to be suggesting this even though I know it is the only solution that has an almost guaranteed chance of working.

It's OK. You don't know me, so it's OK to be nervous. But when it comes to personal safety I'm really very safe. I'll make it a picnic, sit outside, read a book, get a little sunshine...I'll be right there. And I'd already started to figure out how to make a flat surface in the car! Don't worry about the advice you've given me, I'll make sure the car and I are safe.

We had this same problem with a car a couple of years ago. We changed the cabin air filter, ran the ac on recirculate every time we got in it and never smelled it again. I know older cars don't have cabin filters, but it will tell you in your owners manual. We always use the recirc button, otherwise you're bringing in outside smells/odors and have to cool that air constantly.

I keep thinking about the cabin air filter. It's a Grand Marquis...the lowest level they have, but still, officially probably close to a luxury car (or a cop car, LOL) and I do think it has those filters. I do think the system needs to be changed out, because they weren't changed when we got it. And that might be why the steering wheel gets smokey, because it happens when it's hot, when it's hot I close windows and put on AC, and then the AC would blow right in that area. Makes quite a bit of sense.


Thank you all so far!