My new 2010 DC has an aweful Dog smell

I took my new baby to a detailer and $200 later, no smell. Then I hit the road with my fishing buddies for New Mexico. A week later parked her in the driveway and flew to Memphis on business. A week later I opened the cab and guess what...that dog has returned.

It is not a piss or poop smell, just a really strong essence of dog smell. It seems to come from everywhere. I am not usually too queasy or sensitive but this is something I have to do something about. Did I mention it is strong?

I did a search and found something for cat smells. Anyone have recommendations?

 

Is your dog in the truck? If so, remove dog. Done.

If not, try Fabreeze. That stuff is the fazizzle for smells in the seats and carpet. Soak the seats, door cards, floor and hit the headliner too once/day for a week. See if that helps.

 

Yessir. I did check under the seats. Seriously, this is a bad smell. It smells like oil of old dog. Like a 4 quart dog had been boiled down to a pint.

 

Hmmm..wonder if that bad, past the point of soaking with Fabreeze, might try an upholstery shop. may not be able to cover up

full carpet cleaning? or consider replacement

I had an old Lexus with terrible cat piss smell. had them replace the carpets, door panel fabrics and the headliner. smell gone. but pricey

 

Zep odor remover spray available at Home Depot.

http://m.lowes.com/pd/Zep-Commercia...or-32-oz-Blue-Sky-Air-Freshener-Spray/3621270

 

Also might want to change your cabin air filter

 

Odor removing enzyme available from Amazon. It destroyed old dog urine odor from carpet. Natures Miracle was the brand I used. About $18/gal.

 

Change your cabin filter and get some air vent deodorizer. Crank the heat at full blast and put the deoderizer/disinfectant in the cabin air intake and leave it running for at least 15 min on full blast heat.

Put in the new cabin air filter after. Also spray everything down with the zep

 

Where is the intake? I always wondered that.

 

Base of the windshield in the plastic. Raise you hood an d look between the base of the hood and bottom of windshield you will see some skits in the plastic. That is where the air comes in

 

Thanks to all. Much appreciated. I now have work to do and I'll report results.

 

Also wouldn't hurt to put a couple of those arm and hammer baking soda boxes under the seats. They make ones where you tear off the side of the box for extra exposure.

 

Check out Autogeeks selection of odor removal products. Particularly this one: I haven't used it but it looks interesting.

 

Bought a used car that had an odor that drove me crazy. It wasn't quite smoke, but it had smoke vibes. Also did a $200 detail that helped for a bit, but the smell came back. The following are all the things I did. I never thought the smell would go away, it haunted me, but I eventually got it to a point where it was not a problem anymore.

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Strategy 1) Deodorize
Tried various sprays - Febreeze, Ozium.
Left cups of vinegar overnight.
Dryer sheets in side pockets.
Vent clip air fresheners.
Was never enough to really kick the smell, as it was just masking the smell that was "in" the vehicle.

Strategy 2) Deep clean
Step A.
Bucket of warm water with Murphy's Oil Soap (cleanses and smells good)
Use a rag with a little bit of roughness, like terry cloth, and scrub windows, trim, plastic, seatbelts, etc. etc. basically any possible surface except upholstery/rugs. I even used it on the leather, with good results.
Clean and renew bucket when it gets dirty.
After this step, you can clean with your regular car interior products to protect the plastics, leather, get streaks off the glass, etc.

Step B.
Get a carpet/upholstery foam and hit rugs, seats (if cloth), basically anything not hit with the above step.
Scrub in with soft brush or towel.
Soak up with wet vac.
Yes, you got it shampoo'd when you got it detailed, but a second shot won't hurt the situation, and they likely won't be as detailed as you'll be. Hit every inch - including under seats. There may not be stains, but there's scent living there.

Strategy 3) Ozone
Get ozone generator ($50): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007GS5L08/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Ozone is what places like hotels use when they need to clear our smoke/smells, so it's worth a shot.
Run engine with AC on full blast, and a box fan to spread the ozone. 20 minutes. Not longer, as too much ozone can break down pieces like rubber, etc.
Leave car for several hours of the ozone to dissipate.
This can be done multiple times if the stench continues, just never longer than 20 minutes.
Some people on Amazon swear by it, others say it doesn't work. I can't say for sure whether it did the trick with my smell, or maybe it was a combination of all the things. Regardless, it was part of my "willing to try everything/anything plan".
I did like the idea that it was "killing" the smells rather than masking, and permeating everything - even places I couldn't get to.

Strategy 4) Cover
Bought a wheelskin (http://wheelskins.com) leather cover for the steering wheel. It not only gave the car a nice leather smell, it might have helped mask whatever smell was on the steering wheel, which is obviously such a high contact area (the dog wasn't driving the car, but the owner who pet the dog did). Plus it just made me feel better starting with a new base that only my hands had been on. Kind of like whenever I've moved into a new apartment, I install a new toilet seat. : ) No matter how much you clean it, there's something about starting new.
If the seats weren't leather, and I hadn't kicked the smell, I would have also tried seat covers if I got desperate enough.

Strategy 5) Air it out
Whenever it's nice and sunny out, leave the windows open when home. I hear sun is good for killing smells? Definitely more productive than keeping the smell locked in.

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So yeah, that was my smell journey. Like I said, never thought I'd get the smell out but I eventually won. Not sure if it was any one thing, or just a combination of all of the above.