How to remove smoke smell

[nate3531]

Ok guys, if I can't get this smoke smell out of my truck I will have to sell it (possibly taking a loss) and find something else. My wife is severely allergic to smoke and the smell in my truck gives her a headache. What I have done so far:

Removed the seats and cleaned with light soap, water, dried, carpet cleaner, dried, soaked with FeBreeze.
Removed carpet and cleaned with a cleaner and taken to the car wash and cleaned with high pressure soap water, rinsed, dried, soaked with FeBreeze.
Cleaned all plastics and glass with Windex
Soaked headliner with FeBreeze.


Now I think the smell is still coming from the headliner. So to truly get the smell out will I have to replace the seats, headliner, carpet all three, or just the headliner? Is there a chance it will still be there in the dash vents? Can those be cleaned?


Anyone that has any experience with this at all please offer advice.

Thanks a ton,
Nate

 

[hawkeyez71]

My grandparents used a can of odor eater in their closet to get the smell of a dead animal out. It worked pretty well I would try throwing one under the seat and see if that helps. As for the vents I have no idea but you could try seeing if you could stick a shop vac down there and see if it helps

 

[great white]

Smoke smell is difficult to get out of interiors. Cigarette smoke is worse.

Many have resorted to changing out the whole interior.

The only real cure is to leave it open and let time take it out. You can accelerate the process by running an "ionizer" 24/7 until the smell is gone. Many used car dealers do this very thing.

Unfortunately, while you can make it dissipate to the point where it's hard to smell it, it takes years for the smell to completely go away....especially if you're sensitized to it.

I've got a car that hasn't been smoked in in nearly 10 years. If I leave it closed up for a couple days to a week, I can still smell the cigarette.

Filthy habit.....

 

[oohunter04oo]

My 94 was smoked in b4 I got it. And when I pulled the cluster out there was ashes all behind the dash. I've had the truck 5yrs and can still smell it when the truck sits for a while. Maybe if you change the carpet, headliner and seats it will help but it won't completely get rid of it.

 

[ShadowRejects]

Even though its not the same thing, my friend had spilled gas in his car, and you could smell gas in that thing from a mile away.

He eventually got rid of the smell by spraying the interior with febreeze and leaving the windows down/cracked for a few weeks and it eventually went away. You can't even tell he ever spilled any in there.

 

[sewlow]

'Odor Eaters' have charcoal in 'em.
In my fridge I use a briquette (it's pure charcoal) instead of baking soda. Works way better at absorbing smells. Just sits on a rack in the back. Lasts for months.
A couple of them under the seat will suck up a lot of that smoke smell.
Put a couple of dryer sheets in the heat vents. Change every month or so.
Replacing the headliner fabric will get a fair amount of that smell out. Smoke rises so that would be the first place to absorb the smell. Because of the crappy pressed fiber that's used for the headliner panel, that may have to be replaced, too.
Leather, because of it's porosity, will hold smoke odor more than vinyl or fabric.
Ever see a smoker's hands? Stained yellow fingers from the nicotine. So...give that steering wheel a good scrubbing! And all the rest of the control dials.
Some automotive detail shops specialize in odor removal. Mostly via steam cleaning.
Ask the detail guys at a dealership what they would recommend, too. 'Fat Cats' smoking cigars in a leased Escalade, don't make for good resale value.

 

[nate3531]

Thanks for all the great suggestions so far. I will give some of them a try.

 

[Skylersa]

Sorry to hear about the smoke smell. My 97 also had been smoked in for years. I work for a small business that caters to dealerships. Often we have to remove smells, and almost all are cigarette smoke. Personally I recommend taking the dash apart and cleaning everything with simple green. Let the simple green soak inside of the vents. (simple green may also eat some of the color, don't leave it there too long.) Use a carpet shampooer or an "extractor" to clean all of the cloth surfaces (seats, headliner, cloth on the door panels, carpet). If all else fails, I would shake baking soda all over the carpets, leave the truck sealed up, then vacuum it all up a week or so later. There are machines called ozone machines that eat a lot of odor also, but are expensive. Good luck! If you have any questions let me know!

 

[Vortec Lover]

windows down everywhere you drive

but definently do everything the above suggested. I've heard good things about ozone machines too

 

[superdave]

That headliner is probably holding a lot of funk in it, but every surface of the interior is going to need cleaning. I bought my 97 about 6 weeks ago and it had quite a bit of smoke smell. I took the carpet out, hung it on a fence, soaked it with Pinesol, and power washed it. I cleaned the seats with a Little Green Steam Machine and need to do that again. I soaked the seat belts in a bucket of water and Purple Power. I replaced the headliner. I cleaned all the hard surfaces on the trim and when I sprayed cleaner on them, the cleaner ran down in brown streaks from the tar and nicotine. It's much better, but it still is there a little and only time will remove that. I didn't tear the dash apart to clean all that stuff and the seats still have some funk in the cushions I guess.