How to get rid of mouse urine smell?

[Fastback50]

Hey all,

 

My P19 fastback was "barn fresh" when I got it last week, and I've been going gangbusters ever since figuring out all of it's secrets, one of which (not really a secret actually) was that it had been turned into a mouse luxury liner.  I have removed all of the seats, carpeting/vinyl on the floor, and have sprayed the entire car and trunk out with a hose after using a mild degreaser.  The headliner and door skins under the rear window remain, and I'm sure have absorbed some odor too.  Anyway, the car still stinks.

 

How do I get rid of the urine smell?  I can tell that even the steel retained some of the odor.  Also, what's the best way to remove the headliner without irreparably damaging anything?  My goal is to get this thing mechanically sound for the road this summer, drive it around, then begin body/underbody repair in the winter.  

 

I'm wondering about Simple Green, Nature's Remedy, or straight bleach for the urine smell.  Thoughts?  Also thinking of trying to have the seats extracted at a detail shop so they are usable and bearable for the summer.  

 

Thanks to all for replies!

[DonaldSmith]

Years ago, Pepper the dog peed on the carpet in front of the back seat of our 68 Mercury.  I used Lysol spray to kill the smell.  Unpleasantly, I had to sniff out the exact location of the donation, for a proper application.  

 

But I don't know if you can saturate the entire interior of your with Lysol, if they even they make it the same way they did back then.  There may have been some ingredient that causes cancer in California.    

[knuckleharley]

I've  had good luck defeating smells using "Bounce" fabric softener sheets. Once had a can of PB Blaster leak into the carpet behind the driver seat of my truck in the summer,and the smell would gag a maggot after sitting in the sun all afternoon. Someone told me to try the Bounce sheets by putting one under each seat,and sure enough,I couldn't smell it at all the next day.

 

I now use it in trash cans and in kitty litter.

 

You have nothing to lose. If it doesn't work for mouse urine,you can always use it in your clothes dryer.

[Niel Hoback]

  Haggarty insurance gave me an air freshener last week at a swap meet called "Old Car Smell".  Its pretty strong, but would never cover the mice smell.  BTW, it smells more like an old man than an old car.

[plyroadking]

I used straight clorox bleach in a spray bottle, along with goggles and a face mask, rolled the windows up and let it marinate in the sun for awhile. The old car smell is just now starting to return after a year

[Fastback50]

Thanks for all the replies guys, think I'm going to give the bleach a shot, as I've tried covering the odor already with no success.....

[Captain Neon]

Meguiar's has a new product that worked well at getting out squirrel scent in an '80s Chubby PU.  Available at O'Reilly's.

 

http://www.meguiars.com/en/automotive/products/g16602-whole-car-air-re-fresher-(summer-breeze-scent)/#1ZjFW1k5I1m5trmj.97

[Dave72dt]

Your link doesn't work, at least for me.  Meguires products are not exclusive to Oreilly's, available at any number of auto parts stores.

[Captain Neon]

Yep, fully aware that Meguiar's isn't exclusive to O'Reilly's.  I just happen to know that O'Reilly's has this product.  No store can carry everything.  Look for it at Wal*Mart, if that makes you happy.  I don't care where you get it, or if anyone gets it at all.  I'm sorry that the link doesn't work for you.  I copied it from the Meguiar's website.

[greg g]

Check your area and look for a car dealership supply wholesale place.  They carry stuff like pennants, price stickers, and the other stuff that dealerships use, including usually detailing supplies.  They have aresol bombs that you open and place in the car shut it tight and walk away.  Usually done overnight.  They are pretty effective with urine smell, tobacco, spilt spoiled milk, etc.  For the headliner and door trim make up a light spray of water and a general purpose cleaner like 409.  Moisten, small areas, scrub lightly with a medium stif upholstery brush and then wet vac the area.  Do not over wet and don't let it sit .  spray brush vacuum, repeat.

[captden29]

my wife recently placed an open bowl of vinegar on her car floor for 2 nites in a row. it really did get rid of a vomit odor I never thought it would do. cheap and worth a try. capt den

[casper50]

vinegar is almost as bad an odor as vomit.

[knuckleharley]

... scrub lightly with a medium stif upholstery brush and then wet vac the area.  Do not over wet and don't let it sit .  spray brush vacuum, repeat.

Greg,what is a upholstery brush and where do you buy them?

[_shel_ny]

https://www.google.com/search?q=upholstery+brush&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

[knuckleharley]

https://www.google.com/search?q=upholstery+brush&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

Never heard of such a thing as an upholstery brush before Greg G mentioned it.

 

Thanks!

[busycoupe]

Pet stores sell shampoos and sprays to get animal urine out of carpet and upholstery. I have not tried it, but it might be worth a try.

[knuckleharley]

Pet stores sell shampoos and sprays to get animal urine out of carpet and upholstery. I have not tried it, but it might be worth a try.

I think the main problem is the cars we are talking about are 40+ years old with natural fabric upholstery materials in them,and the stuff is just too fragile to hit up with upholstery cleaners or brushes after it has been soaked and rotted with urine for years,or even decades.

 

I think it is going to be a rare antique original upholstery car that can stand up to chemicals and brisk scrubbing.

 

Which is why I mentioned the Bounce fabric softener sheets. They work by adsorbing the odors.  If it will kill the odor of PB Blaster,some truly foul stuff,by just laying under a car seat for 24 hours with the windows rolled up,they will probably absorb the odors embedded in the upholstery material by mice.

 

Which does not address a major concern,which is "Just because the odor is gone or diminished,does that mean it is not dangerous to your health to be breathing in a car with old upholstery giving off the dust from old mouse urine and feces?

 

My vote is to strip out all the upholstery and then sand,clean,and paint all the interior metal surfaces. If your money is tight and you want to drive the car,put a couple of bucket seats in it from a modern junker to get by until you can afford to reupholster your seats. I bought a bucket seat from a 80's or 90's Honda Civic for 20 bucks to put in my 51 so I  could drive it while welding in new floors. Even after I get the new floors welded in,I'm still going to use that seat until I can afford to put in new repo floor carets,headliner,and seat upholstery. I am not about to park it just because I don't  have the money for new upholstery right at this minute. I will replace the floor coverings first,then the headliner and side panels,and the seats will be done last. At no time in this process will my car not be driveable for more than a day or two at a time because of upholstery.

Edited April 26, 2016 by knuckleharley

[Eneto-55]

Has any one ever used an ozone generator to remove odors?  My father-in-law has rental apartments, and we have one that the renters kept their dog in (rules say no pets), and they used a bunch of those awlful automatic deoderant spray & electric deals to mask the odor, and the place reaks.  (I just smell mostly the perfume smell, and my wife smells the other odors.)  Anyway, I've read tha these ozone generators are the only hting that really takes out the bad odors, but I'd like to hear some experienced reviews from someone who has dealt with the type of odors you all're talking about here before I would spend the cahs on one.

[Fastback50]

Yep, fully aware that Meguiar's isn't exclusive to O'Reilly's.  I just happen to know that O'Reilly's has this product.  No store can carry everything.  Look for it at Wal*Mart, if that makes you happy.  I don't care where you get it, or if anyone gets it at all.  I'm sorry that the link doesn't work for you.  I copied it from the Meguiar's website.

 

Thanks--the link worked for me.  I'll give this a shot on my headliner and shoot it into the doors behind the skins, as I'm trying to leave them on until I'm ready to replace them.

[Fastback50]

I think the main problem is the cars we are talking about are 40+ years old with natural fabric upholstery materials in them,and the stuff is just too fragile to hit up with upholstery cleaners or brushes after it has been soaked and rotted with urine for years,or even decades.

 

I think it is going to be a rare antique original upholstery car that can stand up to chemicals and brisk scrubbing.

 

Which is why I mentioned the Bounce fabric softener sheets. They work by adsorbing the odors.  If it will kill the odor of PB Blaster,some truly foul stuff,by just laying under a car seat for 24 hours with the windows rolled up,they will probably absorb the odors embedded in the upholstery material by mice.

 

Which does not address a major concern,which is "Just because the odor is gone or diminished,does that mean it is not dangerous to your health to be breathing in a car with old upholstery giving off the dust from old mouse urine and feces?

 

My vote is to strip out all the upholstery and then sand,clean,and paint all the interior metal surfaces. If your money is tight and you want to drive the car,put a couple of bucket seats in it from a modern junker to get by until you can afford to reupholster your seats. I bought a bucket seat from a 80's or 90's Honda Civic for 20 bucks to put in my 51 so I  could drive it while welding in new floors. Even after I get the new floors welded in,I'm still going to use that seat until I can afford to put in new repo floor carets,headliner,and seat upholstery. I am not about to park it just because I don't  have the money for new upholstery right at this minute. I will replace the floor coverings first,then the headliner and side panels,and the seats will be done last. At no time in this process will my car not be driveable for more than a day or two at a time because of upholstery.

 

I have everything but door skins and headliner ripped out, only because I haven't figured out how to get the door handles/window handles off to remove the door skins, or if there's anything I can damage by just "ripping" the headliner out with a razorblade knife or similar.  I agree on sanding/grinding the metal clean and then painting it even maybe, though my floorpans need work or replacing as well.  Sounds like you know metal work--wish you lived closer as I've never welded but am going to give some of this a go myself eventually

[knuckleharley]

I have everything but door skins and headliner ripped out, only because I haven't figured out how to get the door handles/window handles off to remove the door skins,

Like the early Fords,they are held on by roll pins slightly longer than OD of the door handles and window cranks. There are tools make for this,but you can use something like a dull putty knife with a wide blade slipped between the plastic backing piece and the door panels to see the pin,and then use a nail,pin punch,really small Phillips head screw driver,or anything else of a smaller diameter than the pin to just push it out. Besides the pins,the door handles and window cranks are held on by springs that put pressure  on the plastic and the handles to keep pressure on the locating pin.

 

This sounds more complicated than it is due to my poor instructions. Just use the putty knife to push the plastic spacer away from the handle and once you see the pins it will all make sense.

[Young Ed]

I just do it by hand. Close the door so it can't move. Push on the escutheon until you can push the pin out. 

[knuckleharley]

  Sounds like you know metal work--wish you lived closer as I've never welded but am going to give some of this a go myself eventually

BTW,you can enroll in a night course in welding at a local community college for next to nothing,and learn how to weld. It's not hard. Especially if you use a MIG welder. You could teach a monkey how to weld with a MIG in a week.

 

The advantage of the welding course is you can use the school welding equipment to weld the new floors in your car if you can get it to the point you can drive it back and forth to school. That way you not only learn how to weld,but you can use the school MIG welder to weld your new floors in place and not have to spend the money to buy a welder.

 

Learning how to gas weld with an acetylene/oxygen torch is a huge bonus for doing body work later,too. Once you learn,you can use the torch to shrink swelled metal,raise low spots,braze,etc,etc,etc. I think this is pretty interesting stuff. Remember,it was just a few decades ago there were no such things as MIG or TIG welders,and all bodywork was done with a torch,hammer,and dolly.

[Fastback50]

Greg,what is a upholstery brush and where do you buy them?

 

I would like know this too...

[Fastback50]

BTW,you can enroll in a night course in welding at a local community college for next to nothing,and learn how to weld. It's not hard. Especially if you use a MIG welder. You could teach a monkey how to weld with a MIG in a week.

 

The advantage of the welding course is you can use the school welding equipment to weld the new floors in your car if you can get it to the point you can drive it back and forth to school. That way you not only learn how to weld,but you can use the school MIG welder to weld your new floors in place and not have to spend the money to buy a welder.

 

Learning how to gas weld with an acetylene/oxygen torch is a huge bonus for doing body work later,too. Once you learn,you can use the torch to shrink swelled metal,raise low spots,braze,etc,etc,etc. I think this is pretty interesting stuff. Remember,it was just a few decades ago there were no such things as MIG or TIG welders,and all bodywork was done with a torch,hammer,and dolly.

 

I agree--very interesting stuff.  I'm going to look into the night course!