cfair

Crying over spilled milk. Last week I stocked up on groceries for the lock down on CA.

Forgot a gallon of milk behind my driver’s seat. Didn’t touch the car for a week. When I came back this morning, it had on 3/4 of its contents. Fine, it evaporated. I just tossed the bulging container and figured that was that.

No such luck.

It spoiled, overflowed, maybe burst and left a nice wet carpet spot underneath the rubber mats. My wife and I cold steamed and shop vacc’d the (big) spot for an hour but it’s not smelling right.

My daughter looked it up and said vinegar solution.

Any tips from my oldsmo-friends?

100% my mistake. Would like to avoid buying new carpet, this one is just 3 years old...

Thanks in advance
cf

Greg Rogers

Once when I was about 8 or 9 I went with my Dad to a local dairy store to get some milk. They packaged the milk in 1/2 gallon glass bottles that fit in a steel cage type carrier. I carried the carrier full of 4 1/2 gal. bottles to my folk's 65 Impala and sat it in the back seat and slammed the door. Yep,the door handle or something hit it and one of the 1/2 gallon bottles shattered with 1/2 gal. of milk and glass all over the rear seat and carpet!! Dad and I came home and removed the rear seat and carpet and thoroughly cleaned it and there was no smell afterwards. My guess is the only way to make this right is to remove seats and carpet and underlayment, or maybe you only need to remove carpet trim and can pull out carpet and underlayment that got milk on it, but I'll bet both front and rear carpet got it as that's where the low spot is. Then thoroughly clean carpet and pad, and of course steel floor. Then get a fan and dry carpet and pad completely before reinstalling. If you only try to do it from the top you will never get it all, and always be reminded of it. Time is your enemy here do it as soon as you can. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Bfg

You can add some Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup so it smells like chocolate milk. A little sweeter smell! If not Greg Rogers has the best solution. More work but will be done correctly.

Funkwagon455

I’ve had good luck removing smells from carpets by liberally spreading baking soda on the area and let it sit for a few days. Then simply vacuum it up. The baking soda actually draws out the odors over time. The process can be repeated if you continue to have bleed out. If you feel the saturation was too much, then you’d need to resort to the previously posted solution.

VI Cutty

I feel your pain. My wife forgot a gallon of milk in the back of my daily driver (I had about a 90 minute commute each way) a couple years ago and the stink in the car after it exploded...awful. Like the worst seagull crap ever, and that stuff reaks!

She gave the interior a good cleaning. Pulled the mats out and washed, all surfaces wiped clean, etc. But the only thing that I could find to really get the stink out was time. Lots of it. I used a Febreze air freshener (and I hate fresheners in the car) for a while. It helped take the edge off the odor at any rate. Sprinkled some cinnamon on the area (read that trick in a google search result).

The odor will go away, but it will take a long time....weeks....months....

cherokeepeople

man i myself would pull the carpet and make sure it didn't go any farther,then you could probably steam clean it in the driveway or garage.

Jamesbo

Pack wadded up newspaper, it will absorb the odor

Vintage Chief

A finely diced fresh onion sprinkled and worked into the carpet works nicely - leave it for several days. Readily absorbs odor. Then spot treat it liberally with a can of RESOLVE carpet cleaner.

Olds64

You could always take the car to a professional detailer and get a quote for removing the odor. Even with COVID madness going on right now a mobile detailer might be allowed to come to your house/work.

Cosmic Charlie

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deadeyejedi

I agree the best way to clean it is to remove it .My son spilled a spoiled protein shake in his blazer (this is the worst smell, trust me)we tried many of the tricks above and then some .He just sold that blazer, and after 3 years you can still smell it UGH!

golden rocket

I detailed cars for over 30 years as a sideline. A guy brought me a car he had bought at a police auction to detail for his car lot. Summer time in our area gets pretty warm, upper 90s' or better. I put a quart of amonia in a gallon of water and set it in the car, closed up in the sun for 2 days. All odors gone, took 2 days with windows down to air out. Found out later from PD friend, the car had a suicide in it.

Tedd Thompson

My worst smell left in a car was a abalone I gave to a customer that let me dive on his favorite spot. He forgot that it was under the seat of his truck where I told him I would leave it. Tried everything but when the temp got over 80 degrees it smelled like a fish market, three years later.... Tedd

Funkwagon455

This brought back a memory for me Tedd. My first job was working in a meat market/deli after school to earn the money to buy my first Olds. My coworkers were schoolmates and we were always playing vicious pranks on one another. My dad allowed me to drive his lifted 33” tire’d 4wd, Chevrolet truck after he had returned from work to accomplish this. My coworker put a bag of chicken giblets under the bench seat as a joke and after a few days, it smelt like death in the cab. My dad ended up removing the seat to reveal a maggot encrusted bag of rotting chicken organs. Understandably, he was furious. A couple of years ago, I finally went to a 25th high school reunion back home. During our visit, my great friend Bryan, since kindergarten (who was responsible) had a great time reminiscing how much it made us both laugh.. I’m certain my dad (now gone) can smile down on us as well.