Getting rid of that rat smell

[theczechone]

So I am working on a 240z I pulled out of a horse barn. It's been there for 8 years and mice have lived in it for most of that time. I have removed at least a half a dozen of carcasses and the smell is real!

I have been cleaning with different degreasers and used products like odor-ban to try to get rid of the smell. The smell still lingers in the car.

Any suggestions?

[NewZed]

Check any flat area where a mouse (not likely rats) can sit and pee and poop.  They pee wherever they go so the pathways to the flat places are important also.  I found about 1/4 inch of poop on top of the glove box in a parts car bought, and a nest in the blower for the AC system.

 

Your main problem though is that they pee everywhere.  So anywhere they went is everywhere they peed.

[theczechone]

I'm going through and scrubbing all the surfaces. The interior is completely out of the car and the floors have been replaced. The smell seems to be the strongest in areas where the nests were.

The main nests that i found were in the passenger side dog leg corner down in the rocker panels, the HVAC air system was pretty well packed with random mess, The glove box was full, under the passenger seat, behind the plastic interior tail light panel.

i did the floors on the car recently so one area doesn't smell... now that i think of it i haven't taken off the passenger door panel yet maybe there is another nest there...

[1969honda]

You might try some of the pet urine treatment sprays as well.

[Neverdone]

Get new interior. Animal pee is nearly impossible to 100% get rid of.

[grannyknot]

I had multiple generations of the little buggars living in my Z, you could smell from 10ft away, I had the shell of the car acid dipped, installed a restored dash from another Z, stripped all the paint off of the heater box and re painted and cleaned everything with Lye based soap. Now that the car is completely restored when I turn on the heater/blower there is still the faint wiff of mouse pee, it's in the plastic of the vents. Powerful stuff.

[seattlejester]

Also check the headliner, and the holes on the rocker panels on the inside. 

[theczechone]

Wow grannyknot, that's impressive, my guys were much further decomposed than that. I was not hoping to go to such great lengths as having the car acid dipped, but I did gut the interior scrubbed all the surfaces and today while I was at the parts store I asked if they have anything. They gave me this meguires re-fresher. It's almost like a bug bomb. You set it off in the car with the doors shut and it is supposed to deodorize the smell. It was 5bucks so I said might as well try it. I'll let it soak in overnight and see how it does. The garage is starting to smell fresh as a side effect.

Thanks for all the input, yes the rocker corners were filled. Made a flex hose adapter to my shop vac and was able to get all that stuff out. Eventually I'll be cutting and replacing that anyway :/

[tzagi1]

An ozone generator is your best friend here, you can build your own for peanuts, a kit on ebay is less then $20, you will need a case (50 bmg ammo can works perfectly) and one 4" fan, ($10+-) 15 minutes of operation will be more then enugh to get rid of just about anything.

[dmoralesbello]

I have used a solution consisting of 4 parts Clorox, 1 part Pinesol and 5 parts water to disinfect, clean up and eliminate most pet smells very effectively. Cheap and works like a charm.

[theczechone]

So the meguires "smell bomb" definitely changed the aroma in the car. Keep in mind that i scrubbed all accessible surfaces with a heavy duty degreaser prior to using this stuff. There is still on area on the passenger rear quarter panel that if i stick my head in there and inhale there is a faint smell. I think for right now it'll do. I figure once i put the interior panels back on the smell would be unnoticeable.  The ozone generator idea is interesting though.

Thanks for all the help!

[grannyknot]

Vinegar and Hydrogen peroxide is the combo that is used for skunk, might work on pee.

[rclarksf]

Still got the smell? I bet you do. I went down this road doing most of the stuff that all the other folks that responded did and still got rat smell.

 

All the removal, cleaning, etc. IS needed but it absolute must be capped off with this little secret. Read about in another car forum and it absolutely and completely works.

 

Search google for ozone generator rental.
Works like this:

1. Rent the generator. They mail it to you.

2. Put it in the car (anywhere in the interior, I put mine in the hatch area.

3. Plug that sucker in the wall

4. Close up the car OUTSIDE your house, NOT in the garage

5. Let that fucker run uninterrupted for 24 hours (at minimum 18)

6. Unplug it and leave it in the car for an hour or so

7. Carefully and quickly open the car (doors, hatch) and move away

8. Let the car sit for at least 6 hours open.

9. Pack up and mail the rented ozone generator back to the company.

10. Problem solved.

Rental for several days is about $200.00
 

Search for and read up about ozone generators. They break down the cellular structure of organic material and destroy odors at the molecular level. It does not mask odors - it destroys the chemistry that makes it smell. Its the same technique that hotels use when someone smokes in the room and they have to clean it.

 

Did it to my rat farm 71

after blowing out all the rats nest stuff, scrubbing the bare metal, removing the dash and all vents and replaced the foam seats and seat covers. Only after I used this did the smell go away. 6 - 8 months later the car still smells like a new car smell.