Tips for getting cigarette smell out of vehicle?

[stomachmonkey]

It's tough.

At least you are not my buddy Kevin.

He went to NOLA for the Baylor game.

Checking in at the hotel he walked over to the valet, left the car running, a different valet hoped in it and hauled ass out of there.

He says to the 1st valet, your coworker took off without the remote.

Valet looked at him and said "I'm the only one working today"

They found the car.

https://www.khou.com/article/news/crime/12-year-old-boy-killed-by-gunfire-monday-was-found-near-stolen-suv/289-beb5c0f4-3979-461f-a18d-6c5274d0ce06

[Por_sha911]

I used to work in car sales:
-Cigarette smoke smell is really hard to get rid of since non-smokers can smell it from a mile away (sorry).
-Detailers will soak everything down with a cleaner and then lay on a heavy layer of "deodorizer" which only masks the odor and when the fragrance is depleted you end up with a funkier smoke smell.
-The only hope of every getting rid of the smell is to hire a professional who has an ozone generator. This is your best chance. Even then, depending on your sensitivity, there may be a slight residual smell. I despise cigarette smoke so for me I would sell the truck and start over.
YMMV

[JavaBrewer]

I will bet a bunch of the smell is in the headliner. Agree that if you try to clean that it will sag. Why not cut to the chase and replace the headliner and professional clean the leather and carpets?

[Bill Douglas]

It could have been worse. Fart smell.

Almond essence is very good at getting rid of cigarette smell. Splash it around and after a week both smells will be gone. Handy helpful hint for today; it also works well with refrigerators that have been used by tenants and left smelly.

[craigster59]

Start smoking a pipe with some Borkum Riff....
https://www.tobaccopipes.com/borkum-riff-bourbon-whiskey-pipe-tobacco/

You'll look jaunty, a little bit of a Hipster and if you wear one of those Turtle Neck sweaters, like you just jumped out of an ad in a 1972 Playboy magazine.

And your truck will still smell smokey, but a sophisticated kind of smokey.

[Joe Bob]

Shampoo the carpet and release a can of Ozium, roll the windows up and let it sit in the sun. At least until the next day.

[Steve Carlton]

[Joe Bob]

BTW, there was an acquaintance I had back in Santa Barbara who smoked American Freedom. He talked me into letting him my pro carpet cleaner. I used to be clean smelling but when I got it back it stunk to high heaven. Some cheap tobacco just reeks.

My parents both smoked Marlboro, so I'm used to the smell of heavy smoked in cars....NOTHING like those nasty ass AFs that smoked. I had to run bleach and Lysol that system four times.

[HobieMarty]

White vinegar and baking soda. Spread out the baking soda and let it sit for a day or so, mist down other areas with the vinegar. Shampoo it all up with a carpet shampooer. Good to go usually. May rinse and repeat as needed.

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[rusnak]

Very thorough vacuuming with a rotating brush head, use a wide mouth venturi type compressed air gun to push all dust out of the vehicle, then wipe all smooth surfaces with warm soapy water, then clean uphostery with a quality product like AMMO NYC interior mousse spray. Then fog the interior with this stuff:

This will pretty much get all of the smell out. You're basically eliminating all of the loose ash particles. They probably had the windows open, which is why ashes blew everywhere. I know this will work. I won't get into how I know.

[cabmandone]

Denis,
If you find something that works let me know. I've owned my F250 for 5 or so years now. The PO must have been a smoker. I've cleaned it meticulously and used a spray that you open in the vehicle with the fan on high to circulate through the heating/cooling system that is supposed to neutralize the odor and when the truck sits outside on a warm day, I can STILL smell it. In your situation where it was only a short period of time, look into a product called Odoban. I wish you luck.

https://www.acehardware.com/departments/home-and-decor/cleaning-and-disinfectants/odor-eliminators/1456987?store=08460&gclid=Cj0KCQiAip-PBhDVARIsAPP2xc0otB7c2oZJ88SA7fcFCvBLEz0MQM3Sxg20S gxZO0EfKVzNtR16Ww0aAkYEEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

[ckelly78z]

I bought a 2004 Mustang that had 3 bags of trash/wrappers/grit ground into the seats, and carpet. The guy must have also smoked a pack a day inside the car, because I couldn't hardly stand to be in it for a few minutes.

I went to Advance Auto, and found some car interior bomb foggers. I used two of them (one for the front, one for the back seat, and scrubbed the leather interior, and carpet.
https://www.amazon.com/Armor-All-Fogger-Eliminator-Tranquil/dp/B07LHKFCJV

[Paul_Heery]

[javadog]

Something you might consider, is a little more deep cleaning. You can clean a seat a lot better, if it’s sitting on your workbench, instead of in the truck. You can clean carpet a lot better if you pull it from the truc and clean it outside. That may sound like a lot of work but it’s really not. You can have the seats and carpet out of a truck in no time at all.

If you want to go this route, let me know and I’ll give you a recipe for some carpet shampoo that will kick the ass of whatever crap they sell in the stores.

[vash]

Originally Posted by speeder

I might have mentioned somewhere here that my PU trucks was stolen 2 months ago. On Saturday morning, I got a call from the LAPD telling me that they had found/recovered it. I went and fetched it out of impound immediately.

It is in surprisingly undamaged conditon other than the ignition and drivers side door lock being punched-out. Also, everything that was inside of the truck and large bed mounted tool box is gone. All of that is fixable/replaceable.

The worst damage, TBH, is that it smells like someone smoked 200 packs of cigarettes inside of it with the windows rolled up. Who the fk does that?? No need to answer...

I've already started airing it out and plan on a good interior shampoo. Any other tips that actually work for eliminating that awful smell are appreciated. It's weird...I smoked for decades and my cars never stunk like that. And yes, my sense of smell works just fine. I never, ever smoked with the windows fully closed, even if it was 10 below zero in the winter.

TIA for any help!

burn toast? i got most of remnants of smell from one particular beer, tequila, buffalo wing vomit "event horizon" out of my wife's car by filling the interior of the car with burned toast smoke. once the smoke cleared, the smell was gone.

[matthewb0051]

I've had luck with BBQ charcoal in the past. Get a small bag and put it in an open box then just leave it in the cabin, like back floorboard area.

It helps with some odors, but unsure whether it will do the trick in this instance though. Worth a try.

Top tip: don't get the charcoal with lighter fluid, quick start type.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by javadog

Something you might consider, is a little more deep cleaning. You can clean a seat a lot better, if it’s sitting on your workbench, instead of in the truck. You can clean carpet a lot better if you pull it from the truc and clean it outside. That may sound like a lot of work but it’s really not. You can have the seats and carpet out of a truck in no time at all.

If you want to go this route, let me know and I’ll give you a recipe for some carpet shampoo that will kick the ass of whatever crap they sell in the stores.

Ok, thanks. I can always use a good carpet shampoo formula, I have lots of carpet.

[Rusty Heap]

10 christmas tree air fresheners hanging from the mirror?

[vash]

if you're going with air fresherner route. those Fresh Wave products really do not suck.

[javadog]

Originally Posted by speeder

Ok, thanks. I can always use a good carpet shampoo formula, I have lots of carpet.

I use this for automotive carpet with a backing, that can be fully saturated, and I only use it when the carpet is removed from the car. This makes up a gallon, which is adequate for vehicle carpet.

OxiClean odor blaster one full scoop
Ajax dish soap 4 tablespoons
Rubbing alcohol 3 tablespoons
6 tablespoons of any window cleaner with ammonia
Balance of gallon jug hot water

Take the carpet out of the car and put it on the driveway or garage floor, something with a small amount of slope, not much. Starting at the top, saturate the carpet with the cleaner and feel free to use the entire gallon. Let it soak for about 30 minutes, you might lightly brush it just to saturate the fibers, but not too much. Hose it off, starting at the top, with a hard stream of water from a nozzle on a garden hose. Make sure you get all of the cleaner out of the carpet, this will take 20 to 30 minutes. Go slow and make sure you get it all as you go.. Hang it on the nearest sunny fence for a day until it’s dry.