O/T cigarette smoke smell

Most of ya'll know I've been shopping for a different truck. Looked at a pretty nice '97 Ford F350, 91,000 miles, crew cab, long bed 7.3L diesel. Truck was in nearly mint condition except the prior owner was a smoker. The interior still had a cigarette smoke odor. It wasn't strong, but still there. Since neither James or I smoke, the smell bothers us.

Don't know if they actually cleaned (fabric cleaner) the interior or just vacuumed it.

Does anyone know if the smell can be gotten out?

Take EVERYTHING arpart in the cab of the truck and wash it with a bleach water solution. We had the same problem with our John Deere 4450, the guy who had it before we did was a smoker, and boy did it smell bad in the cab of that tractor! Get in every nook and cranny of the cab, even in the heater vents. Its a lot of work and it might take you a couple days, but the detail shop guys do the same exact thing.

Think I just fixed the problem with my name getting cut off.

We bought a Honda Pilot privately a year and a half ago from a smoker. Car stunk bad. We had it detailed for like $80. You could faintly smell it if the car had been sitting in the hot sun for a while. The smell was completely gone in like a month with no trace at all.

Thats happened once before today.

On my F 250 I waited till a real hot day, >100 degrees, and then I hit the interior with a garden hose, a couple of bottles of dish soap and a shop vac. Soaked everyting real good. I did the wash rinse thing several times, followed by the vac. I put a fan in it and it dried in a couple of hours. No odor remains.

Nancy I confess I'm still a smoker.

Harriet uses Fabreeze in her car when I use it for more than an hour.Even when we got it was a previous smoker owned. I don't notice any oder in her car when she uses it.

Cloth interior, and just wet it down {damp} and let dry.

My truck I use it in too it had the sweet smell of anti freeze { the heater core was replaced because it leaked on the carpet} I spray it once a week

Nancy, There are places around that will treat a vehiecle with I think with Ozone gas. Check with local dealers to see what they do, and use for heavlly smoked in cars and trucks. At a previous church I use to attend, we purchased a used van that has seen some smoker service it took 2 ozone treatments to get rid of that smell. Hope this helps.
Later,
John A.

Is that what that "new car smell" is? I sure do love that smell. Too bad it don't last forever. They need to put that stuff in a spray can cause I sure do love that smell.

Now if Mennan could put it into speedstick, Head and Shoulders could put it into shampoo, or Irish Spring could put it into soap, I'd be one smilin fella all of the time cause that is a nice smell. Grin.

Mark

You better have a thick skin with that user name :shock:

Febreeze or some kind of pet odor remover. Baking soda (or the baking soda carpet fresh stuff) real generous overnight and a strong vacuum cleaner (leave a box or two under the seat helps also). Wash the rest with something citrusy (is that a word?).

Shouldn't be too hard.

Dav

Now Nance,

The best way to cure that problem is to go into the cafe at a salebarn on a rainy day.

This will put things into perspective. :>)

Allan

Use an ozone generator.Notice that some of the posts say to use fabreeze multiple times?A generator will eliminate the odor permanently.Bill M.

Well...I smoke and some folks think my vehicles smell...after driving 1000 miles to the East...I am sure they do.
I know Allan...it's bad, but I would rather meet a guy on a narrow road with a cigarette that a cell phone of a bottle of booze stuck in his face.
Anyway, off topic. I use baking power in small plastic containers. I punch little holes in the tips and slide them under the seats and out of the way.
In Summer it helps get the body oder after a days work out too.

My current truck had been owned by a smoker. The dealer had done a really nice job cleaning all the fabric. Unfortunately, they couldn't clean the air ducts for the heat and A/C. For about 5 years I could smell wet cigarettes whenever the air was damp and I ran the A/C. This may not be an issue in Texas, but in New York it was a little annoying.

Never heard of an ozone generator. Got a website?

Oh no, Allen. To put things in perspective, you need to be downwind from a chicken house or pig farm.

Mark, AMEN!
Later,
John A.

You can take it to a Place that steam cleans carpets. They have the ability to utilize the cleaners in vehicles.

Gordo

One thing I hate is the tar residue of the floor sweepings and whatever it is they claim and or is alleged to be tobacco, anything that smells like that just ain't natural, trust me, I know, having a die hard elder in the house, we're doing a test on the dedicated room where the smoking is done, to see how much smaller the room will become with the increase of mil thickness of tar on the walls. It's so bad when you walk by on the porch, the odor just eminates out through the window. I guess the point is, unless you can clean all of that substance off or neutralize every bit of it, it is not going away.

I know the ford ranger dashboard assemblies are not difficult to remove, I had one with a mouse factory in it, and took it right to the firewall, to get that reeking odor of mouse urine out, once I removed everything and cleaned same from that cab, and it was potent, all was good again, though the upholstry fabric retained a slight bit of it. Close the windows, leave in sun, used to knock you over, no more, even the upholstry, you had to put your nose to it to notice. I'm thinking if the truck really is a nice one, it's just the darned smoke odor, just make a day of it, take the dash down, take apart the duct work and clean same, I tried to get away with not doing that and was unsuccessful, it had to be cleaned. I also found nests in the cab corners under the plastic trim. From the interior, should not be too bad, most things unplug, drop the steering column, not sure under the hood, blower motor assembly, but once you take apart that dash you can clean it out thoroughly and you have to clean all surfaces, and or use something to neutralize it, I saw a product on Pitchmen, Billy Mays, that did a number on rank odors, pet stores have 2 products on the shelf as well.

Mass produced cigarettes are just toxic, I cannot tolerate the smoke or the odor and will do anything to avoid it, my friend smokes, but has been using a good tobacco and rolls his own, been saving money for years, but now they got to that too, funny thing is, I can just about tolerate that smoke, those things RJ Reynolds and or Phillip Morris call cigarettes ain't nothin but chemical soaked fluff wrapped in paper, cannot believe people put em in their mouth smoke em and think they enjoy it.

Ford ranger dashes aren't hard to remove? That's news to me! I went to hook up a digital tachometer and All I wanted to do was get to the wires on my '99. Well, I can't get the dang thing off.

YEP! in ten or twenty years.
Walt

I bought an old 91 Chev pickup, smelled pretty good at the dealer, but on any humid day the previous owners addiction makes me sick form that sickly sweet smell out of the headliner and HVAC system.

I have heard others tell of good results using the ozone generators that plug into the lighter socket. I believe I need to try that.

A little expensive, but if it works ??
Ozone generator

I'd just get a couple of old horse blankets and use them for seat covers. Them, and make sure you give the floor mats a good soaking in horse/cow manure and urine. That beats new car smell/baccy smell any day, LOL.

Mid 90's - the one I did was a '94, been apart 2x + the carcass at the junkyard, where you can still take off your own parts. There's not a lot to those, if they have not changed, which is a distinct possibility, I use a 18V drill with a long extension and driver, to get those fasteners off, from under the windshield, been awwhile but the book and carefully looking around for all the fasteners, start wiggling 'er unplugging things, they are not that bad, at least this series wasn't, I have a '96 150, don't look too bad either, have the factory books on that but not for the ranger.

I bought a Sable from a smoker - that thing stank so bad my wife could smell in my clothes after driving it any amount of time. After I owned it a week I spent about 5 hours cleaning the carpet, seats and headliner. I replaced the cabin air filter and soaked it with Fabrize to try to freshen the air in the ducts.

For about a month it was still noticable but I kept the windows open when possible and eventually it faded away. Once in the while I might notice a wiff of it when its damp and running the defroster but it fades away pretty fast.

What surprised me was how dirty the interior was from the smoke - when you cleaned an area you knew exactly where you started and stopped.

A hot day with the windows down does seem to make the odor fade away pretty fast.

Nancy Here at the dealership we use a product from Malco. It is called XTRAX. It comes in a small a can. You use it like a bug fogger. It works very well. We get it from a local wholesaler out of Boone Ia.

Tried a used car at a dealer the other day... Stunk, dealer said he had an ozone generator, would clean smell out overnite. Check with some dealers, one might loan you one... PS- didn't buy the vehicle. Have issues with smoker cars.

Nancy , You might try that new stuff that Billy Mays promotes on T.V.
I think it was called "what odor" or something like that . Some of that stuff just might work . If it can get rid of foot ordor , it just might work .
Good luck ! Larry

If you look at the seat and the general drivers area you"ll see small burns in it. If i can avoid it I won"t buy a smoker"s vehicle. I was watching a do it yourself car show and they say it even gets in the wiring. I bought an old car and the person put their cigs out anywhere on the dash in the general area of the ash tray.
If you get it, after doing some of the deoderizing the others suggested you might replace the carpet and put a seat cover on to contain it. Might try for a lower price, but smokers don"t view that their doing anything wrong.