I just bought a used 96 Civic and it has a funky odor, it's mainly a stale smoke smell. How do I get rid of the funk permanantly??

Thanks in advance

Hawss

 

Clean you carpet with shampoo etc. You could also change out your carpet.

 

Howdy Hawss,

If the car happens to have cabin filters, replace the ashstray or put something else in it's place. Anything that you are thinking of replacing (seats, sunvisors, carpet, etc), now is a good time to get them ordered, so you can put them in one you get it cleaned.

Wash down all surfaces with a good odor killing cleaner that's safe for any surfaces that you are keeping inside the car.

Shampoo all the carpets (taking the seats out and shampoo them as well), clean the head liner too. If you can take the carpet OUT of the car to clean it, all the better. That way you don't have to worry about things not getting dry under the carpet. You want to do a good job, because the smoke smell is INSIDE, the covers on the seats, and the foam padding too. So a Shampoo with Steam Cleaning might be a good idea. You'll get the idea when you see how nasty the water is that gets extracted from the seats, carpet and head liner.

Clean out or replace all the duct work to the vents, and yes you're going to have to clean the blower fan as well as as much of the inside of the blower as you can. Otherwise, every time you turn on the AC or Heat, you'll get a taste of that funk. Make sure you use a shampo and order eater that does not just make things smell nice, you want to KILL the ODOR, not pretty it up. Trust me a sweet smelling cover up, on top of funk will make you gag!

Also check the carpet in the truck for water stains, which might mean they had leaking or plugs missing from the bottom that allowed water in when driving through winter/raining weather.

Do it right and you should not have to smell the funk (or worse GHOST OF FUNK), the rest of the time you own the car.

The most important thing is to let everything get DRY before putting closing the car up. Taking the seats out, will help a lot in their getting clean and dry (as you can put a fan on them to help speed their drying), same for the carpet if BOTH side of it are exposed to the sir to dry.

 

Yeah, that smoke gets everywhere, and it's impossible to get it all out. You'll just have to do as said above, and get as much as you can. Don't forget, you have to clean everything that you possibly can. That also includes wiping down all the plastic with a good cleaner.
Good luck, you got your work cut out for you.

 

try using fabreez also and sparaying it on everthing, but your best bet it get a steme cleaner like they sead

 

Febreeze is only a temporary coverup. It won't remove the smell, it just masks it.

 

I used febreeze as the only defense against the smoke smell and three bottles later it worked.

 

it's the only way seats out and all deep clean everything heat and soap and water

 

what??? you mean the commercials lie? i just don't know how to go on now that i know the commercials are lying to consumers!