Kim and Sue, Leigh Ann, Sis …..all of you type A, clean-your-car-out-everyday types…..look away, come back and visit tomorrow…..this post is likely to offend your clean car sensibilities. Now for the rest of you, listen close; I need your help.
Day 1- There’s the faintest hint of a ‘funny’ smell in the car….you barely notice it and think about it for 3 seconds-max.
Day 2- The ‘funny’ smell is a little stronger–you give it some thought and a quick look around—don’t notice any obvious sources, unless you count running shoes and an old poptart. You give those a quick sniff and head on in, puzzled.
Day 3- The six year old says “Oooooh, what’s that smell? Yeah, I’ve noticed it too. Maybe it’s just because it’s so hot outside and the windows have been up. Another quick look around reveals a petrified chicken nugget–which is not the source of the smell–and 4 day old TCBY leftovers—which is not the source either. We roll the windows down and head to ballet.
Day 4- I’m starting to dread car rides longer than 5 minutes. I look under the seats and in the ‘catch-all’ basket for the culprit. No luck. Clear out some old Mc Donald’s fries and buy ‘new car smell’ air freshener. We then proceed to have a heated discussion about where to place the air freshener. I’m not a fan of them dangling from the rearview—something so 1980’s-cheap car-tinted windows-dicey about it. Nothing screams ‘my car is old and not clean’ like ‘new car’ air freshener on the rearview. So I find a much more appropriate place for it while my children point out every. single. car from here to Knoxville that has them ‘dangling’ , to convince me of the error of my ways. But I digress.
Day 5- Weird air freshener-‘funny’ smell mixture goin’ on. I try to diagnose the smell—at this point I’m thinking small dead animal—but who knows—-CAUSE I CAN’T FIND THE SOURCE. I drive an excursion so that’s like finding a small child in Walmart.
Day 6- My children complain that the smell is so horrific, they may vomit. I’m dry-heaving myself. We roll the windows down and stick another air freshener up—not on the rearview, BTW.
And that brings us to today. Do you have any suggestions? Has this ever happened to you? Cause it’s a quarterly thing for me. Let me add that this is not the sweaty boy/feet smell that my sons’ car always has….no this is violent and wrong. Can small animals die somewhere, like in the engine? Will I need to take EVERYTHING out of the car and start all over. Do I need to call in special search teams? Is it time to sell? Am I a bad person/mother/homemaker/car owner? Please advise.
HA! This post was HILARIOUS!! And I’m immediately taking the air freshener OFF my rearview mirror! Dang, I didn’t know I was so 80’s!
As for the smell, I say you offer the kids a reward on who can find it first! That way, you don’t have to deal with it!
Oh my gosh! That is so funny! I love this post….Sounds like maybe spoiled milk.Always takes a while to smell it and then it gets worse and worse. I put dryer sheets in my car. Tuck them under the seats. They smell good and you don’t see them….Good Luck
You’re too funny. This happened to me once, turned out it was spilled milk from a sippy cup. I had to shampoo the carpet. Good Luck! 🙂
I knew you girls would come through! I didn’t even think about the milk angle. That relieves me somewhat that I won’t find a dead squirrel or something. Anyone want to go for a ride?
And Kimmie,
I highly doubt you have any personal experience with funny car smells. I’ve seen your car. It’s always clean. Love the dryer sheet idea but this is a job far too serious and stinky for that. I’m wondering if I can’t take through one of those high pressure car washes with the doors open!
Funny but not funny for you. Good friend of mine had split milk in her SUV. It gradually became a horrific odor before she could figure it out! We had a car once that somehow leeked in rain, from puddles, water from wherever. That smell was horrible…everytime we got in it and turned on AC, it got worse. Not a fun delima to figure out. Could be an animal, may bet is the milk product.
I agree I’ve had the water smell and it stinks! But it is possible for a small animal like kitten to get up in the engine and die there- THAT IS AN ODOR!!! You may want one of your strapping boys to check- cause it won’t be pretty!
Another suggestion- since you’re saving all that money doing everything yourself- take it to the detailer- they’ll find it! 😉
Okay, I know you think I keep my care clean, but most of the time, I don’t. I just lost my check card in my car remember, and I still haven’t found it. It must be an excursion kind of problem. Do your girls still do sippy cups or drink milk in the car? If it is in the engine, I would think it would get worse if the A.C. was on. Did a cat urinate in it again? Remember, I did try to go through the car wash with your window down technique. You might want to wear a shower cap if you do this, because it can really mess up a good hair do…I wan’t trying to get rid of a smell though, just trying to prevent my big honkin’ mirror from being ripped off the side of my car when the car wash thingy caught a hold of it. I now pull my mirrors in when going through car washes…..Love you Sis, Good luck with the smell…maybe it is time to trade!!!
Sis, I love your CSI-line of questioning. It’s definitely not ‘cat’–been there, done that before. It’s actually starting to get better on its’ own—-maybe it was spilled milk or TCBY. I think I’m gonna shampoo the carpets this weekend.
Kelly, I like your ‘detailing’ idea but that would require me to take EVERYTHING out of it first. I’m not sure I’m that committed. Besides, with the gas frenzy, maybe I’ll just stay home for a week or two!
my car always smells weird. it’s either the ground in french fries or the damp swim clothes.
yes small animals can die in the engine, in your air vents and in the wheel wells(not a pleasant picture). Good Luck. PS. Around here Yankee Candle gel car jars dangling from the rearview are like a status symbol and a conversation starter..like what scent is yours? kind of getting to know someone type of convo. 🙂
where's the link to the update? what was it? once there was a dead mouse in my air vent. yes it smelled horrific.