Smell in car - any ideas?

Folks

Could anyone offer any ideas what might be causing a smell in my car?

There has never been anything spilt in it and I have searched it high and low and found nothing.

Its a smell that used to come out of nowhere and last for a day or two then vanish again. Its been happening for maybe 2yrs or so. But it came about a fortnight ago and is still there - it looks like its here for the longterm this time

Its hard to describe the smell. At its worst it smells like sour milk or damp football gear/boots !! Not pleasant. Now as I say I have searched the car many times and can find nothing. Nothings been spilt. The seats all appear clean and dry, no dampness. Boot smells fine, and no sign of any dead animals in the engine bay. Pulled up all the seats and nowt.

I'm at my wits end, as everytime you get out and then back in after a break its bad. Tried all the Febreze thingees but nothing has worked. If you don't use the car for a day or two and get back in its terrible.

Is there anything car wise that could causing this - like catalytic converter or similar? Thing is, I'm thinking this shouldn't affect a car sitting in the driveway for a couple of days and not being used. On the vege of getting the entire interior shampoo'd and valeted as a last resort.

I think the cat. convertor smells more like rotten eggs/sulphur - not certain though.

You should maybe have the air con and pollen filter (if you have one) checked.

Mats maybe?

if you have air con then replace the pollen/micro filter.
if you dont have A/C then it could be damp getting in somewhere! you could buy a portable dehumidifier and leave it in it for a few hours, i seen one in lidl/aldi recently.

Could be mould/damp in the aircon/heating ducts.

Open the passenger side windows and try driving round for 5 minutes with all vents open and the aircon on full cold, then five minutes with the temp set to full high. It's a good idea to do this every so often with aircon anyway.

Could also be a leak in one of the aircon seals.

SSE

Thanks for all your replies.

1st off - the car has no air con, so nothing related to that (although might be something in the air/heating vents).

Mats have been checked and ok. No dampness on them or spills.

Only thing I noticed tonight is that the cars windows inside are gathering an awful lot of water on them. I mopped most of it off tonight, and have put 2 of those cheap crystal dehumidifiers you get in the pound shops in the car to see if it can control the damp a little. This may be a potential issue?

Perhaps there is a seal gone and the inside of the cabin is getting damp? But I didn't think it would smell so bad so quickly.

Could somebody (a kid have spilt the smallest amount of orange juice in the car between the seats or somewhere. Happened to us and for months we coukd not find smell until we found it and by hell was it rotten.

mercman said:

Could somebody (a kid have spilt the smallest amount of orange juice in the car between the seats or somewhere. Happened to us and for months we coukd not find smell until we found it and by hell was it rotten.

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Admittedly it does point to a spill, but the car is used by 2 adults 99% of the time. Only very very rarely would a couple of nephews/nieces be in it.

The thing I mentioned at the start, and which I thought might rule out a spill, was the fact that when it 1st started approx 2 yrs ago, it would just come out of nowhere, last perhaps a day or two, and then vanish as quick as it arrived, with no after effects. This would happen every couple of months in the same way.

Its only this last time that it has hung around and is only marghinally improving. Thats about 3 wks its been here now, and I do have to say I think its improving, but very gradually.

Thats why I ruled out a spill. If it was juice or milk or whatever, surely it would stink all the time, and would not have gone away quickly.

I searched the net for the location of the cabin filter tonight, so might check that out tomorrow to see if the filter has anything smelly caught in it.

Where do you drive the car. There is a possibility that you are driving over a dirty puddle somewhere, splashing foul smelling stuff on the underside of your car.

I hope you get it sorted - we once had a car which was known as the Red Stinker due to spilt milk - never got the smell out.

Bluebells said:

Where do you drive the car. There is a possibility that you are driving over a dirty puddle somewhere, splashing foul smelling stuff on the underside of your car.

I hope you get it sorted - we once had a car which was known as the Red Stinker due to spilt milk - never got the smell out.

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Its generally driven daily around fairly major roads, so can't see that being the problem.

It tends to be at its worst when its been lying idle for a while, for example it damn awful when you get into it 1st thing in the morning !!! But then it seems to get easier on the nose as you drive. I'm nor sure if this is due to fresh air moving thru the car/vents or whether its just that your nose gets used to it, a la heading out into the countryside when the farmers are muck spreading

Check your seatbelts - pull them out fully and clean them.
If something was spilled or someone sick on them while they were in use and they weren't cleaned properly the smell will linger in the seatbelt cover/holder so try cleaning them too...speaking from experience here!

i rekon it is you aircon / heater

I had a problem similar to yours a couple of years back - here's the thread - but I never did find exactly what was causing it. The smell gradually disappeared thank goodness, it wasn't pleasant driving in rain with the windows open

I've recently had the same problem with a very damp-smelling car - although I did find the cause. Basically, leaves became blocked in something under the car and rain water leaked up into the passenger-side carpet. I can't remember what it was exactly, and my husband sorted it, but it was some pipe or something that blocked.

A mechanic told husband that sometimes the water can get into the air vents/heaters instead and that this causes problems and apparently it's quite common. I'm not sure if this happens with Opels or all cars.

The smell sounds very similiar and there's still a trace of it in my car - YUCK! I hope you find out what it is.

I reckon its the water getting in your windows. You may need to replace the seals.

I had a car where the seals has obviously gone in the boot. Water got in and the stink was terrible. Was always worse when I hadn't used the car for a while and it was cold.

If water is getting into the carpets, it's not always easy to tell because there is about an inch of padding/underlay under the carpet. My car had a leaking windscreen, the carpet was only damp and I thought it was draining from our shoes. We had to take the door trims etc. off and lift carpet, which is not easy because they are fitted. The underlay was dripping wet. As "Pisces" says, the chamber below the wipers can get blocked, particularly if you have trees around.
Aa a matter of interest what make car is it?

I had a similar problem with a VW Polo many moons ago.
Bad smell, heavier than usual condensation on the inside of the windows
Finally discovered there was water getting in underneath the rear seat
TooK a long time for VW to find and fix the leak.
Something to think about maybe.

If the spare wheel is in a well in the boot take it out and look for water there.

If there is moister inside the windows it is coming from somewhere,

I had an issie with my passat this year.

Googled passat plenum drains blocked. Basicaly a drain under the bonnet blocked when it rained heavy the chamber where the battery sits filled up with water which got in through the heater system.

Not a major job. Sorted it myself.

Sounds like it's your car cabin filter. A blocked air filter is full of allergens, dust particles, pollen spores and possibly mold and mildew if wet or damp. It can cause very bad odors as well as give you headaches.
They're suppose to be changed once a year.
Run a search on car cabin filters.

Thanks one and all for your input, many things to go after there.

For reference, its a VW Golf.

I will probably start with the cabin filter in the next few days to see if thats filthy.

Then on to trying to see if theres a leak on any of the seals that might explain the condensation in the cabin.

Then check for leaves etc that might be blocking something.

Thanks again.

My VW had the same problem. Changed cabin filter and had aircon cleaned, but smell kept returning. Eventually found that it was caused by bacteria in the window washer bottle. Drained the bottle, added some hot water and a little Milton baby bottle sterilising fluid. Left in bottle for a few hours, then drained and refilled with fresh water. No more bad smell since.