2002 Toyota 4-Runner (Skunktastic Interior, DRAMATIC turn-around!!)

O.C.Detailing

O.C.Detailing

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So...John got a call from a customer. Their dog had been sprayed by a skunk and she had to put him in the 4-runner to get him home. Luckily, the seat was somewhat protected by a seatcover, but the stench was EVERYWHERE...YUCK!!!

We were asked to try to get the smell out the best we could while fully detailing the interior, which, by itself, was a complete mess.

We used an enzyme-based cleaner and a little recipe containing White Vinegar, Baking Soda and a little dishsoap to try to get rid of the smell. Knocked it down a tab or two, but there's NOTHING we could do to get rid of all of it.

PROCESS:

- Full Carpet and seat extraction using Mytee Hot Water Extractor with a very light APC detergent mix.
- Hardcore APC wipedown with 4:1 mix on the full interior.
- All plastics were dressed with Meg's Hyper-dressing


Now, ONTO THE PICTURES!!!

BEFORES:

Passenger's Seat Before:
IMG_0539.jpg


Driver's Seat Before:
IMG_0543.jpg


Driver's Floor. The ENTIRE interior was like this, I just didn't get many before pics. John will post his I'm sure.
IMG_0544.jpg


Intrument Cluster, center console and such befores:
IMG_0545.jpg

IMG_0546.jpg

IMG_0547.jpg


And NOW THE AFTERS!!! We busted out humps on this car in the SUPREMELY strong stench of skunk spray.

Passenger's Seat after:
IMG_0550.jpg

IMG_0551.jpg


Passenger's Side Floor:
IMG_0552.jpg


Driver's Side Seat and Floor after:
IMG_0553.jpg

IMG_0556.jpg


Instrument Cluster, center console and steering wheel after:
IMG_0554.jpg

IMG_0555.jpg

IMG_0557.jpg


Backseat and floor afters:
IMG_0559.jpg

IMG_0558.jpg


And finally, rear cargo area after:
IMG_0549.jpg


Some staining was left in the carpets, though I tried very hard to get them all out, but at least the seats came completely clean, except for some light staining on the rear seat that wouldn't come out anymore!! Thanks for looking. C&C is welcome and appreciated. :props:
 
Nice job again. I would love to come meet up with you guys some day and just watch. You two seem to get all the good cars!
 
We'll be at our garage tomorrow working all day on a 2004 or so Dodge Durango 5.9 R/T. Full exterior polish-out if you wanna come hang out. I'll PM you my number and you can come talk shop if you want to.

I'm sure you'll get bored after a while, we have to kind of focus on getting it done, so won't be able to chit-chat much. You're welcome to come hang out though. Just dress warm. The garage isn't well heated. lol
 
Congrates on being able to detail a vehicle. I know you have been needing to do some work. :xyxthumbs:

Now. I have a question for you. Do you have a PC?
 
Oh, we have the carpet brushes for the PC and John's PC is still working. I need to take mine up to a repair center and I believe have the brushes replaced. Should be quick and cheap, but we didn't pull the PC out for this one, bu why do you ask sir?
 
O.C.Detailing said:
Oh, we have the carpet brushes for the PC and John's PC is still working. I need to take mine up to a repair center and I believe have the brushes replaced. Should be quick and cheap, but we didn't pull the PC out for this one, bu why do you ask sir?
Click to expand...

I've used my PC on that kind of interior only once and it made an awsome inprovement on the seats before. I was having a hard time with my steamer AND the Tornador. The PC did the job. I have given up on using the extractor (Aztec) that I have

My problem is that I keep forgeting to USE the PC since I keep it hidden away. LOL Almost all of the vehicles I do have leather in them. There is one who has a Toyota but, I'm not use if it has cloth or leather in it. I've never seen it. I was advised he has a FJ Cruiser. As you might know, they all have a white top, correct? Not this one. He got his done in black. Do those only have cloth OR is leather available?
 
Big turnaround and skunk smell removal is tough. I would have removed the seats & carpet and powerwashed it after neutralizing the odor.
 
For what we were getting paid, removing the seats wasn't really an option. What do you mean by powerwash David? I'm always up for learning a new effective technique if it makes things a bit easier, so long as it's safe.

We did what we could to neutralize the odor, but it only reduced the smell a bit. Would have been nice to have actually removed the smell completely.

Thanks for the compliment as well.
 
I am not an expert with odor removal, but would a ozone machine or a thermal fogger have helped with the skunk odors?
 
lol Not hijacking at all. Thanks for the alternative method. At the moment, we do not have a pressure washer. We've talked about it a few times, but it hasn't really come up yet as a necessity. Not to mention, those seats would never dry overnight. Even though pressure washing may have gotten them much cleaner, we didn't have the time to really let them dry. Too cold up here and no where to put the seats that would let them dry.
 
Yup, I totally understand. You create the potential for never ending chaos if you don't allow an interior to dry before the job is done.
 
HotRod said:
I am not an expert with odor removal, but would a ozone machine or a thermal fogger have helped with the skunk odors?
Click to expand...

...and I've never used an ozone machine, although I'm sure it would have helped. The cost of such machine is not in the cards right now though. As for the foggers, I'm still afraid that all they do is mask the smell.

This was a first for me. I've never had to remove skunk smell from anything, dog, carpet, auto ... nothin'. So we tried what we had available on hand and from the local stores. Our local Oreck vacuum cleaner store sold the Enzyme Odor Buster. It seemed to do pretty well. Had a good smell and lessened the initial punch of the skunk smell. Afterward we tried the vinegar/baking soda/dish liquid routine. It was difficult to manage as the combination of the products caused a volcano effect in our spray bottle!! Lastly, we left vinegar in bowls inside the car overnight to absorb some of the smell.

So in the end we're still looking for a miracle cure for skunk spray. There may not even be one out there, who knows. Doesn't seem to be too many on the forums that have tried it. I think we lessened the smell by 50% or so, maybe more. Time will help remove the rest of it. We made sure to let the customer know up front that we didn't have a miracle cure.

SRHTX, a comment on your point. I too like the cleaning ability of the PC w/brushes. I've had some great results breaking up the dirt with simple APC and the PC brushes. The extractor is a nice follow-up to remove the dirt.
 
Whoa! Nice turnaround! I'm very impressed! :dblthumb2:
 
VR8 said:
...and I've never used an ozone machine, although I'm sure it would have helped. The cost of such machine is not in the cards right now though. As for the foggers, I'm still afraid that all they do is mask the smell.

This was a first for me. I've never had to remove skunk smell from anything, dog, carpet, auto ... nothin'. So we tried what we had available on hand and from the local stores. Our local Oreck vacuum cleaner store sold the Enzyme Odor Buster. It seemed to do pretty well. Had a good smell and lessened the initial punch of the skunk smell. Afterward we tried the vinegar/baking soda/dish liquid routine. It was difficult to manage as the combination of the products caused a volcano effect in our spray bottle!! Lastly, we left vinegar in bowls inside the car overnight to absorb some of the smell.

So in the end we're still looking for a miracle cure for skunk spray. There may not even be one out there, who knows. Doesn't seem to be too many on the forums that have tried it. I think we lessened the smell by 50% or so, maybe more. Time will help remove the rest of it. We made sure to let the customer know up front that we didn't have a miracle cure.

SRHTX, a comment on your point. I too like the cleaning ability of the PC w/brushes. I've had some great results breaking up the dirt with simple APC and the PC brushes. The extractor is a nice follow-up to remove the dirt.
Click to expand...

Why don't you try Meguiar's new Odor Eliminator? I sprayed some of it in my smelly work boots (which were stinking up the garage) and it helped tremendously. It cost me less than $6 at Advance Auto Parts.
 
Will do Shane. I didn't realize Advance had started carrying it. Can't remember seeing it anyway, but I'll try anything Meguiar's puts their name on.
 
VR8 said:
Will do Shane. I didn't realize Advance had started carrying it. Can't remember seeing it anyway, but I'll try anything Meguiar's puts their name on.
Click to expand...

Forgot to mention, I was referring to their new formula, not the old one. This one: Meguiars Car Odor Eliminator is a quick spray solution to interior car odors. Meguiars Car Odor Eliminator does not mask odors - it eliminates them!. Has a very pleasant smell to it. According to Meguiar's, it is a Mandarin/Cedarwood scent. Much improved from the old scent.
 
VR8 said:
...and I've never used an ozone machine, although I'm sure it would have helped. The cost of such machine is not in the cards right now though. As for the foggers, I'm still afraid that all they do is mask the smell.
Click to expand...

The ozone machines and thermal foggers are kinda expensive, I would like to have both eventually for my detail business, but not sure if I would use them enough to justify the price yet. However, they do an excellent job removing smoke smells and other odors.
Back to the skunk smell, I worked for a company that does residential and commercial cleaning as well as disaster restoration. There was a customer who complained that they had a skunk get into the crawl space under their house, and made the whole house smell bad. One of our technicians went over and thermal fogged the whole house and crawl space, and I believe it took care of the problem until the skunk returned a month later and stunk it up again.:doh:
 
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