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Car Forum / Mercedes-Benz Cars / October 2007Smelly '84 240D - how to remove?
Hi Experts, The interior of this old car is really smelly - like decomposing plastic -, especially if I keep the doors and windows closed. I tried a large dish of baking soda in it for a week, with everything closed, but there was no change. I have heard of zeolite crystals that can adsorb odors on the surface and can release them when exposed to the sun, allowing the crystals to be re-used. Has anyone tried this, or any other solution, with success? TIA RF Odd that 23 year old plastic would be off gassing. Suggest you pull up the floor mats to see if a rain leak isn't the cause of the problem. Sunroof drains may have rusted out by now to cause such a leak.  Signature© 2007 T.G.Lambach. Publication in any form requires prior written permission. > Odd that 23 year old plastic would be off gassing. Suggest you pull up > the floor mats to see if a rain leak isn't the cause of the problem. > Sunroof drains may have rusted out by now to cause such a leak. Thanks TGL. Something is outgassing. The car is garaged most of the time and not very often is exposed to rain. I live in northern California where there is little or no rain between May and November. I take it out typically once a week and I pick the dry days. It has not been exposed to rain for at least six months. I'll remove the mats for a while to see if they are causing the odor. RF > > Odd that 23 year old plastic would be off gassing. Suggest you pull up > > the floor mats to see if a rain leak isn't the cause of the problem. [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > RF Where are the sunroof drains located? I have a similar problem with my 84 300D that I know is letting water in to the rear passenger floorboard. It has filled up at least twice during summer thunderstorms, and I can't find the source. I thought it was the rear passenger door seal, but a trip to the car wash ruled that out (I think). The sunroof drain pipes start at the sunroof well and must go down the front and center pillars. The only way to know is to look and feed a wire into each to learn where each terminates. The get clogged with dirt and debris and eventually rust out. Signature© 2007 T.G.Lambach. Publication in any form requires prior written permission. -->> T.G. Lambach <<-- schrieb: > The sunroof drain pipes start at the sunroof well and must go down the > front and center pillars. The only way to know is to look and feed a > wire into each to learn where each terminates. The get clogged with dirt > and debris and eventually rust out. The 123 sun roof drains start in the front edges of the black roof frame and go down at the sides of the front foot room. Rust holes in the roofs frame are common too. If the smell is like hot soap in a washing kitchen (if existing still) its certainly a leak at the connection from heater motor side to radiator at the firewall. SignatureRoland Franzius Incidentally, I had horrible cigarette smoke smell in my car when I bought it and tried something I had been told by a coworker. I put ground coffee in the car. I went to the supermarket and got some nice smellign beans, ground them, and put them in the ashtray and sprinkled them on the rubber floormats. That combined with airing it out as much as possible for about two to three weeks got rid of the smell entirely. Then again it has vinyl seats, so the only place for an odor to really hide is in the carpet. > Incidentally, I had horrible cigarette smoke smell in my car when I > bought it and tried something I had been told by a coworker. I put [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > entirely. Then again it has vinyl seats, so the only place for an odor > to really hide is in the carpet. I suspect that the plastic in the seating is slowly decomposing. The carpets are relatively thin - not much material to decompose - and they are covered with the plastic mats. I had a good sniff at those plastic mats and they seem to have no odor, whereas sniffing the seats and their backs does seem to have some. RF > -->> T.G. Lambach <<-- schrieb: > [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > Roland Franzius Thanks for those comments, I'll check that out this weekend before it rains again. Thankfully, the garage doesn't leak, but I don't have covered parking at work, so its still an issue right now. My current solution is to remove the rear floor mat and pad, and open one of the drain holes in the floor to drain the water. Yes, its that much water, even sloshing around one night driving home. > -->> T.G. Lambach <<-- schrieb: >> The sunroof drain pipes start at the sunroof well and must go down the [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > kitchen (if existing still) its certainly a leak at the connection from > heater motor side to radiator at the firewall. I have no water problem and certainly no battery problems - battery is almost new. Possibly that radiator leak but then I don't often have to top up the radiator. Is the connection you mentioned inside the engine compartment? - hopefully not under the dash. TIA RF I live there too and know the conditions well. Two thoughts come to mind: a coolant leak from the heater core or battery acid corrosion that's pierced the firewall, behind the battery. Signature© 2007 T.G.Lambach. Publication in any form requires prior written permission. |
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