Ozone machine?

TLDR- anyone use an Amazon ozone machine to get car funk out of car? Any adverse outcomes? Alternatives?

have a 4 runner I just bought. 2015, single owner 4x4 sr5 with 217k miles on it. A fun smell of wet dog is starting to emerge. I think the owner had a lot of seat time with his dog riding shotgun.
Problem. 1- it smells
2- it’s impacting my allergies, and I’m not allergic to dogs! Wtf

here is what I’ve done so far. Lots of vacuuming; pet hair removal tool for extracting hair. I’m about to take the passenger seat out to get hard to reach areas. I changed the cabin air filter and put in a baking soda box.

im looking at buying an ozone machine on Amazon? Anyone use one before? Pros? Cons? Thanks!

 

If you mess with ozone be careful! I have used them in mold houses and they will mess with certain materials. It can brake things down and the smell is horrible! I had to throw away a pretty nice pleather couch. It just did something to the material and the smell was toxic!

That was heavy ozone from a commercial ozone machine for several hours though.

Just use tiny amounts for a short period if you go that route. If you over do it...no fixing the smell!

 

Like previously stated, ozone is no joke. I have a light that produces ozone. It will kill house plants, turn bananas black, and break down some materials unexpectedly. It will remove odors though, after you vent away the burning plastic ozone smell. Ozone is bad to breathe, bad for your skin, and hell of bad for your eyes.

 

Yeah, I’ve read the negatives on it. I’m just frustrated because the truck is very nice, I already own it, and the stink is making the truck a bit nice place to be.

 

Yeah, that’s why I’m asking. Seats are fake leather from the premium and look fantastic. I’m kinda desperate.

 

Are you certain it's just that seat? If you don't have others that ride with you often, definitely try removing and cleaning as others have mentioned and while it's out leave the windows open for a bit and then close them and see if the smell is gone. Replacing the seat if you can't get the smell out while it's out of the vehicle may be the best way as it may be down in the foam

 

Take it to have professionally detailed where they remove all seats from the car. The insulation/foam in the carper has smells trapped. You'll likely need to replace that seat if that's where the dog was. Pet smells are a notch below a smoker to get out.

 

I had bad smells in a Tundra I bought. I did a very detailed cleaning of the interior that involved removing all the seats, carpet, wiping everything down with diluted bleach, shampooed the interior and it didn't get rid of the BO smell. Bought the $40 Amazon ozone. Did multiple treatments. It only put a tiny dent in it, but it did cause the front of the headliner to sag and some of the plastic to turn slightly white. All in all-they are not powerful enough to get into the seat cushions to make any real difference yet strong enough to wear adhesives.

The seat foam is dense and can hold onto odors basically forever if they are deeply embedded.

Here is what I would do. With a clean nose pallet-find exactly where the smell is coming from. Bury your nose into the material. Is it one seat? All seats? All carpet?

One seat? I would consider buying new foam and replacing it yourself. Not hard and can be done in an afternoon. While the OEM covers are off-wash them a few times with hot water and a good laundry soap until smell is gone. Clean seat frame with diluted bleach. Air dry covers and reinstall.

The inside needs to be shampooed and extracted well. Look around for an expert in your area that has done pet odors-they can use a enzymatic solution too that will help. I would also look into CL02 odor treatment. This is chlorine dioxide and when In gas form can really neutralize odors-used in homes but works in cars. You need a heavy dose-50g or so. Won't harm anything.

 

Im not convinced it’s the seat that smells. It appears to be somewhat watertight and the seat is in very good condition for its age. I’m guessing the smell will eventually go away with age and lack of wet dog sitting in said vehicle. I ordered an ozone machine from Amazon and we will see how she goes.

 

I would do this. Spend some money on a good detailer who knows how to deal with odors. Get some good word-of-mouth recommendations first.

 

I used one and it worked great, I had to run it at least a couple of nights all night. I rented it from a local place.

I had no adverse effects in my 4runner

 

This is the feedback I wanted to hear. Fingers crossed.

 

that’s the thing. Truck was clearly detailed prior to purchase. Problem is the odor was not there during test drive. It revealed itself a couple weeks later. At that point I started looking under seats, between cracks, and noticed fur balls and smells.

 

My issue was due to my son getting my 4runner half sunk in a mud hole. The ozone machine was a Godsend

 

I’m not the cleanest individual, but this rig feels like I’m riding in a biohazard. Hoping the ozone will kill some of this funk.

 

Ozone is bad for humans. So if you decide to use it don't drive it!

Well give it several days to air out at least.

 

The rental units, used for house and apartments, are leagues more powerful than the Amazon units.

 

If it's all over, wet dog smell is harder to get out. Enzyme, ozone and CL02 can help, ozone being the most damaging if overused.

 

Hahaha, wait so you were just waiting for one person to agree so you'd feel ok but the bunch that said otherwise don't matter. I wish you the best of luck and hope that it solves your issues completely and safely.

 

Sadly that's usually how it works...

 

Had our cat get locked in a car overnight and it peed on the seat. Tried some enzyme stuff on the surface but it didn't work. Pulled the seat apart to get at the foam and springs, underneath the upholstery etc. Enzymed everything and that worked about 95%. Over the years, the 5% eventually went away too.

 

As others said, ozone is hard on plastics. I don't think I'd leave one in the car overnight, maybe for 60 minutes. Do some googling to see what people recommend.

 

I have seen a new pet odor remover/eliminator advertised in the last year or two, it's called Pooph, it's worth a shot to see if it works as advertised.

https://www.pooph.com/

 

The unit I used was about 4 foot long and thin shaped

 

We just got a little puppy. First time pet owner. I hate scented crap that gets smells out, but reminds you that it stank because the perfumes in the product linger forever.

I got the Pooph because it’s completely unscented. And it actually works! Lots of little poop and pee accidents. We clean up right away and spray it down with it, and so far no smells are left behind.

 

I've used one from a rental company to get rid of smoke in my mom's old house. It legit worked and knew people in the used car industry that used the smaller version for cars that folks smoked in with great results. It works but you have to clean too, there is no substitute for that. I have no experience with it working for cat urine except for the neutralizers they sell for homes. I'm a contractor and that always seems the best for that application but you have to tear it apart to treat all of it for it to work.

 

Yes. Honestly, I’ve vacuumed the crap out of it, used dog hair removal brushes, changed the air filter. I’m getting desperate. A 50 dollar ozone machine might be the solution. I just ran the truck at idle with all windows closed, air on recirc, and the ozone machine on. Just turned truck off, will wait another 30 minutes and then roll down all the windows. Fingers crossed.

 

Did you ever try boxes of baking soda?

 

That is an old wive's tale and doesn't work. It was\is a marketing gimmick to sell baking soda. You can get the same effect by leaving the windows open.