Ozone machine?

yup. Baking soda deployed a week ago.

 

What this guy said . . . .

What you need is to neutralize the odor first. Taking it to a pro they would probably do similar steps. You can get a carpet cleaner hand held. Don't waste your money on useless Ozone machines. If you wanted you can invest in something like a dehumidifier. Ever get rain into a car with a sunroof left open? It's like a blower motor with a heating element and a tank for the water it pulls out of the interior. It works in two ways. 1. Pulls the moisture out with circulating air and 2. Kills the bacteria forming by heating the interior air. Using things like Baking Soda and White Vinegar helps neutralize the smells. I would usually do a wash with soap water however you may be fighting smells deeper in the foam or carpets. Not just on the surface. I hate the smell of vinegar but it works. Then let it all dry then go back with a baking soda scrub followed by normal soap and water. I have used small amounts of laundry detergent as the soap I washed cloth car seats and carpet with. Be careful not to over indulge on the vinegar. Mix it with water. That is a powerful odor as well. If you can remove the seats it may be easier for you to get at carpets if the smell is coming from there.

Let me follow up with:
This is the number one reason I never buy a vehicle with cloth seats. Good Luck !! It can be done and smelling factory fresh again.

P.S.
First hand experience when my wife left the sunroof open of a brand new car during a torrential down pour of rain. Car barely had 1000 miles before everything in the interior was soaked. Even with the leather seats the water still gets into the foam underneath.

 

Update. Ran the ozone machine for 30 minutes with the car on and the heater on recirculating. Cut the truck off at 15 minutes. Let the vehicle sit with all windows closed for additional 30 minutes. Rolled down windows and let sit for 30 minutes. I then ran some errands in the vehicle.

bottom line. Car smells 100% better. I have a lingering chlorine smell, but the detailer “perfume” and the wet dog smell are gone. Allergies are 99% better as well. I’ll let it sit a couple days and see if the odor comes back.

 

As others suggest. I would do a good detail first. If that doesn't work, I've heard a lot of people suggest the Eden Pure machines. They have one for a car. I have no idea if it works but thought I would send you the link for you to look into if you desire.

https://www.edenpure.com/products/airdog-v5-car-air-purifier

 

That’s strange, because I’ve used it to great effect with rental cars before, and there’s an actual chemical reaction that does take place.

 

The fresh smell will dissipate and the old smell will return in a few days if it's going to. 2 weeks is a good tell to see if it's gone for good-or let it sit in the sun, closed up for a day and take a whiff.

 

Correct. The Baking Soda or white vinegar help kill the odor forming bacteria within the cloth or foam. Your floors are not very thick of carpet and padding however the seats are. This is why I personally did a 3-4 step process when it happened to me. After a rain mishap the odor or mold mildew smells started appearing. I started with a soap and water but had to follow with a scrub of white vinegar to kill off the bacteria forming. Then did the entire interior with a baking soda scrub and then finally scrubbed down with a mix of laundry detergent. I used a dehumidifier meant for a home. This was rated to move more heat/air. Her car was US Marine white glove inspection clean inside and out and smelled great. No further odors appeared.

P.S.
I believe the larger home use dehumidifier also played a factor. I let it run overnight and it got very toasty inside the car in the garage. I cracked the windows a fraction of an inch to let a small amount of air out as it was moving around. I had to check it every so often to empty the water tank. The amount of heat it put off was able to dry everything out far greater than I think a smaller unit would have.

 

Not strange at all.

All it does is neutralize the air, not the fabric.

Which is why leaving the windows open works the same.

If you dust your car interior and grind it in, it will work to a degree.

But just leaving it out...doesn't work.

 

The thought, is that the dry baking soda, will absorb damp particles of odor causing item-spilled fluid, etc. And while it's absorbent, it doesn't absorb anything in the foam padding-seats, carpet. It's a mess to vacuum and it never fully gets removed. Save it for making cookies.

 

I tried baking soda, didn't work, the ozone machine got the job done for me.

 

Yeah. Vacuuming up baking soda is a pain in the butt and is hard on my vacuum cleaners. I’ve had to unclog a couple vacuums from baking soda.

 

O3 reverts to O2 pretty quickly so no danger once the ozone machine is off for a while.

Glad it worked! A heavy amount of ozone will FOR SURE damage certain materials and no going back.

 

Man, this is highly suspicious and pointing to a mold problem. It seriously could be a biohazard!

 

Update. Truck is incredible. Had the exterior detailed and the pinstripes and keyed marks came out beautifully. I treated the interior multiple times with an ozone generator and the wet dog smell is gone. I had an intermittent backup camera failure, which I fixed by cutting some tape on the wiring harness and reattaching the connection.

Truck is a true tank and is driven 50 miles a day. See you at 300k miles!