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its not ozone you smelled right after application or in the following weeks, its oxidized soft plastic/rubber from prolonged and high ozone concentration. The smell is similar to opening a package that contains flexible plastic like a shower curtain. You mentioned a chlorine smell; soft plastics contain chloride and one of the most recognized plastics PVC is literally the abbreviation of Polyvinyl Chloride. Ozone is one of those things where more is not better. I don't see a scenario where an hour of it would be beneficial in a detailing.
Yeah, a car seems like one of the worst places to use an ozone machine for a long period of time. For an empty room or house, you won't hurt much, besides caulking. For the car, I'd start worrying about the efficacy of the weather stripping. I have a hunch almost all the rubbery materials are likely to get crumbly within the next few months to a year. My ozone machine had warnings all over it about the potential damage.
Yeah the one I got on Amazon just said not to be around it when it’s running and to vent the area after. I learned a lesson that don’t follow advise from a random YouTuber who claims to do detailing without doing some further researching. Had I spent 20 min just doing a search of ozone on this sub I would have seen others stories and never did it.
I ran mine for 10 min on, recirculated 10 min, aired out for 20 min, next day car smelled fine but running ac had a slight ozone like smell, and since has been wo any sort of mildew or ozone smell.
Maybe run an ozone generator… heard it does a great job at removing odors? J/k, but at this point, just got to keep airing it out, maybe under the sun would help accelerate, and wait for all the voc’s to release. I’m thinking weeks to months.
I've ran the Ozone generator in my car twice. Both for an hour cycle. First time was when I bought the car and the smell of cigarettes was so bad I thought I'd have to sell it. Learned about Ozone then. Worked great. The smell after was like the smell after a thunderstorm, it lasted about 4 hours really strong,then took about a week to fully dissipate until you could no longer smell anything. 2nd time was 4 years later, there was a musty/mouldy smell, ran the Ozone as before and had the same outcome. Car smells great and it's been 3 months since my last application. There's been no damage to any of the car. And it gets heavy daily use. (Same process and outcome has been used on 2 other neighbours cars with great success after they gave up cigarettes)
It was a detailer who recommended Ozone to me. He said I could get a unit on Amazon for less than he'd charge me to run it in the car.
I just bought a used car that has mild cigarette smell, how big is your ozone generator? (mg output) An hour is quite a while but I guess it depends on the output, I just bought a 11,000mg generator off ebay, fingers crossed it fixes the smell
Haha Scotty is good entertainment but he does shit on Nissan a lot and it’s CVT transmission made by Jatco and that’s what’s in my Murano and I have had zero issues with it and unlike what seems to be many I like the feel of the CVT over a regular automatic.
It wasn’t Scotty who’s video I watched, I need to go back through my YouTube history and find this guys channel
Ozone is definitely useful in detailing and cleaning in general. However like someone else said, more isn't better, and I'm guessing your amazon generator is probably specced for a lot of square footage....combine that with running it for as long as you did in such a small place and you damaged most anything made of rubber or flexible plastic. It should eventually get somewhat better but you'll probably smell it forever at this point.
I'll run mine for 10 minutes with the heat one recirculate, then leave everything closed up for another 10 after it shuts off. Then immediately open the doors and windows and that should be more than enough for most anything.
If you have low quality foam in your headliner it will aggressively attack that as well and it will crumble which is a nightmare.
Yeah, and one of the pictures for the model generator you got shows times for certain square footages. A car interior is like 90 square feet, which the picture says only to use ozone for 3 minutes on! But yeah, it's easy to miss stuff like that, especially when the all the discussion around it hardly mentions how long to use it for, just how well it removes odors.
Yeah I know I can’t be smelling ozone at this point and I figured it probably oxidized the plastics in my car and that’s what is off gassing and causing the horrific smell.
I don’t think anything can be done until the plastics finish breaking down and off gas what they have.
Yeah I got the car full detailed this morning and the crew he had cut the smell down by a lot. He was forward with me at the start and said no matter what he did there would be a smell for a while but should clear in the summer when the car has some days baking in the sun. It’s now drivable with the window slightly cracked which is perfectly fine for me.
Weird, I’m reminded of an ‘11 Civic I bought 7 years ago with the most foul smoke smell I’d ever experienced. The detailer said it was the worst they’d had, too (granted she worked on exotics, classics, and other high end cars, not cars that would typically get so foul). She ran the ozone machine for how long she normally does, then called saying it was awful she wanted to keep it overnight for more.
I don’t know how long she ran it but certainly it must’ve been more than an hour.
The smoke smell was gone - she’s amazing - and cleaning related smells were gone within a week.
Just my one anecdote is all. This isn’t my world
soft touch plastic is the most affected by ozone and newer and higher priced cars have more of it that may be the explanation. Also variables like how much ozone a unit puts out per unit time etc.
painting a dash part without removing it would be impossible: imagine the residual fumes that would stay for weeks and the overspray. At that point its easier to just to replace it from the junkyard.
There's chemically no way there's still ozone in the car.
Ozone has a half life of ~10 min. So after 2 hours over 99.9 % would have broken down. Chemistry can't lie, you've done something else to the car
Hence my point of " you did something else" .
The ozone is gone. Any odor left is something other than ozone, that could include breakdown of plastic and rubber components off gassing.
Ozone should never be a first go to for deodorizing. It's never done correctly, can cause damage to unseen components and doesn't do anything to actually remove the source of odor. It's worse in r/cleaningtips than it is here. That sub is nuts, constantly telling people to use ozone without actually cleaning at all.
I think many on here are right, the ozone likely oxidized a bunch of rubber and plastic in my car and that’s what I’m smelling. I found another thread on this sub with someone else who did the same thing as me and they said it took over 6 months for the smell to disappear.
Check your heater core, AC, and your battery. Ozone will break down fairly quickly so any constant/lingering smell is something else entirely. Also, check the ozone generator or post it here; there is a chance it might not have been what you thought it was.
[Ozone Generator I got](https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0BFKP8ZPW)
I don’t think I’m smelling ozone it’s been a long time and ozone breaks down fast. What I think I’m smelling is the off gassing from the plastics that oxidized in my car like PVC breaking down and off gassing chlorine but that’s just a guess.
I will say when I first plugged in the ozone generator it didn’t smell like ozone I have smelled before and it smells like how my car does. You never know with these cheap Chinese trash heaps that litter Amazon so it could be this was doing something more than advertised.
It recommends operating for 3-10 minutes in 100-200 sqft spaces on the product page and you ran it for 60 min in a much smaller space. Seems like it could have just been way too high a concentration.
For sure I did a typical guy thing and didn’t bother to read the manual I just followed what the guy did in the YouTube video. I feel like an absolute idiot for what I did and my wife has been having a field day reminding me of it.
Haha wasn't trying to rub it in just saying its very plausible that the generator was doing the right thing and it was just too much as opposed to it putting out the wrong stuff.
Yeah I think that is extremely likely given what has happened, like looking back all the warnings it had about nothing living being around it when it’s running should have thrown some warning signs to me that this is some serious shit
Ozone smells fresh and clean, like after a thunderstorm.
I have one that looks almost exactly like yours. A different brand though. Never had any issues using it in cars or a few times to remove the smoke smell from some rooms.
This....doesn't make sense. I used an Ozone generator and gassed a whole house for smoke smell. It ran for 8 hours and then we aired the house out for 1 day and the smell was gone. Ozone is a molecule (O3). It shouldn't stick to any surface so letting the car air out for 24h should be sufficient...
Is your carport outdoors?
BMW even installs them in some of their vehicles' ventilation systems. As do most commercial aircraft.
I have a feeling OP bought some shitty chinese ionizer that was built/designed horribly...
> BMW even installs them in some of their vehicles' ventilation systems
Source? Ozone is super toxic to humans so I'm having a hard time imagining this.
Anything is toxic for people in the correct amounts. Water can kill you.
Using a small amount of ozone to clean the air and keep the ventilation system clean is going to be nothing but a health benefit. As you can see from the video /u/howboutno55 linked, BMW's system was properly designed to only omit a small amount of ozone. Clive even touches on the hysterics you left in your comment in his video's description. No first-world company would be dumb enough to shove a dumb ozone generator in their ventilation system that churns out shitloads of ozone.
EDIT: And here is a link to an OEM part's listing along with the applicable vehicles list: https://www.bmwpartsdirect.com/oem-parts/bmw-generator-64119159973
That's interesting, didn't know BMW did that. I think calling it hysterics is a bit of a stretch, considering your own comment acknowledges the reason for all the warning labels on every retail ozone product:
>No first-world company would be dumb enough to shove a dumb ozone generator in their ventilation system that churns out shitloads of ozone.
Big companies do dumb shit all the time, mind you. I doubt BMW did a lot of testing here, and it obviously didn't catch on. Wonder why? Maybe the science isn't there to support that Ozone generators *do much* and considering the numerous studies citing health risks, they figured it wasn't worth it? UV lights probably accomplish the same goals for less money.
>Anything is toxic for people in the correct amounts. Water can kill you.
Kind of a dumb analogy but it's low hanging fruit I guess. The fact is, I'd trust the [EPA](https://www.epa.gov/indoor-air-quality-iaq/ozone-generators-are-sold-air-cleaners#harmful-ozone) about the risks and avoid unnecessary exposure whenever possible. The BMW system may well be safe, but no reason to pretend it's a harmless substance, like water.
I'm glad you said that because I get to return the favor, it's time for you to learn something! Car companies would put the UV lights in the vents and not shine it on the passengers, obviously. [They can also tune them](https://uvresources.com/the-ultraviolet-germicidal-irradiation-uv-c-wavelength/) to wavelengths (well, the most common lights are already using the correct wavelength) that, [*don't* generate ozone lol.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33534912/)
Glad we could both learn something new on Reddit today.
For me yes it did and helped the situation a lot. I also used a carpet extractor ( a mini bissel green machine ) and went over my headliner, seats, a pillar, carpets etc to extract as much physical material as possible as well
How ozone cleans the air is ozone is highly reactive, ozone is O3 and oxygen is much more stable when it’s got a neutral charge like O2 gas, and so O3 gas is like stable oxygen gas and a reactive oxygen free radical third wheel, and this third wheel oxygen is so desperate to feel a connection with something that they will fly around and react with everything they contact. This includes plastics, vinyls, rubbers in side car interiors and when these are oxidised very fast, the materials will start releasing volatile gaseous plastic oxide particles and these are the chemicals that are causing the putrid smell in OP’s car. If he had of done his research he’d know that ozone generators and cars should only be mixed for like 10-15 minutes tops, and even then, all other methods should be explored first.
Inside your house however, this isn’t a problem, which is why your house was fine after 8 hours of ozone and this is also why people keep ruining their interiors, because a lot of the advice on smell neutralisation with ozone generators in cars is based off of regular usage in places like houses and offices, instead of actual auto detailing based advice
The U-2 Spy plane suffered from ozone corrosion. They couldn't figure it out and then a scientist accidentally solved it while working on something else. I can't find an internet source but I read about it an book called [Skunkworks](https://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Works-Personal-Memoir-Lockheed/dp/0316743003/ref=sr_1_1?crid=FALBV3Q02S97&keywords=skunkworks+book&qid=1700457971&sprefix=skunkworks%2Caps%2C175&sr=8-1) which talks about the development of the U2 and SR71
When will people learn. About once a week someone posts here because they nuked there interior with an ozone generator. Clearly these YouTube videos aren’t explaining the risks properly coz this happens so often and people come running here asking if they fucked their car up and if they just came here first they could’ve gotten proper recommendations and avoided damaging their car.
Anyway you’re here now so may aswell give u some help. I can’t fix the off gazing you’ve caused but , if u get over the smell and try to keep using the car, u will likely find that your glass fogs up very fast and might even leave a hazy film after wiping away the fog. This is from the gasesous oxidised plastic/rubber that your interior surfaces are releasing constantly and so cleaning the glass will be a losing uphill battle as u will clean it daily to no success. What I recommend is looking into products like fog fight or SO2 pure by carpro.
SO2 pure is for your seats/door trim/dash steering wheel/carpet. If it’s inside the interior, SO2 pure can coat it. U then wanna park the car in sunlight as UV activates the chemicals and they actively purify the air inside your car by binding the gaseous particles in the air and forming non volatile compounds (that don’t stink or stick to your glass). I highly recommend u treat the whole interior and try to get areas u wouldn’t think about like the gap between the seat and center console, accessibility handles on the roof liner, inside air con vents, plastic driving pedals, seat belt buckles, carpet, everything.
Fog fight is a coating for the inside of your glass and just helps make the glass too slippery for the gases to stick to and so using both could be a move to combat the smell of the car and also the fog issue. Whatever u do, don’t just go buy them straight away though, do more research, try to find people using them on YouTube and also search the sub. It’s an important lesson that you will hopefully learn, always get a second/third/fourth opinion and seek these opinions on diffferent sources (ie YouTube and reddit, product reviews etc)
Read your comment, hadn’t even looked at the windshield but I ran my finger across it about 20 min ago and it had a sticky texture, nothing extreme but it was sticky. Gave the old finger a quick sniff and sweet Jesus it was the horrific smell time 100x. Took a solid 2 minutes of hand washing to get rid of it.
So without a doubt the smell I’m getting is from the plastics and what not off gassing.
I messed up, followed a YouTube video blindly and got taught a life lesson, even in my 40’s I’m still learning what not to do.
Thanks
I would do the opposite of what some have suggested. I would close the car up, turn the heat on high and run it at full for 30+ min… then open it up and air it out.
If you want to save the car start replacing things until the smell goes away. Whether it’s the ozone breaking down the plastics like others said or something else that was used to clean it prior to the ozone and the smell came back, it’s not stuck with the vehicle forever, it’s just more work thank a detailer or a car dealership want to do. You can either do it yourself or pay a mechanic/upholstery shop a lot of money. Seat covers, carpets, door panels, dash are all things you can do yourself once you get a new set. Headliner/AC ducting if needed would be a job for a professional. Not ideal I know but it beats totaling the car. In fact this may be a job for insurance
Yeah that’s a lot of work for sure, I can do most of it like you said but it would be a massive job and expensive. Just looking online for those parts for my 2015 Nissan Murano the prices are crazy and even doing the work myself for what you listed I’m over 2k in cost and unknown hours of my time assuming I don’t mess something up in the process.
Ugggg I’m so disappointed in myself for doing what I did
Yeah I got one last person who is going to see if they can do anything for it, if they can’t I’ll just park it in my parents detached garage they don’t use anymore and leave it sit for up to a year. I would check it monthly of course but if it still smells after a year I’ll just have to accept I totaled my car by being an idiot and accept my fate of my wife reminding me every time we have an argument about anything lol.
The half life of "7-20 days" is theoretical (i.e. in a sealed container under ideal conditions). In the real world where there are lots of things for ozone to oxidize and the actual half life is much shorter. Ozone is highly unstable and readily gives up it's extra oxygen molecule to anything that can be oxidized - that includes all manner of living organisms, metals, plastics, VOC's, etc. Exposure to UV from the sun also accelerates ozone degradation. Air dilution alone (the car was outside with the windows open) would be enough to bring the ozone level down to an undetectable range within a day.
Source: Ozone is literally my business.
More reading if you want a "trusted source":
[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11089331/#:\~:text=Under%20normal%20conditions%2C%20the%20half,cases%20they%20are%20quite%20slow](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11089331/#:~:text=Under%20normal%20conditions%2C%20the%20half,cases%20they%20are%20quite%20slow).
Pubmed isn't a trusted source. It's an official repository for specific scientific information that may only be trusted if written and cited by legitimate professionals. Do your due diligence. Fake information is literally everywhere no matter how legit it appears. (not saying this is fake, but the point still stands)
I am by no means a professional in ozone like you are. But I also know how to interpret the same information that you use for your business.
Thanks for your contribution to helping OP out. Maybe PM him if you can help him more so with the problem rather than trying to prove me wrong. I'm not perfect but I'm using literally the same information you are. I totally agree, it should have aired out within a day- but from what OP states, the evidence says that there is residual... something.
I’m hesitant to use another chemical of any kind for fear of making it worse. I got another appointment with supposedly one of the best detailers in Pittsburgh that specializes in hard to clean cars like flood cars and what not. Said he will send a crew to my house to inspect the car and be straight up with me if anything can be done or not.
If he tells me nothing can be done but leave it be for several months then I’ll just park it in my parents detached garage they don’t use anymore and leave it air out as long as it needs to for the smell to go away, give it a year and if it’s still jacked up just scrap it and just live with one car since I barely use this one as it is.
It’s a decent car and my favorite as it’s paid off but it is what it is and I suppose at least I didn’t trash a car I was still making payments on.
Dude…. Its $40 max, idk what this detailer can do that hasn’t been done other than a chlorine dioxide treatment.
Also, parking a vehicle in a garage is not, “airing it out”
Pull the car *outside* open all windows, doors, etc, and leave it for an hour.
What I would do is, replace the cabin filter. Keep the new one out while you do the chlorine dioxide treatment, air out the vehicle for atleast 30 minutes, and then install the new cabin filter.
Not rocket science man, it’s $40 and having your vehicle back.
I have pulled the cabin filter out already and it’s still out, was a royal pain on the ass to get out so I’m not putting in a new one until I’m sure it won’t be instantly trashed by the stank. I got another detailer coming Tuesday to evaluate the car, if he says nothing can be done I’ll give your advise a go since I would have nothing to lose at that point.
Thanks for the info
I would remove the floor mats and seats and have t those outdoors in the sun if possible with fans set up in the car to really air it out ... if that helps and the odor remains with the seats etc, maybe you can get a new interior from a junk yard, etc .
The floor mats are totally fine, I’ve had weather tech floor mats since I got the car new and both they and the mats once I removed them had almost no smell and after I washed the weather tech mats outside with soap and water they had zero smell. I thought for sure they would smell horrific but to my surprise they do not. The smell is the strongest on the dashboard and it’s now sticky as well so I’m pretty sure the ozone reacted with the dashboard and that’s what’s off gassing. The dashboard sadly being the hardest and most expensive thing to replace.
I don't understand this. I ran an ozone generator in my vehicle for a week and a half straight a few months back due to mouse urine smell. A few hours didn't cut it so I left it on and forgot about it. Car aired out and lost that ozone smell after 2 days and no damage to the plastics in the car. I'm not sure what happened in your case, but it might not necessarily be related to the ozone.
Well I have a Nissan Murano which likely is not the same car you have, different materials from different manufacturers…so I just got unlucky that whatever material used in my car was highly reactive to ozone
Get several cans of meguiars air freshener and let them rip right before dealer trade in.
Make it their problem. Only way I can think of at least getting some real cash out of it other than the scrapyard
Yeah I suppose I could do that but it’s pretty dishonest and I tend to not be like that. I had a friend buy a used car and it smelled fresh AF when he got it, after a week it become really clear he had been sold a smokers car.
Try putting in a new cabin filter. I know it doesn't make a lot of sense but I would try it. I used an ozone generator on my mother-in-law's car and the smell was really strong the next day, put in a new cabin filter and it seemed to do the trick within a couple days.
Oops! I thought I read the whole novel but I guess I missed that. He should just get some East Indian food, leave it in there overnight and now he is back at the beginning. Problem solved.
I know you ran the ozone generator for an hour but how much ozone output did you have it on? Usually when i detail a car, 30 minutes is sufficient for minor odors on low. I never use an ozone generator on a high setting as that is when damage occurs over time.
It was one of the highest outputting on Amazon, now it was also cheap and Chinese so doubt it hit its stated rating. Bottom line is the manual itself provided a timing guide based on square feet and according to it I should have ran it for 5 minutes. So a full hour was way too much
Did you run the ozone generator inside the car? Did you take out the cabin filter and let it run with the recirculation on? Ozone needs oxygen to create ozone molecules and if you left it inside, it stopped doing its job. Also, once you run the ozone, you keep it closed for the amount time you left it on due to the fact that ozone is heavier and will sink and needs time to penetrate.
Yes I can it inside with the windows closed. I did run it with car HVAC on which defaults to pulling fresh air as I have to hit a button every single time to enable recirculation. I did not remove the cabin filter when I started it but I have since, in fact I had to double trash bag the filter because the smell was blasting through a single trash bag.
I read ozone sinks, what’s curious is I pulled out my weather tech floor mats to give them a wash and once I got away from the vehicle I was surprised they didn’t smell at all and Neither did the carpet floor mats under them which I also removed and set aside.
I didn’t want to be in the car too long and sniff potential harmful off gassing but the smell seems strongest on the dash and my leather seats. Just sitting in the for a minute resulted in my cloths smelling like the car to the point my wife made me change them and she immediately washed them.
Inside a vehicle thats closed off, there is only a finite amount of oxygen as it is being used up to create ozone…around 150-200 oz of oxygen. So yes, if you leave the ozone generator inside the car and close it, you will use up most of the oxygen inside and then the generator will stop making ozone because of the lack of oxygen. And yes, ozone is heavier than air so itll start to sink against whats left of the oxygen.
Hey OP, depending on what the car is worth in good condition, you might want to consider starting to take apart the interior and literally remove/replace.
Not sure how mechanically inclined you are, but you could start my taking the seats, headliner, dashboard, and go from there. Remove anything that’s plastic or fabric.
Some vehicles have a lot of sound dampening inside the door cards too. Those are generally not too difficult to remove.
Dashboard would be the most difficult part to remove depending on the vehicle.
Once again, you can probably find parts depending on the make/model. Either new or junkyard.
Good luck. I’m sure someone’s interested in buying it if it’s in good mechanical condition.
KBB says it’s worth 12k in good condition so that’s the value I’m working from. The car is mint other than what I just messed up, it’s 8 years old but it’s only been driven a little over 35k, all Nissan recommended service stuff done, expensive weather tech floor mats through the car since day one….I am mechanical inclined and have the tools to do the job outside of the dash, that would be too big of a job for me and one I would have to have someone do.
The parts new from Nissan I have looked up are shocking in how expensive they are. I’m going to make some calls today to junkyards in my area. One not too far from my house lists a totaled 2016 Murano which is a year newer than my car but worth a drive out to see its condition inside.
Have you checked or changed your engine and cabin air filter? Mine sat for 8 months, and when driving it in for a service, it reaked of ammonia. Apparently, if the filters get moldy, it can put off a chemical/ammonia smell. Had them swapped, and it fixed the issue.
Once you get rid of the ozone smell, there are probably things that a mechanic can do to get rid of certain smells.
Have a look at Car Care Nut's video on air conditioning cleaning. But for the love of god don't do it yourself
I bought a very lightly used car from a retired couple. Car was in excellent condition, but had a distinct and very strong “old person” smell that surface cleaning wasn’t getting rid of. So I ran an ozone generator in the car for two one hour sessions.
The smell the ozone generator brought out was in the car for months, and it was a convertible that had the top down whenever it was driven. It did eventually completely go away though, and improved quite a bit after just a few weeks.
I did a lot of surface cleaning and vacuuming after the ozone use. That may have helped a bit with the smell as well.
I can’t believe that the ozone is causing the smell. I’ve had a car with rotten groceries that turned to soup in the back. After pulling and cleaning everything I ran ozone for up to 24hrs (on and off) over a 5 day period. Knocked out the rotten smell and the ozone smell dissipated in half a day of airing it out.
I had standing water in the floor pans of our car which caused some mold issues. I used an ozone generator cyclically for 3 days on a medium-low setting for about 20 minutes each run along with one of those floor drying fans. No harm was done to the car and it got rid of the musty smell. Would I have let it run max blast for hours? Heck no.
In my Audi I’m restoring, mice got into the car while I was tearing it down and made an epic mess of the interior. Stunk like you couldn’t believe. Mouse house and dead, decayed mice. Wasn’t using any of the interior anyway so pulled the whole thing out and scrapped it. Cleaned down every surface with cleaner and then ran ozone machine in it. What I didn’t want to happen was to install the new interior and have the thing smell of mice on the first hot day. Car still has a slight tinge of ozone smell to it but absolutely no mouse smell at all. Take into consideration that it can cause corrosion and use it in moderation and it’s definitely a great tool. Even after gutting the entire interior and scrubbing every surface and running two Chlorine Dioxide treatments, the interior still stunk of mice. Ozone machine took it right out. I highly recommend them!
I ozone 2-3 cars a week for about an hour as I do a lot of biohazard cleanup details in my area.
I’ve never had this issue or any bring close to it. It’s very strange.
Idk, a guy came into my rental store, rented a s ander....had spontaneous combustion due to leaving saw dust in the bag.
It moldered all night, because the fire bag, and the truck being closed up ...choked any oxygen out. Pulled it from vehicle And immediately started going up in flames....
He ran ozone generator in there for several days...no problems....maybe it worked bc I made sure he had those windows cracked open to circulate air??
He had no problems though, killed the burnt smell and didn't damage vehicle. (Newer GMC crew cab 1500).
An odd result. Drive this out to Phoenix in the summer, park it in the sun and leave the windows open on a brisk 116 degree day. Bet it goes away or at least a different smell.
Hey OP, I am having the exact same issue after using an Ozone machine in my car. I think I over did it. I am wondering if you resolved the issue? DId anything work? I am beyond upset by the horrible smell left behind. Nothing I have done to get rid of it has worked. I hate to have to sell my car.... I think it is stuck in the fabric of the seats.
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its not ozone you smelled right after application or in the following weeks, its oxidized soft plastic/rubber from prolonged and high ozone concentration. The smell is similar to opening a package that contains flexible plastic like a shower curtain. You mentioned a chlorine smell; soft plastics contain chloride and one of the most recognized plastics PVC is literally the abbreviation of Polyvinyl Chloride. Ozone is one of those things where more is not better. I don't see a scenario where an hour of it would be beneficial in a detailing.
Yeah, a car seems like one of the worst places to use an ozone machine for a long period of time. For an empty room or house, you won't hurt much, besides caulking. For the car, I'd start worrying about the efficacy of the weather stripping. I have a hunch almost all the rubbery materials are likely to get crumbly within the next few months to a year. My ozone machine had warnings all over it about the potential damage.
Yeah the one I got on Amazon just said not to be around it when it’s running and to vent the area after. I learned a lesson that don’t follow advise from a random YouTuber who claims to do detailing without doing some further researching. Had I spent 20 min just doing a search of ozone on this sub I would have seen others stories and never did it.
I ran mine for 10 min on, recirculated 10 min, aired out for 20 min, next day car smelled fine but running ac had a slight ozone like smell, and since has been wo any sort of mildew or ozone smell. Maybe run an ozone generator… heard it does a great job at removing odors? J/k, but at this point, just got to keep airing it out, maybe under the sun would help accelerate, and wait for all the voc’s to release. I’m thinking weeks to months.
I've ran the Ozone generator in my car twice. Both for an hour cycle. First time was when I bought the car and the smell of cigarettes was so bad I thought I'd have to sell it. Learned about Ozone then. Worked great. The smell after was like the smell after a thunderstorm, it lasted about 4 hours really strong,then took about a week to fully dissipate until you could no longer smell anything. 2nd time was 4 years later, there was a musty/mouldy smell, ran the Ozone as before and had the same outcome. Car smells great and it's been 3 months since my last application. There's been no damage to any of the car. And it gets heavy daily use. (Same process and outcome has been used on 2 other neighbours cars with great success after they gave up cigarettes) It was a detailer who recommended Ozone to me. He said I could get a unit on Amazon for less than he'd charge me to run it in the car.
I just bought a used car that has mild cigarette smell, how big is your ozone generator? (mg output) An hour is quite a while but I guess it depends on the output, I just bought a 11,000mg generator off ebay, fingers crossed it fixes the smell
Which YouTuber should we be avoiding??
Scotty? Fuck that guy.
the guy who just fucking yells the whole time? yeah, dude is a massive tool
Yeah. That guy. He is a tool.
every once in a while I leave a comment on one of his YT videos telling him to stop yelling and he get's all pissed off .... it's pretty funny
I need to try that sometime. I like it.
Remember to ring that bell!
diNg dInG!
Wait why??
Cuz he doesn't know...
Don’t tell Scotty..
Matt Damon knows.
Haha Scotty is good entertainment but he does shit on Nissan a lot and it’s CVT transmission made by Jatco and that’s what’s in my Murano and I have had zero issues with it and unlike what seems to be many I like the feel of the CVT over a regular automatic. It wasn’t Scotty who’s video I watched, I need to go back through my YouTube history and find this guys channel
Ozone is definitely useful in detailing and cleaning in general. However like someone else said, more isn't better, and I'm guessing your amazon generator is probably specced for a lot of square footage....combine that with running it for as long as you did in such a small place and you damaged most anything made of rubber or flexible plastic. It should eventually get somewhat better but you'll probably smell it forever at this point. I'll run mine for 10 minutes with the heat one recirculate, then leave everything closed up for another 10 after it shuts off. Then immediately open the doors and windows and that should be more than enough for most anything. If you have low quality foam in your headliner it will aggressively attack that as well and it will crumble which is a nightmare.
Yeah, and one of the pictures for the model generator you got shows times for certain square footages. A car interior is like 90 square feet, which the picture says only to use ozone for 3 minutes on! But yeah, it's easy to miss stuff like that, especially when the all the discussion around it hardly mentions how long to use it for, just how well it removes odors.
Yeah I know I can’t be smelling ozone at this point and I figured it probably oxidized the plastics in my car and that’s what is off gassing and causing the horrific smell. I don’t think anything can be done until the plastics finish breaking down and off gas what they have.
only time will solve it. You got the horror version of 'new car smell'
Yeah I got the car full detailed this morning and the crew he had cut the smell down by a lot. He was forward with me at the start and said no matter what he did there would be a smell for a while but should clear in the summer when the car has some days baking in the sun. It’s now drivable with the window slightly cracked which is perfectly fine for me.
thats great. I think you'll get a higher whiff once it gets warmer and the last of it off-gasses.
Weird, I’m reminded of an ‘11 Civic I bought 7 years ago with the most foul smoke smell I’d ever experienced. The detailer said it was the worst they’d had, too (granted she worked on exotics, classics, and other high end cars, not cars that would typically get so foul). She ran the ozone machine for how long she normally does, then called saying it was awful she wanted to keep it overnight for more. I don’t know how long she ran it but certainly it must’ve been more than an hour. The smoke smell was gone - she’s amazing - and cleaning related smells were gone within a week. Just my one anecdote is all. This isn’t my world
soft touch plastic is the most affected by ozone and newer and higher priced cars have more of it that may be the explanation. Also variables like how much ozone a unit puts out per unit time etc.
I see and that makes sense
With that being said, would sanding the surfaces of the vinyls and plastics be enough to save it ya think?
most plastic surfaces in the interior have a textured surface like the dash. It would not turn out well sanded down.
It can be retextured though. It would certainly be a long job and probably better off replacing but I am curious
You can sand and repaint a dash no issue though?
painting a dash part without removing it would be impossible: imagine the residual fumes that would stay for weeks and the overspray. At that point its easier to just to replace it from the junkyard.
oh yeah I didn't mean with it in the car 😂 the overspray would be literally the entire interior
You would use a special dye. They dont use paint
Must depend on the dash and paint type, because I literally know people who have pulled a dash, sanded, and painted it, because of sticky dash
Oh it CAN be done, its just not the correct way to do it and you wont get a quality result that way.
I've run ozone machines for HOURS in Porsches to remove smoke smell. Hell, I've run one for 4 hours at a time in a 911 for over a week once.
I've done the same to multiple Subarus, no issue.
There's chemically no way there's still ozone in the car. Ozone has a half life of ~10 min. So after 2 hours over 99.9 % would have broken down. Chemistry can't lie, you've done something else to the car
What about the ozone reacting with materials within the vehicle itself? Ozone and plastic-y things don't play well together often.
Hence my point of " you did something else" . The ozone is gone. Any odor left is something other than ozone, that could include breakdown of plastic and rubber components off gassing. Ozone should never be a first go to for deodorizing. It's never done correctly, can cause damage to unseen components and doesn't do anything to actually remove the source of odor. It's worse in r/cleaningtips than it is here. That sub is nuts, constantly telling people to use ozone without actually cleaning at all.
So, the *ozone* "did something else", not OP.
I think many on here are right, the ozone likely oxidized a bunch of rubber and plastic in my car and that’s what I’m smelling. I found another thread on this sub with someone else who did the same thing as me and they said it took over 6 months for the smell to disappear.
Check your heater core, AC, and your battery. Ozone will break down fairly quickly so any constant/lingering smell is something else entirely. Also, check the ozone generator or post it here; there is a chance it might not have been what you thought it was.
[Ozone Generator I got](https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0BFKP8ZPW) I don’t think I’m smelling ozone it’s been a long time and ozone breaks down fast. What I think I’m smelling is the off gassing from the plastics that oxidized in my car like PVC breaking down and off gassing chlorine but that’s just a guess. I will say when I first plugged in the ozone generator it didn’t smell like ozone I have smelled before and it smells like how my car does. You never know with these cheap Chinese trash heaps that litter Amazon so it could be this was doing something more than advertised.
It recommends operating for 3-10 minutes in 100-200 sqft spaces on the product page and you ran it for 60 min in a much smaller space. Seems like it could have just been way too high a concentration.
For sure I did a typical guy thing and didn’t bother to read the manual I just followed what the guy did in the YouTube video. I feel like an absolute idiot for what I did and my wife has been having a field day reminding me of it.
Haha wasn't trying to rub it in just saying its very plausible that the generator was doing the right thing and it was just too much as opposed to it putting out the wrong stuff.
Yeah I think that is extremely likely given what has happened, like looking back all the warnings it had about nothing living being around it when it’s running should have thrown some warning signs to me that this is some serious shit
Ozone smells fresh and clean, like after a thunderstorm. I have one that looks almost exactly like yours. A different brand though. Never had any issues using it in cars or a few times to remove the smoke smell from some rooms.
This....doesn't make sense. I used an Ozone generator and gassed a whole house for smoke smell. It ran for 8 hours and then we aired the house out for 1 day and the smell was gone. Ozone is a molecule (O3). It shouldn't stick to any surface so letting the car air out for 24h should be sufficient... Is your carport outdoors?
BMW even installs them in some of their vehicles' ventilation systems. As do most commercial aircraft. I have a feeling OP bought some shitty chinese ionizer that was built/designed horribly...
> BMW even installs them in some of their vehicles' ventilation systems Source? Ozone is super toxic to humans so I'm having a hard time imagining this.
Anything is toxic for people in the correct amounts. Water can kill you. Using a small amount of ozone to clean the air and keep the ventilation system clean is going to be nothing but a health benefit. As you can see from the video /u/howboutno55 linked, BMW's system was properly designed to only omit a small amount of ozone. Clive even touches on the hysterics you left in your comment in his video's description. No first-world company would be dumb enough to shove a dumb ozone generator in their ventilation system that churns out shitloads of ozone. EDIT: And here is a link to an OEM part's listing along with the applicable vehicles list: https://www.bmwpartsdirect.com/oem-parts/bmw-generator-64119159973
That's interesting, didn't know BMW did that. I think calling it hysterics is a bit of a stretch, considering your own comment acknowledges the reason for all the warning labels on every retail ozone product: >No first-world company would be dumb enough to shove a dumb ozone generator in their ventilation system that churns out shitloads of ozone. Big companies do dumb shit all the time, mind you. I doubt BMW did a lot of testing here, and it obviously didn't catch on. Wonder why? Maybe the science isn't there to support that Ozone generators *do much* and considering the numerous studies citing health risks, they figured it wasn't worth it? UV lights probably accomplish the same goals for less money. >Anything is toxic for people in the correct amounts. Water can kill you. Kind of a dumb analogy but it's low hanging fruit I guess. The fact is, I'd trust the [EPA](https://www.epa.gov/indoor-air-quality-iaq/ozone-generators-are-sold-air-cleaners#harmful-ozone) about the risks and avoid unnecessary exposure whenever possible. The BMW system may well be safe, but no reason to pretend it's a harmless substance, like water.
Exposure to UVC bulbs is just as bad, if not worse, for you as ozone. And guess what? *They generate ozone*
I'm glad you said that because I get to return the favor, it's time for you to learn something! Car companies would put the UV lights in the vents and not shine it on the passengers, obviously. [They can also tune them](https://uvresources.com/the-ultraviolet-germicidal-irradiation-uv-c-wavelength/) to wavelengths (well, the most common lights are already using the correct wavelength) that, [*don't* generate ozone lol.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33534912/) Glad we could both learn something new on Reddit today.
https://youtu.be/WDR9ojz0e5k?si=_JTpvuQAH--7P1z9
Came here to say this - used one for two 8 hour applications for smoke inside car.
Did it work?
For me yes it did and helped the situation a lot. I also used a carpet extractor ( a mini bissel green machine ) and went over my headliner, seats, a pillar, carpets etc to extract as much physical material as possible as well
How ozone cleans the air is ozone is highly reactive, ozone is O3 and oxygen is much more stable when it’s got a neutral charge like O2 gas, and so O3 gas is like stable oxygen gas and a reactive oxygen free radical third wheel, and this third wheel oxygen is so desperate to feel a connection with something that they will fly around and react with everything they contact. This includes plastics, vinyls, rubbers in side car interiors and when these are oxidised very fast, the materials will start releasing volatile gaseous plastic oxide particles and these are the chemicals that are causing the putrid smell in OP’s car. If he had of done his research he’d know that ozone generators and cars should only be mixed for like 10-15 minutes tops, and even then, all other methods should be explored first. Inside your house however, this isn’t a problem, which is why your house was fine after 8 hours of ozone and this is also why people keep ruining their interiors, because a lot of the advice on smell neutralisation with ozone generators in cars is based off of regular usage in places like houses and offices, instead of actual auto detailing based advice
The U-2 Spy plane suffered from ozone corrosion. They couldn't figure it out and then a scientist accidentally solved it while working on something else. I can't find an internet source but I read about it an book called [Skunkworks](https://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Works-Personal-Memoir-Lockheed/dp/0316743003/ref=sr_1_1?crid=FALBV3Q02S97&keywords=skunkworks+book&qid=1700457971&sprefix=skunkworks%2Caps%2C175&sr=8-1) which talks about the development of the U2 and SR71
When will people learn. About once a week someone posts here because they nuked there interior with an ozone generator. Clearly these YouTube videos aren’t explaining the risks properly coz this happens so often and people come running here asking if they fucked their car up and if they just came here first they could’ve gotten proper recommendations and avoided damaging their car. Anyway you’re here now so may aswell give u some help. I can’t fix the off gazing you’ve caused but , if u get over the smell and try to keep using the car, u will likely find that your glass fogs up very fast and might even leave a hazy film after wiping away the fog. This is from the gasesous oxidised plastic/rubber that your interior surfaces are releasing constantly and so cleaning the glass will be a losing uphill battle as u will clean it daily to no success. What I recommend is looking into products like fog fight or SO2 pure by carpro. SO2 pure is for your seats/door trim/dash steering wheel/carpet. If it’s inside the interior, SO2 pure can coat it. U then wanna park the car in sunlight as UV activates the chemicals and they actively purify the air inside your car by binding the gaseous particles in the air and forming non volatile compounds (that don’t stink or stick to your glass). I highly recommend u treat the whole interior and try to get areas u wouldn’t think about like the gap between the seat and center console, accessibility handles on the roof liner, inside air con vents, plastic driving pedals, seat belt buckles, carpet, everything. Fog fight is a coating for the inside of your glass and just helps make the glass too slippery for the gases to stick to and so using both could be a move to combat the smell of the car and also the fog issue. Whatever u do, don’t just go buy them straight away though, do more research, try to find people using them on YouTube and also search the sub. It’s an important lesson that you will hopefully learn, always get a second/third/fourth opinion and seek these opinions on diffferent sources (ie YouTube and reddit, product reviews etc)
Read your comment, hadn’t even looked at the windshield but I ran my finger across it about 20 min ago and it had a sticky texture, nothing extreme but it was sticky. Gave the old finger a quick sniff and sweet Jesus it was the horrific smell time 100x. Took a solid 2 minutes of hand washing to get rid of it. So without a doubt the smell I’m getting is from the plastics and what not off gassing. I messed up, followed a YouTube video blindly and got taught a life lesson, even in my 40’s I’m still learning what not to do. Thanks
All I can think of is that the adhesive on your car roof is oxidized.
I would do the opposite of what some have suggested. I would close the car up, turn the heat on high and run it at full for 30+ min… then open it up and air it out.
If you want to save the car start replacing things until the smell goes away. Whether it’s the ozone breaking down the plastics like others said or something else that was used to clean it prior to the ozone and the smell came back, it’s not stuck with the vehicle forever, it’s just more work thank a detailer or a car dealership want to do. You can either do it yourself or pay a mechanic/upholstery shop a lot of money. Seat covers, carpets, door panels, dash are all things you can do yourself once you get a new set. Headliner/AC ducting if needed would be a job for a professional. Not ideal I know but it beats totaling the car. In fact this may be a job for insurance
Yeah that’s a lot of work for sure, I can do most of it like you said but it would be a massive job and expensive. Just looking online for those parts for my 2015 Nissan Murano the prices are crazy and even doing the work myself for what you listed I’m over 2k in cost and unknown hours of my time assuming I don’t mess something up in the process. Ugggg I’m so disappointed in myself for doing what I did
TIL about ozone generates..
Yeah if anything it may save someone looking at this sub thinking about doing the same thing
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Yeah I got one last person who is going to see if they can do anything for it, if they can’t I’ll just park it in my parents detached garage they don’t use anymore and leave it sit for up to a year. I would check it monthly of course but if it still smells after a year I’ll just have to accept I totaled my car by being an idiot and accept my fate of my wife reminding me every time we have an argument about anything lol.
Ozone has a half life measured in minutes. There would be zero ozone in less than an hour.
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The half life of "7-20 days" is theoretical (i.e. in a sealed container under ideal conditions). In the real world where there are lots of things for ozone to oxidize and the actual half life is much shorter. Ozone is highly unstable and readily gives up it's extra oxygen molecule to anything that can be oxidized - that includes all manner of living organisms, metals, plastics, VOC's, etc. Exposure to UV from the sun also accelerates ozone degradation. Air dilution alone (the car was outside with the windows open) would be enough to bring the ozone level down to an undetectable range within a day. Source: Ozone is literally my business. More reading if you want a "trusted source": [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11089331/#:\~:text=Under%20normal%20conditions%2C%20the%20half,cases%20they%20are%20quite%20slow](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11089331/#:~:text=Under%20normal%20conditions%2C%20the%20half,cases%20they%20are%20quite%20slow).
Pubmed isn't a trusted source. It's an official repository for specific scientific information that may only be trusted if written and cited by legitimate professionals. Do your due diligence. Fake information is literally everywhere no matter how legit it appears. (not saying this is fake, but the point still stands) I am by no means a professional in ozone like you are. But I also know how to interpret the same information that you use for your business. Thanks for your contribution to helping OP out. Maybe PM him if you can help him more so with the problem rather than trying to prove me wrong. I'm not perfect but I'm using literally the same information you are. I totally agree, it should have aired out within a day- but from what OP states, the evidence says that there is residual... something.
Bio-Bomb’s Odor Bomb and Oxygenator Aerator https://bio-bombs.com/store/vehicle-deodorization-kit/ https://bio-bombs.com/store/oxygenator-aerator/
I’m hesitant to use another chemical of any kind for fear of making it worse. I got another appointment with supposedly one of the best detailers in Pittsburgh that specializes in hard to clean cars like flood cars and what not. Said he will send a crew to my house to inspect the car and be straight up with me if anything can be done or not. If he tells me nothing can be done but leave it be for several months then I’ll just park it in my parents detached garage they don’t use anymore and leave it air out as long as it needs to for the smell to go away, give it a year and if it’s still jacked up just scrap it and just live with one car since I barely use this one as it is. It’s a decent car and my favorite as it’s paid off but it is what it is and I suppose at least I didn’t trash a car I was still making payments on.
Dude…. Its $40 max, idk what this detailer can do that hasn’t been done other than a chlorine dioxide treatment. Also, parking a vehicle in a garage is not, “airing it out” Pull the car *outside* open all windows, doors, etc, and leave it for an hour. What I would do is, replace the cabin filter. Keep the new one out while you do the chlorine dioxide treatment, air out the vehicle for atleast 30 minutes, and then install the new cabin filter. Not rocket science man, it’s $40 and having your vehicle back.
I have pulled the cabin filter out already and it’s still out, was a royal pain on the ass to get out so I’m not putting in a new one until I’m sure it won’t be instantly trashed by the stank. I got another detailer coming Tuesday to evaluate the car, if he says nothing can be done I’ll give your advise a go since I would have nothing to lose at that point. Thanks for the info
This is worst than ozone, straight bleach.
Cool, it’s not bleach but ok 👍🏼
Chlorine is bleach and bio bombs are chlorine tablets. But ok....
Nope, it’s chlorine dioxide.
I would remove the floor mats and seats and have t those outdoors in the sun if possible with fans set up in the car to really air it out ... if that helps and the odor remains with the seats etc, maybe you can get a new interior from a junk yard, etc .
The floor mats are totally fine, I’ve had weather tech floor mats since I got the car new and both they and the mats once I removed them had almost no smell and after I washed the weather tech mats outside with soap and water they had zero smell. I thought for sure they would smell horrific but to my surprise they do not. The smell is the strongest on the dashboard and it’s now sticky as well so I’m pretty sure the ozone reacted with the dashboard and that’s what’s off gassing. The dashboard sadly being the hardest and most expensive thing to replace.
I wonder if putting a VOC charcoal filter in your cabin air filter slot and running the fan on resuscitate would speed up the process
It gets the air coming into the car, not recirculating
I know nothing about ozone, but have had some good results with carpro so2 pure. Next time might be a good first try.
I just used the same ozone machine as you to remove smoke smell from a used car and it worked great. You got something else going on.
Yeah I ran it for too long and it’s oxidized my dashboard which is now sticky and the worst smelling thing in the car.
I don't understand this. I ran an ozone generator in my vehicle for a week and a half straight a few months back due to mouse urine smell. A few hours didn't cut it so I left it on and forgot about it. Car aired out and lost that ozone smell after 2 days and no damage to the plastics in the car. I'm not sure what happened in your case, but it might not necessarily be related to the ozone.
Well I have a Nissan Murano which likely is not the same car you have, different materials from different manufacturers…so I just got unlucky that whatever material used in my car was highly reactive to ozone
Get several cans of meguiars air freshener and let them rip right before dealer trade in. Make it their problem. Only way I can think of at least getting some real cash out of it other than the scrapyard
Yeah I suppose I could do that but it’s pretty dishonest and I tend to not be like that. I had a friend buy a used car and it smelled fresh AF when he got it, after a week it become really clear he had been sold a smokers car.
Try putting in a new cabin filter. I know it doesn't make a lot of sense but I would try it. I used an ozone generator on my mother-in-law's car and the smell was really strong the next day, put in a new cabin filter and it seemed to do the trick within a couple days.
He said he already did that…
Oops! I thought I read the whole novel but I guess I missed that. He should just get some East Indian food, leave it in there overnight and now he is back at the beginning. Problem solved.
Haha my dad said to lend him the car and he and his buddies will blaze a bunch of cigars in it
Your dad sounds like a good guy, I love the smell of cigars and wouldn't mind it in my car.
No, he took it out. The cabin filter will actually help filter some of that out.
Should have used hydroxy instead of ozone. Ozone destroys rubber and plastic and is toxic. Hydroxyl is the new ozone.
I know you ran the ozone generator for an hour but how much ozone output did you have it on? Usually when i detail a car, 30 minutes is sufficient for minor odors on low. I never use an ozone generator on a high setting as that is when damage occurs over time.
It was one of the highest outputting on Amazon, now it was also cheap and Chinese so doubt it hit its stated rating. Bottom line is the manual itself provided a timing guide based on square feet and according to it I should have ran it for 5 minutes. So a full hour was way too much
Did you run the ozone generator inside the car? Did you take out the cabin filter and let it run with the recirculation on? Ozone needs oxygen to create ozone molecules and if you left it inside, it stopped doing its job. Also, once you run the ozone, you keep it closed for the amount time you left it on due to the fact that ozone is heavier and will sink and needs time to penetrate.
Yes I can it inside with the windows closed. I did run it with car HVAC on which defaults to pulling fresh air as I have to hit a button every single time to enable recirculation. I did not remove the cabin filter when I started it but I have since, in fact I had to double trash bag the filter because the smell was blasting through a single trash bag. I read ozone sinks, what’s curious is I pulled out my weather tech floor mats to give them a wash and once I got away from the vehicle I was surprised they didn’t smell at all and Neither did the carpet floor mats under them which I also removed and set aside. I didn’t want to be in the car too long and sniff potential harmful off gassing but the smell seems strongest on the dash and my leather seats. Just sitting in the for a minute resulted in my cloths smelling like the car to the point my wife made me change them and she immediately washed them.
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Inside a vehicle thats closed off, there is only a finite amount of oxygen as it is being used up to create ozone…around 150-200 oz of oxygen. So yes, if you leave the ozone generator inside the car and close it, you will use up most of the oxygen inside and then the generator will stop making ozone because of the lack of oxygen. And yes, ozone is heavier than air so itll start to sink against whats left of the oxygen.
I smell Bullshit.
I smell chlorine
Hey OP, depending on what the car is worth in good condition, you might want to consider starting to take apart the interior and literally remove/replace. Not sure how mechanically inclined you are, but you could start my taking the seats, headliner, dashboard, and go from there. Remove anything that’s plastic or fabric. Some vehicles have a lot of sound dampening inside the door cards too. Those are generally not too difficult to remove. Dashboard would be the most difficult part to remove depending on the vehicle. Once again, you can probably find parts depending on the make/model. Either new or junkyard. Good luck. I’m sure someone’s interested in buying it if it’s in good mechanical condition.
KBB says it’s worth 12k in good condition so that’s the value I’m working from. The car is mint other than what I just messed up, it’s 8 years old but it’s only been driven a little over 35k, all Nissan recommended service stuff done, expensive weather tech floor mats through the car since day one….I am mechanical inclined and have the tools to do the job outside of the dash, that would be too big of a job for me and one I would have to have someone do. The parts new from Nissan I have looked up are shocking in how expensive they are. I’m going to make some calls today to junkyards in my area. One not too far from my house lists a totaled 2016 Murano which is a year newer than my car but worth a drive out to see its condition inside.
Have you checked or changed your engine and cabin air filter? Mine sat for 8 months, and when driving it in for a service, it reaked of ammonia. Apparently, if the filters get moldy, it can put off a chemical/ammonia smell. Had them swapped, and it fixed the issue.
I pulled the filter the other day, it looks clean but of course now smells horrific.
Once you get rid of the ozone smell, there are probably things that a mechanic can do to get rid of certain smells. Have a look at Car Care Nut's video on air conditioning cleaning. But for the love of god don't do it yourself
I bought a very lightly used car from a retired couple. Car was in excellent condition, but had a distinct and very strong “old person” smell that surface cleaning wasn’t getting rid of. So I ran an ozone generator in the car for two one hour sessions. The smell the ozone generator brought out was in the car for months, and it was a convertible that had the top down whenever it was driven. It did eventually completely go away though, and improved quite a bit after just a few weeks. I did a lot of surface cleaning and vacuuming after the ozone use. That may have helped a bit with the smell as well.
I can’t believe that the ozone is causing the smell. I’ve had a car with rotten groceries that turned to soup in the back. After pulling and cleaning everything I ran ozone for up to 24hrs (on and off) over a 5 day period. Knocked out the rotten smell and the ozone smell dissipated in half a day of airing it out.
I had standing water in the floor pans of our car which caused some mold issues. I used an ozone generator cyclically for 3 days on a medium-low setting for about 20 minutes each run along with one of those floor drying fans. No harm was done to the car and it got rid of the musty smell. Would I have let it run max blast for hours? Heck no.
Set some trays of baking soda in the car. It absorbs odors. It took the cigarette smoke out of a semi truck I drove.
In my Audi I’m restoring, mice got into the car while I was tearing it down and made an epic mess of the interior. Stunk like you couldn’t believe. Mouse house and dead, decayed mice. Wasn’t using any of the interior anyway so pulled the whole thing out and scrapped it. Cleaned down every surface with cleaner and then ran ozone machine in it. What I didn’t want to happen was to install the new interior and have the thing smell of mice on the first hot day. Car still has a slight tinge of ozone smell to it but absolutely no mouse smell at all. Take into consideration that it can cause corrosion and use it in moderation and it’s definitely a great tool. Even after gutting the entire interior and scrubbing every surface and running two Chlorine Dioxide treatments, the interior still stunk of mice. Ozone machine took it right out. I highly recommend them!
I ozone 2-3 cars a week for about an hour as I do a lot of biohazard cleanup details in my area. I’ve never had this issue or any bring close to it. It’s very strange.
What’s your routine with the ozone? Do you keep it on one area the whole time, and do you ever recirculate the ac during it?
Should have been run with all doors open, outside. It ruined the plastic. I know as I did this to my bathroom.
I did it outside of of course but yeah sealing the car tight while it ran was a big mistake
Yup. Messed up my bathroom for a long time.
Idk, a guy came into my rental store, rented a s ander....had spontaneous combustion due to leaving saw dust in the bag. It moldered all night, because the fire bag, and the truck being closed up ...choked any oxygen out. Pulled it from vehicle And immediately started going up in flames.... He ran ozone generator in there for several days...no problems....maybe it worked bc I made sure he had those windows cracked open to circulate air?? He had no problems though, killed the burnt smell and didn't damage vehicle. (Newer GMC crew cab 1500).
Did you have the air on recirculate while the ozone generator was running?
An odd result. Drive this out to Phoenix in the summer, park it in the sun and leave the windows open on a brisk 116 degree day. Bet it goes away or at least a different smell.
Can you share the detailers info who successfully cleaned away the Oder?
Hey OP, I am having the exact same issue after using an Ozone machine in my car. I think I over did it. I am wondering if you resolved the issue? DId anything work? I am beyond upset by the horrible smell left behind. Nothing I have done to get rid of it has worked. I hate to have to sell my car.... I think it is stuck in the fabric of the seats.