My son finally found a used truck he could afford, a 2010 F150 with only 80K miles.  The truck is in great shape all around, except the previous owner was a smoker.

Anyone know how to get rid of the smoke smell?

So far I have tried:

1- Several iterations of carpet fresh, sprinkle it down, wait, vacuum

2-Wiping everything down with regular cleaner, then Febreze, then vinegar & water, then Fantastic

3- Turning on the AC and circulating various cleaners through the air intake- there are no cabin air filters as far as I can tell

4- Leaving containers of vinegar in the car over night

5- Sprinkling baking soda around, letting it sit and then vacuuming

6- Spraying Febreze onto the seats, doors, dash, carpet

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

Take it to a professional detailer, that frebreez and carpet fresh stuff is crap, just masks the odors temporarily. The carpet and seats need to be shampooed, likely more than once. 

I'd get new floor mats as well. If really bad the headliner can be replaced.

That and lots of time outside with windows down and doors open

New vehicles are not built for smokers in mind, the interior materials trap odors and most ventilation systems are sub par.   

 

Ozone generator. A good detail shop should have one.

Replace the cabin air filter if you have not already done so plus what everyone else said. 

3 hours ago, brucin said:

Replace the cabin air filter if you have not already done so plus what everyone else said. 

I checked and the 2010 F150 had no cabin air filter.

16 hours ago, Bomber said:

Take it to a professional detailer, that frebreez and carpet fresh stuff is crap, just masks the odors temporarily. The carpet and seats need to be shampooed, likely more than once. 

I'd get new floor mats as well. If really bad the headliner can be replaced.

That and lots of time outside with windows down and doors open

New vehicles are not built for smokers in mind, the interior materials trap odors and most ventilation systems are sub par.   

 

Thanks Bomber, it will be going to a detailer this week, apparently they will shampoo everything including the interior ceiling!

Glock 19 or S&W 686 4".

I agree with Bomber - take it to a pro at this point. You've tried basically all the common fixes and if that's not working, I'd pay someone to give it the works. 

On 6/6/2021 at 3:58 PM, Displaced Texan said:

Ozone generator. A good detail shop should have one.

I know I'm late to this thread, but this is how it's done.   

You could also leave the windows down in the rain and the mildew smell will override the smoke smell.

 

 

On 6/26/2021 at 8:38 PM, Malsua said:

I know I'm late to this thread, but this is how it's done.   

You could also leave the windows down in the rain and the mildew smell will override the smoke smell.

 

 

Thanks, but actually his lacrosse equipment is probably the foulest smelling item you could imagine and that has started to take over the smoke smell!

Lots and lots of these... 

 

You could swap out the seats for seats from a non-smoker vehicle.  Probably get some from local junk yards or buy used online.

May not get rid of smell completely but should help reduce it.  I'm guessing all the seat cushioning reeks of smoke.  So replace it 

25 minutes ago, gleninjersey said:

You could swap out the seats for seats from a non-smoker vehicle.  Probably get some from local junk yards or buy used online.

May not get rid of smell completely but should help reduce it.  I'm guessing all the seat cushioning reeks of smoke.  So replace it 

You could…but the easiest and cheapest way to do this is an ozone generator. 

I bought an ozone generator from Amazon to put in a rental house that was left stinking. Amazing how it got rid of the stank. I take my dog with me most of the time and my expedition was getting a dog smell. Put that in for 20 minutes and it’s gone. It was one of my better $75.00 investments

2 hours ago, ted527 said:

I bought an ozone generator from Amazon to put in a rental house that was left stinking. Amazing how it got rid of the stank. I take my dog with me most of the time and my expedition was getting a dog smell. Put that in for 20 minutes and it’s gone. It was one of my better $75.00 investments

This is the way. 

1 hour ago, Displaced Texan said:

This is the way. 

Anyone who has had to get rid of stank in something and failed in just about every way, ultimately will figure out that Ozone actually works. 

I will caution you that you don't want to breathe it in.  It's not like chlorine gas or something that will kill you in small doses but you will get an instant headache and be ready to barf shortly thereafter.

If you do get get trapped in a room with an ozone generating device, just understand it's turning your lungs into strawberry jelly.  It's a comforting thought that you'll have a sweet flavor for the bacteria that are going to consume your lifeless corpse.

Oh and if you use it to much, stuff starts to degrade.  Everything exposed to it will turn into powder eventually.  Fabric will get threadbare, plastics will get brittle, paints will fade, plants will vacate quickly.

We had this 600 watt UV cure lamp that produced an ungodly amount of ozone and while we usually had the vacuum sealed well, sometimes it got bumped or whatever and it would leak.  You could smell the stuff from the other side of our 200,000 sq foot factory with 30 foot ceilings.

It also wrecked the curtains in the room it was in.  The just rotted off the curtain rod.

 

5 hours ago, Displaced Texan said:

This is the way. 

Have you spoken?

 

(My wife started watching The Mandalorian last night; "This is the way" and "I have spoken" are two common phrases.)

1 hour ago, kc17 said:

Have you spoken?

 

(My wife started watching The Mandalorian last night; "This is the way" and "I have spoken" are two common phrases.)