Cleaning Sour Milk Smell In Car

Spilt Sour Milk Smell in Car

How can I remove the strong odor of spilt milk from the carpet on the floor of the car? I have tried some products without success, and the smell is just getting worse

Tom Carlin

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Enzyme Cleaner

Try saturating the area with an enzyme cleaner used for pet accidents. Buy it in a pet-store. The enzymes sort of "eat up" the organic matter. (11/06/2004)

By lindal

Bicarbonate of Soda

My little girl spilt milk on her mattress.I got the smell out by scrubbing it with washing up liquid and water then covering it with a thick layer of bicarbonate of soda while it was still damp. I left it for 24 hours, hoovered it up dampened it again then repeated the bicarb. I did this for three days. The smell vanished! (04/19/2005)

By Becci

Alcohol

I don't know how often this gets updated but anyways, yes is a awful smell, O tried everything, steam, 2 cans of carpet cleaner, nothing.

I used common biology 101 sense, milk stinks because bacteria is there decomposing, aka your own darn cheese factory under the carpet, so what I just did is soak that thing in alcohol since it won't bleach the fabric (hopefully) and will kill the bacteria, so far it is working. I just hope that when it dries it is not a whole different story. (11/22/2005)

By Rob

Activated Charcoal

Try activated charcoal that is used for fish tanks. put it in socks or spread in the car and let it sit a couple of days then vacuum. (11/28/2005)

By teresa

Steam Cleaner

My nephew spilt a large cup of cappuccino in the back of the car. PEW after a couple months. I had to rent a steam cleaner. It worked! (12/02/2005)

By Debbie

So Far So Good

4 days ago my son spilt milk on his bedroom carpet, got as much up as I could with a towel and sprayed loads of mr muscle kitchen cleaner and mr muscle multi task as it was only thing i could find quickly and scrubbed with a cloth... not even had a slight whiff of milk at all, so far so good (05/22/2006)

By jo

Underlay and Ozone

I had to pull the underlay from my truck and replace it. Also as soon as that was done I went to my local car detail shop and had them put an "ozone machine" in my truck for two hours. This will deplete the car of all oxygen and any odors. It worked miracles, although it takes a couple of days for the ozone smell to leave. (07/06/2006)

By Guest

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Sour Milk Smell in Car

My daughter spilt milk in the car and it was there for several days in 30 degree Celsius temps. Three months later and I can't get rid of the smell... help.

KP from UK

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RE: Sour Milk Smell in Car

I used diluted vinegar in my car to get rid of the milk smell. My car smelled like vinegar for approx. 2 days but after that there was no residual milk or vinegar smell! It did not stain or discolor my car's interior either. (08/28/2006)

By Kara

RE: Sour Milk Smell in Car

Try dampening the area where the milk spilled and then sprinkling with fresh, unused coffee grounds and leave for at least a couple of hours (overnight would probably be better), then vacuum (or, for our UK friends, hoover) up the coffee grounds. (08/29/2006)

By Lynn from Calif.

RE: Sour Milk Smell in Car

cat litter may help with the smell . You could try vinegar in water and sponge where the milk was . (08/30/2006)

By tipsy_nz

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Sour Milk Smell in Car

My son spilt milk in our car last week and the smell is terrible - the car has a leather interior - would the diluted vinegar solution work on the problem?

JH from UK

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Coffee Grounds

Coffee grounds in a small cup might help it got a gross smell out. Hope it helps (09/18/2006)

By Lisa

Fire Department

Should all other ideas fail - take your vehicle to the fire department in your town. They have "stuff" there that they can use on your car that will get rid of any kind of bad smell you can think of. (FOR instance, persons who have died in the car and not found for a few days, they have "stuff" to clean that smell up and get it out! WHEW! Good Luck! (09/18/2006)

By Paula Jo Carr

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Sour Milk Smell in Car

A gallon of milk was spilled in the car and the smell is awful! How do you get the smell out?

Tonya from Rocky Mount, NC

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RE: Sour Milk Smell in Car

My hubby is a retired mechanic and he states most cars have plugs underneath them to drain water out. I would check to see if yours has one and bring to car wash for them to remove it. (02/14/2007)

By Denise

RE: Sour Milk Smell in Car

So far elbow grease first (manual labor of wiping and scrubbing), sprinkled baking soda and let set for 15 minutes, then more elbow grease, then laundry detergent with some oxy-clean (laundry whitener) in cool water, more elbow grease. I'm waiting to see results. I think repeating all the above and final rinse with lemon juice may do the trick.

I had left a plastic 1/2 gallon of milk sit under back seat without my realizing it (in 90 Degree heat, needless to say it exploded all under the backseat) until we were ready to go on vacation on bike. I cleaned the best I could in short time I had. It had set for another week, now have I started my routine. I wrote above. Fine welcome home! (10/15/2007)

By Linda

RE: Sour Milk Smell in Car

This happened to me in my Tahoe recently. First, I used an apple cider vinegar spray on the wet areas (dry up as much as possible) but finally I think just leaving the windows open to air dry the vehicle helped more than anything. It eventually went away but unfortunately took a few weeks. (10/20/2007)

By pgvidal

RE: Sour Milk Smell in Car

I've used a product called Zorbx. Worked on the milk smell. (01/09/2008)

By Mark

RE: Sour Milk Smell in Car

My sister spilled a latte in my car, as it's all milk the sour smell was awful. I tried a number of products to try and clean this and get rid of the smell. The only thing that worked was distilled vinegar. (03/05/2008)

By gill k

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Sour Milk Smell in Car

How can I get sour milk smell out of my car?

Renee from Albany, NY

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RE: Sour Milk Smell in Car

Try a product that is used for cat and dog accidents. It has an enzyme eater in it, and since milk has enzymes, I would think that it should do the trick. (07/03/2008)

RE: Sour Milk Smell in Car

I spilled a chocolate Slim Fast Protein shake under the seat of my car when the temperature was over 95 degrees. The next day the smell was unthinkably nauseating. I immediately took it to a detail shop. The stains were gone, but the smell remained and made anything including the clothes I was wearing smell. I hope to try vinegar to remove the stink. (08/01/2008)

By Amanda

RE: Sour Milk Smell on carpet

My son had spilled my chocolate slim fast shake on my carpet. It was behind the couch so I didn't notice it until there was a nasty smell. It was there for a few days. I tried my carpet cleaner, then Nature's Miracle (the pet enzyme stuff). It still has a horrible smell. I can't even be in my apartment because of the smell. (08/30/2008)

By shana

RE: Sour Milk Smell in Car

I was driving home and had a gallon of milk on the seat next to me and just ignored it when it fell on the floor. BIG MISTAKE! When I went to pick it up I saw that it had cracked and there was milk covering the passenger side floor! I scrubbed it right away with Lysol and left the windows down overnight and prayed. Needless to say, I got in the car the next day and almost threw up! My step mom gave me something called "Odo-Ban" (http://cleancontrol.com/OdoBanRetail/OdoBan_Odor_Eliminator.html ) to spray. So I sprayed a ton of it and I let that dry overnight, and the next day there was a little odor, but I sprayed it with Febreeze and it's almost gone. So good luck to anyone else with this problem. (10/07/2008)

By Amy

RE: Sour Milk Smell in Car

I spilled a latte on the car floorboard, and it has been day 4 on this rental car (my car is in the shop). I tried everything including pet odor removers with "enzymes". All it did was make my car smell like a wet dog with the milk stench still hovering! But thanks to you guys, I went to our local Publix supermarket, rented one of those steam cleaners and diluted the carpet cleaner solution with WHITE DISTILLED VINEGAR. Voila! Now my car smells a hint of vinegar minus all the other odors! I can live with that. (10/23/2008)

By li247

RE: Sour Milk Smell in Car

My thermos of milk sat in the car for 4 hours before I could clean it up (long story). There is no immediate solver to this problem, a little patience please.

First, and very important, soak up as much of the milk as you can using paper towels. Use an entire roll if you have to. Cover the spot with baking soda and let it sit overnight or for at least 3 hours. Vacuum it up. Then REPEAT! It will still smell, so spray and moisten with Lysol, which has odor killers in it and let it sit overnight. (11/13/2008)

By Mary C

RE: Sour Milk Smell in Car

I just discovered a sippy cup of milk in my wife's car. It's been there about a week and it leaked out onto the carpet. It's the worst smell combination of vomit and poop. The car is in the garage with all 4 windows down. I'm going to take the advice of these people and try everything. Febreeze didn't work. I saturated the carpet area with it. Problem is, the curdled milk that spilled out has dried into the carpet. (04/19/2009)

By dannycollins

RE: Sour Milk Smell in Car

Pour a mixture of vinegar and water onto soiled carpet area. Let it set for 30-60 minutes. Vacuum. Car may smell like vinegar for a few days, but that smell and the sour milk will go away. (07/15/2009)

By tonya70

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Sour Milk Smell in Car

A large amount of milk spilled on my carpet in my car. It now stinks. How can I get rid of the odor?

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Cleaning Sour Milk Smell In Car

After endless hours and many different methods, I think I finally got the soured milk out of my car seats with white vinegar and lemon juice mixed together and sprayed on the area where the milk was spilled.

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Cleaning Sour Milk Smell In Car

How do I get soured milk out of the carpet in a car? We left a gallon of milk in a back of a SUV for 3 weeks and it turned green and exploded in the back of the car. How do I get the smell out?