# Getting cigarette smoke out of a LED tv?



## armophob

I was given a 60" LED as barter for some work I did.

I knew the guy smoked, but he said he quit before he bought the tv.

Now that it is my house, it is like walking past a fireplace.

I scrubbed it down with Formula 409, and then rubbing alcohol.

But it appears to be saturated inside.


Any ideas?

Open it up and then what?
Febreeze the circuit boards?
That can't be good for them.


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## P Smith

Exactly, keep it open, put it outside for a couple months. Don't spray fragnance to PCB, but to internal sides of tv case.


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## armophob

P Smith said:


> Exactly, keep it open, put it outside for a couple months. Don't spray fragnance to PCB, but to internal sides of tv case.


Couple months?
Is that a subtle way of saying put it right where they pick up my trash to air it out?
I am not past that as an option.
But it will be my last.


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## jimmie57

armophob said:


> I was given a 60" LED as barter for some work I did.
> 
> I knew the guy smoked, but he said he quit before he bought the tv.
> 
> Now that it is my house, it is like walking past a fireplace.
> 
> I scrubbed it down with Formula 409, and then rubbing alcohol.
> 
> But it appears to be saturated inside.
> 
> Any ideas?
> 
> Open it up and then what?
> Febreeze the circuit boards?
> That can't be good for them.


I had a freezer that lost power during a hurricane once and all the stuff in it rotted. It stunk to high heavens.
The insurance man gave me money to replace it if I could not get the smell out.
He told me to buy a bag of charcoal briquettes, slice open the bag on the large flat side and place it in the refrigerator for a week and then open it up and take the bag out of the freezer. 
The charcoal absorbed all the smell.
Since then I keep a few small, 10 to 12 inch cardboard boxes of charcoal in the house.
You might try getting some and spread it out around the bottom of the TV on the stand and just let it lie there for awhile.


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## MysteryMan

There are over 4000 chemical compounds in tobacco smoke. Given the sensitivity of electrical components your best option is to open the TV, clean the inside with compressed air and leave it open for a few days before buttoning it up.


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## armophob

Yea,
I reclaimed some home made furniture from a friend who hung himself.
I put it all in a room with a dish full of vanilla extract and a bowl of Poo~Pourri.
It worked. But it took a year.
I think charcoal will be the answer, but I am gonna have to make a box aquarium for it with a fan for circulation.

I wish I could just part with it, but it is only a couple years old. I hate to see it die because it smells.


jimmie57 said:


> He told me to buy a bag of charcoal briquettes, slice open the bag on the large flat side and place it in the refrigerator for a week and then open it up and take the bag out of the freezer.
> The charcoal absorbed all the smell.


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## jimmie57

armophob said:


> Yea,
> I reclaimed some home made furniture from a friend who hung himself.
> I put it all in a room with a dish full of vanilla extract and a bowl of Poo~Pourri.
> It worked. But it took a year.
> I think charcoal will be the answer, but I am gonna have to make a box aquarium for it with a fan for circulation.
> 
> I wish I could just part with it, but it is only a couple years old. I hate to see it die because it smells.


Another thing that you can do is to leave it on and that helps to burn the residue off of everything.

I had a 37" Vizio that had a strong electrical burning smell that just seemed it would not go away. I even called Vizio to check if any of that model was reported to be causing a fire and it was not.
My son told me to leave it on all the time for a few days and just mute the sound and it would burn off eventually. It took about a week but it did go away. Could this be the smell you are getting ?


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## dennisj00

I remember opening a computer of a chain smoker. His desktop (not the computer desktop) was gross enough with ashes everywhere, but you should have seen the inside of the computer.

It looked like someone had poured a bottle of dark molasses that had solidified all over everything.

I'd sell it on Craigslist to a smoker and put that against a new one.

If anyone in your house has a nose like my wifes, you'll never get it out.


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## Tom Robertson

armophob said:


> Yea,
> I reclaimed some home made furniture from a friend who hung himself.
> I put it all in a room with a dish full of vanilla extract and a bowl of Poo~Pourri.
> It worked. But it took a year.
> I think charcoal will be the answer, but I am gonna have to make a box aquarium for it with a fan for circulation.
> 
> I wish I could just part with it, but it is only a couple years old. I hate to see it die because it smells.


Yeah, I think the solution is:

clean everything you can as best you can, inside and out
leave it open, in a box, with charcoal rox 
fan will speed it up
You probably could also speed things up by breaking the charcoal up for more surface area.

And I'd be happy to take it off your hands...  But you won't need to.

Peace,
Tom


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## inkahauts

Maybe put it in a giant bag with the charcoal and seal them in there together with a fan. You'd have some work to do to make it able to happen but maybe if it was a closed space the charcoal would do better sucking it in. 

I don't think rice would work but who knows. It does with water.


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## Drucifer

armophob said:


> *Couple months?*
> Is that a subtle way of saying put it right where they pick up my trash to air it out?
> I am not past that as an option.
> But it will be my last.


Yep.

Had guest that violated my house rule of not smoking in my home. Had to air out the guest room mattresses for months on my back deck.


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## jimmie57

armophob said:


> I was given a 60" LED as barter for some work I did.
> 
> I knew the guy smoked, but he said he quit before he bought the tv.
> 
> Now that it is my house, it is like walking past a fireplace.
> 
> I scrubbed it down with Formula 409, and then rubbing alcohol.
> 
> But it appears to be saturated inside.
> 
> Any ideas?
> 
> Open it up and then what?
> Febreeze the circuit boards?
> That can't be good for them.


Another thing that would help is to put a charcoal filter in the return air of your central air / heating system to filter the air in the whole house.
All this stuff will take awhile to clear it up.
At the same time you will be adjusting to the smell and it will bother you less and less.

I was married to a smoker and got used to it. After she left I could not believe how much difference there was in the smell of things.
She came back for something one day and I carried it out to the car. The smell almost knocked me over when I opened the door to the car. mercy !


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## armophob

I am that guy.
I quit smoking 12 years ago.
I am so hyper sensitive to smells now and cigarettes run a close second to women's perfume.



dennisj00 said:


> If anyone in your house has a nose like my wifes, you'll never get it out.


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## Drucifer

Smokers insist they don't stink and will get mad as hell if you try to convince them otherwise.


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## armophob

If they only knew how much better the green M&M's were than the yellow.


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## P Smith

back to the TS question - taking out the smell literally take time, do not expect quick solution
only if you are skilled tech/engineer and can dismantle the tv to boards,case and a panel
exclude the panel, washing every piece in hot water with enough soap(kitchen/dish soap) will kill the smell instantly
the routine been done many times by myself (I'm not a tolerant to tobacco in any form)


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## Rich

jimmie57 said:


> I had a freezer that lost power during a hurricane once and all the stuff in it rotted. It stunk to high heavens.
> The insurance man gave me money to replace it if I could not get the smell out.
> He told me to buy a bag of charcoal briquettes, slice open the bag on the large flat side and place it in the refrigerator for a week and then open it up and take the bag out of the freezer.
> The charcoal absorbed all the smell.
> Since then I keep a few small, 10 to 12 inch cardboard boxes of charcoal in the house.
> You might try getting some and spread it out around the bottom of the TV on the stand and just let it lie there for awhile.


Never ceases to amaze me what you come up with. Good idea.

Rich


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## Rich

Drucifer said:


> Yep.
> 
> Had guest that violated my house rule of not smoking in my home. Had to air out the guest room mattresses for months on my back deck.


My mother-in-law was a chain smoker. When she moved to NJ from western PA, she had to wait 6 weeks to get into the apartment that she really liked. She promised not to smoke in the house. Then she promised just to smoke in the bedroom and keep the door shut. Then she just smoked everywhere. Took weeks to get the smell out of the house. When she had to move to an assisted living home we took her really nice pine hutch and table and chairs. We never did get the smell out of the wood. It was a happy day when we broke down and bought a new set.

Rich


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## satcrazy

Well, consider this.

Take the back of the tv off, get a roll of paper towels and a bottle of 2$ rubbing alcohol.

CRT's had to be unplugged for 24 hours before you worked on them. Not sure about flat screens.

Wipe the inside of the back panel with a paper towel "quite wet" with the alcohol. If the paper towel turns brownish, [ nicotine] you got a lot of wiping to do. I think the heat from the tv is just making the smell more pronounced.

If there is no brown residue, there's something else going on there. Nicotine film loves to stick to everything.

The alcohol evaporates very quickly, so don't worry about getting parts wet. Just avoid the power board to be on the safe side.

The charcoal idea sounds good. won't hurt anything, I use it in my basement.

Oh, yeah, Rich and I both had the back panels of our Panasonics off for small repair, it sounded scary to me, but I watched the repair guy take the back off and it was not as big of a deal as I thought. Have someone help you though, as mine is a 50" not 60.

Good luck, hope this helps.


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## Rich

satcrazy said:


> Oh, yeah, Rich and I both had the back panels of our Panasonics off for small repair, it sounded scary to me, but I watched the repair guy take the back off and it was not as big of a deal as I thought. Have someone help you though, as mine is a 50" not 60.


Just a reminder, the back panels on some sets such as the Panny plasmas have edges that are razor sharp. I'd be very careful. I saw the scars on the tech's hands. He learned the hard way.

Rich


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## P Smith

would be done that by purpose? to devote unskilled ppl from dismantling hi-tech gadgets like the TV set


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## satcrazy

P Smith said:


> would be done that by purpose? to devote unskilled ppl from dismantling hi-tech gadgets like the TV set


LOL, probably.

But hey, P, what does he have to lose?

If he can't stand the smell, there are two choices as I see it. Sell it, or try and save it.

My advise was geared toward seeing if the internal was loaded with nicotine. If he wipes the inside of the back panel that should tell him what he needs to know.

Maybe I'm way off base, but is there a lot of stuff connected to the back panel that I didn't see on my Panasonic?

Oh yeah, Rich is right, so wear gloves to be safe. :eek2:


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## P Smith

Usually nothing connected to back panel,perhaps need unscrew some screws.


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## Rich

P Smith said:


> would be done that by purpose? to devote unskilled ppl from dismantling hi-tech gadgets like the TV set


Actually, you could make a case for it being illegal in this country. In all aspects of work, except for Federal government buildings, employers are mandated to provide a safe workplace. How razorsharp metal edging fits into that eludes me.

Rich


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## Rich

satcrazy said:


> LOL, probably.
> 
> But hey, P, what does he have to lose?
> 
> If he can't stand the smell, there are two choices as I see it. Sell it, or try and save it.
> 
> My advise was geared toward seeing if the internal was loaded with nicotine. If he wipes the inside of the back panel that should tell him what he needs to know.
> 
> Maybe I'm way off base, but is there a lot of stuff connected to the back panel that I didn't see on my Panasonic?
> 
> Oh yeah, Rich is right, so wear gloves to be safe. :eek2:


As I recall, there was nothing on the back panel. Gloves are the answer, but what kind of gloves are protection against those sharp edges? I'm used to working with leather gloves and they'd provide very little protection against those wickedly sharp panels (which I have also found on clothes dryers), perhaps Kevlar gloves? Very pricey, but cheap compared to what a sliced up hand could cost.

Rich


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## satcrazy

Rich said:


> As I recall, there was nothing on the back panel. Gloves are the answer, but what kind of gloves are protection against those sharp edges? I'm used to working with leather gloves and they'd provide very little protection against those wickedly sharp panels (which I have also found on clothes dryers), perhaps Kevlar gloves? Very pricey, but cheap compared to what a sliced up hand could cost.
> 
> Rich


Well, I was thinking leather work gloves myself. If I recall, the tv tech that worked on mine wore NO gloves when he took it apart. [ I did warn him ahead of time] He didn't lose any blood, and was quite adept at what he was doing, maybe less than a half hour total here.

I'd like to hear back from OP as to what he ended up doing.


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## Rich

satcrazy said:


> Well, I was thinking leather work gloves myself. If I recall, the tv tech that worked on mine wore NO gloves when he took it apart. [ I did warn him ahead of time] He didn't lose any blood, and was quite adept at what he was doing, maybe less than a half hour total here.
> 
> I'd like to hear back from OP as to what he ended up doing.


Yup, the guy that warned me about them didn't wear gloves either, I think. I do remember how carefully he handled the back panel. 
Rich


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## P Smith

I know what kind of gloves need (actually used one time, but for other job) - it's made from small steel rings ....


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## Rich

P Smith said:


> I know what kind of gloves need (actually used one time, but for other job) - it's made from small steel rings ....


Yup, they're made just like mail armor and I forgot about them. Good catch!

Rich


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## armophob

Well I finally took it apart tonight.
The LED tv's are much different inside than the plasmas.
Very simple aluminum back plane with circuit boards.
No fans to clean thankfully.
The steel back cover had rounded edges and was tan with nicotine and tar on its inside.
I went through a roll of paper towels, Formula 409, and a bunch of latex gloves on just that.

I did wipe down the aluminum around the circuit boards, but there did not seem to be any tan haze on it.
I do not know the science of all of it, but apparently the steel attracts it and the aluminum does not.
There was a steel plate on the aluminum covering a circuit board and I had to remove it to clean both sides and my rag turned brown.

I have not hung it yet, but it is on a rolling rack in that bedroom for test sniffing.
I will give it a week or two before I hang it.
My nose is not good right now from the chemical and nicotine soaked rags around here.

There were some thin foam strips that keep the cushion the steel back from the aluminum.
I am hoping the 409 over spray might be enough to keep them from holding the stink.
I had my nose right up to them, but like I said. My sense of smell is off right now.


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## inkahauts

Very interesting. I really hope this fixes it for you and you can use it


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## P Smith

I would put it outside for a week or two - it would be much better for vaporizing residual smell from smoke and your chemicals.


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## armophob

Unfortunately, if I put it outside unattended here in FL for 5 minutes, it would completely disappear like it never existed.

And even if I chained it to something, we are at 80% humidity at night already and in the 90deg range starting next week..



P Smith said:


> I would put it outside for a week or two - it would be much better for vaporizing residual smell from smoke and your chemicals.


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## P Smith

well... you could find good ventilated area in your home - perhaps in attic ?


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## armophob

I think I may have got it.
I have passed by it several times tonight and no whiff.
Time will tell.

I see by your location you are not familiar with South Florida.
The attics in Florida are pizza ovens from late April until early December-ish.
And most newer homes have nothing but a small portal hatch to enter them.
Long gone are the days of a second story type attic for storage.
These attics are now crossed by enormous AC vents and tubes, buried in blown insulation, and very hard to traverse.



P Smith said:


> well... you could find good ventilated area in your home - perhaps in attic ?


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## inkahauts

Id bet your garage is the only place other than inside you are even able to consider. But I think if it's inside now and you aren't smelling it that you are good!


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## satcrazy

armophob said:


> Unfortunately, if I put it outside unattended here in FL for 5 minutes, it would completely disappear like it never existed.
> 
> And even if I chained it to something, we are at 80% humidity at night already and in the 90deg range starting next week..


hahahahahahah.

Sounds like my neighborhood.

Use to live in Lauderdale many, many moons ago, it was iffy, but nothing like it is now. I understand ft. pierce also has problems now.

Anyway, good for you!

The only thing I would have done differently would have been to go over all the areas you used 409 with plain old rubbing alcohol [ cheap at wallyworld ] It does a good job and evaporates in minutes. I've used it on electrical items [ even my pc] for that very reason.
I wouldn't put that TV anywhere there's humidity. Obviously you know that.

If the 409 smell [ better than nicotine, but it would still bother my sinuses] doesn't go away, you might want to consider the rubbing alcohol.


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## armophob

satcrazy said:


> hahahahahahah.
> 
> Sounds like my neighborhood.
> 
> Use to live in Lauderdale many, many moons ago, it was iffy, but nothing like it is now. I understand ft. pierce also has problems now.
> 
> Anyway, good for you!
> 
> The only thing I would have done differently would have been to go over all the areas you used 409 with plain old rubbing alcohol [ cheap at wallyworld ] It does a good job and evaporates in minutes. I've used it on electrical items [ even my pc] for that very reason.
> I wouldn't put that TV anywhere there's humidity. Obviously you know that.
> 
> If the 409 smell [ better than nicotine, but it would still bother my sinuses] doesn't go away, you might want to consider the rubbing alcohol.


I am not getting any 409 smell out of it.
But I can tell you that almost every room in the house and every vehicle I drive has a bottle of rubbing alcohol with a trigger sprayer on it.

I use it constantly to clean everything.
I tried it first, but it was not breaking the tar as well as the 409.


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## TVcleaner

Since this post helped me out through a google search, I wanted to pay my tribute to the next visitor. I bought a 49" Sony Bravia Led from a smoker -wasnt sure if he was smoking or not and totally underestimated the nightmare the former could bring- and when I watched it for a couple of hours the room became like someone just smoked a cigarette. Wiping the surface didnt suffice so I'd have to do something I never did before, opening a TV. My advice to beginners like me is to be careful while opening it, dont force it even after all screws are out, especially the hole that cable enters was difficult to take out of the path and scared me a bit if I damaged the connection as I forced it a bit. Then I used dry napkins on the electronic board pieces that were horribly nicotinized. Wiped the rest of the inside of the TV using a combination of dry napkin and liquid glass cleaner and followed by wet towels with soap. I scrubbed the hell out of it yet still managed to color things brownish but eventually it did no more. Finally I used just watered napkin to clean off the chemicals. The plastic back board probably holds the most nicotine and I also did the same treatment to that. In addition, I simulated the fan idea posted here by strongly blowing to the electronic boards hat I didnt touch with anything wet and it did decrease the smell after some time. And I kept it open for one full day in my room with the window open a little bit. Then put it back together but again be careful with that as danger of damaging things continues. The result? Definitely much less smell, almost none and perhaps the remaining will wear off over time. Thank you for all those who posted here.


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## P Smith

I've a deal with such "nicotinazed" devices for many years... fixing VCR,TV,DVD,DVR and other electronics, coming from various environment of private homestead.

Not my invention, but simplified method from professional lab (they are using a lot of isopropanol ) - use [very] hot water and big long hair brush to clean the devices.
Here is a couple points: best way to clean is disconnect cables and remove all PCBs, gently wipe out back side of TV panel, dry out everything under bright sun for a day or two !

Problem with the awful smell (I'm not a smoker) - it's absorbing by a dust; clean plastic itself do not absorb the smell.
So washing by hot water (small hose is good to use ), using a brush would effectively clean your device from dust and smell.


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## mke

I quit smokeing 2 days ago. I hope i wont have to replace and clean evreything in my house

Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk


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## P Smith

sorry, if someone don't smoke in a house - the house must be cleaned !


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## Mark Holtz

My mother is kind enough to smoke outside the house on the back porch.


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## billsharpe

We've been a non-smoking household for at least fifty years. Virtually all of our friends who smoked have now passed away.


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## Rich

billsharpe said:


> We've been a non-smoking household for at least fifty years. Virtually all of our friends who smoked have now passed away.


Cigarettes killed both of my parents. My mother was reaching for her ashtray when she died. The utter stupidity of smoking never ceases to amaze me and I was, once upon a time, a three-pack a day smoker.

Rich


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## dmspen

My step-granpa smoked and it killed my Grandma. She passed of lung cancer. It was a long time ago.
I bought a car from a smoker once. I had to get it detailed and supper cleaned to get rid of the smells. Hot days would be the worst.
I will never by anything used from a smoker. It's not worth the effort to clean.


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## Rich

dmspen said:


> My step-granpa smoked and it killed my Grandma. She passed of lung cancer. It was a long time ago.
> I bought a car from a smoker once. I had to get it detailed and supper cleaned to get rid of the smells. Hot days would be the worst.
> I will never by anything used from a smoker. It's not worth the effort to clean.


I went thru that when I bought a used Accord. It had a hard, yellow headliner and I thought the color was odd. Washed it and it was filthy and slimy. Turned out the headliner was white, the previous owner had smoked heavily in it and what I thought was paint was sludge, nicotine flavored sludge. Disgusting. I learned, I'll never do something like that again. I have bought a couple of HRs that stunk but I got them replaced quickly.

Rich


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## dmspen

Rich said:


> I went thru that when I bought a used Accord. It had a hard, yellow headliner and I thought the color was odd. Washed it and it was filthy and slimy. Turned out the headliner was white, the previous owner had smoked heavily in it and what I thought was paint was sludge, nicotine flavored sludge. Disgusting. I learned, I'll never do something like that again. I have bought a couple of HRs that stunk but I got them replaced quickly.
> 
> Rich


UGH! Even after shampooing and detailing, a hot day would bring out odors.


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## P Smith

dmspen said:


> UGH! Even after shampooing and detailing, a hot day would bring out odors.


not for TV as the topic running


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## Rich

dmspen said:


> UGH! Even after shampooing and detailing, a hot day would bring out odors.


Yeah, peeling that yellow goo off the headliner was beyond disgusting. That took most of the odor away but I was always aware that a smoker had preceded me in that car.

Rich


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## larryk

The only thing that I have found that actually works in removing the smell is an Ozone generator (amazon). I have a car from a heavy smoker (19 year old MB roadster) I put the Ozone generator in the sealed car for an hour at a time, I think I ran it 3 times (do not breathe in the ozone) , and it took care of the smell. On very hot days after if the car has been closed up tight, you can still get a whiff, but NOTHING like it was...


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