Hey guys so u just picked up a new cav today and noticed this horrid smell. I havnt had the chance to see where it would be coming from but it smells like rotting garbage. Only every so often. I kno the smell of coolant can smell but it doesnt smell like coolany. Any ideas? Other then an animal stuck somewhere..


ReD RaiN

best to try to trace the smell, there's not many places for a animal to die at, if the floor is wet on the inside of the car then its the heater core. if its an animal then take the cowl off the wipers and see if it got down in the vent that take in air from the outside.



2010 Lonestar Bash 2nd place J-Body Street Class
2011 texas heatwave 2nd place american compact street class

I had a field mouse get stuck in my blower motor wheel in my mazda truck.The smell was well dead rodent.It was easy to drop the fan out but my gah the smell lingered for a touch.I had to remove the wheel and used bleach and even brake cleaner on it.Now I keep my truck super stupid clean in and out( but it was covered) as not a daily.I used carpet cleaner inside,on the mats and then put a ton of bounce dryer sheets everywhere inside the truck along with two boxes of baking soda to absorb the odor.Now unless your heater core has leaked and car stayed closed up I would be pulling back the carpet to verify no wet areas.It took about 2 months to get the odor out and I on my days off rolled the windows down on the hot days as this was during the summer months.Not that this is your issue but,the field mouse got into the fresh air vents from the firewall near the inner fenders.

Ok thanks I'll have to look into that


ReD RaiN

FYI: Baking soda doesn't remove odors. Consumer Reports did a study on that. It's an urban legend (probably started by Arm & Hammer to boost sales).