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" Saturday night, and you&amp;#039;re ready to prowl. Actually, it&amp;#039;s time to take your potential in-laws out to dinner, an operation possibly more angst-ridden than that first prom date. At least tonight you can drive your own car instead of having Mom squire you around in her minivan. Showered and shaved, you head out to pick up your intended and her kin. You flip on the a/c only to have the passenger compartment fill with the sweet aroma of old sweat socks as the dash vents pump in cold air. Time to pick up a new pine tree air freshener at the carwash? No. Better to get to the bottom of the problem, find the source of that nasty odor and kill it. SMELL PATROL We know a man who was getting ready to sell his beloved vintage Corvette because the interior reeked. Then he found the cause: A slim package of meat had fallen out of a grocery bag and ended up under the spare tire. While your car may not present such an extreme example, the first step in deodorizing is to remove everything from the interior that&amp;#039;s not bolted down or welded in place. Besides the floor mats, that means all the flotsam and jetsam under the seats, the fast-food wrappers from the console and the odd dead chipmunk from the glove compartment. Then, do the same with the trunk. Now feel around for dampness. If any area is wet, a repair is called for. (We&amp;#039;ll get to that.) But that still doesn&amp;#039;t relieve you of the task at hand, which is to get the inside of that car as clean as possible. Vacuum thoroughly, of course. Just a few tiny fragments of food can cause olfactory distress. Then, you may want to get your hands on one of those steam cleaners intended for household carpets and upholstery. As they say, &amp;quot;Use as directed.&amp;quot; A caveat on headliners: If yours is fabric and doesn&amp;#039;t appear to be very well attached to the roof, you probably don&amp;#039;t want to be pumping hot vapor and detergent into that tenuous bond, then pulling it downward with vacuum.   DRILL CAREFULLY: Smells in your a/c may require the evaporator core to be coated with an antifungal agent. Apply by opening a hole in the plenum and spraying it in. Many late models are equipped with cabin air filters, and there&amp;#039;s a good chance yours has become odoriferous. Changed yours lately? That job can be quite an exercise in automotive disassembly. That film on the inside of the glass? It definitely has an aroma, but is practically impervious to ordinary window cleaners. We&amp;#039;ve found that alcohol really cuts it. Cover the dash and door panels with newspaper (alcohol can cause spots), then douse a clean cloth or pad of paper towels and get to work. An added benefit is that you&amp;#039;ll actually be able to see where you&amp;#039;re going at night. When you&amp;#039;re finished cleaning everything, leave the car parked out in the sun with the windows open for as long as possible. SMOKE SCREAM Smoking in a car with the windows closed is the equivalent of scientifically odorizing the interior. The smell permeates every fiber, even those under the vinyl, and tar coats every surface. A thorough cleaning as already described is about all you can do. Alas, as a used-car dealer we interviewed puts it, &amp;quot;If the vehicle was driven by a heavy smoker, particularly cigars or a pipe, I don&amp;#039;t think you can ever get the smell out.&amp;quot; He&amp;#039;s had a professional automotive deodorizing service treat the cars on his lot, but says he&amp;#039;s had only about a 70 percent success rate with smells in general, less with smoke. SWAMPY ODORS Water provides a habitat that&amp;#039;ll grow all kinds of interesting specimens. Think mold, mildew and bacteria. A common cause of carpet dampness, particularly on the passenger&amp;#039;s side, is a clogged air-conditioning condensate drain from the heater/evaporator box. This may be from leaves, twigs and other plant matter that finds its way into the ducts. We&amp;#039;ve seen it get so bad that you can hear sloshing while you&amp;#039;re driving. Sometimes the drain is simply a hole at the bottom of the box, or it may be a plastic hose or tube that sticks through a hole in the firewall. You&amp;#039;ve probably noticed a wet spot under the car that appears after you&amp;#039;ve parked on a hot day--the drain will be directly above that. Use any kind of dull, long probe (a chopstick, an unsharpened pencil, etc.) to clear it out. Something too pointy can damage a rubber drain tube. Deteriorated or poorly fitting door, window, trunklid or hatch seals will allow water to seep in. Have somebody hose down the car while you sit inside and look around for drips. Also, look in the trunk or under trim panels for water getting in through the taillight assembly gaskets. Windshield leaks are another possibility, so you may need to visit a professional.  WHAT&amp;#039;S THAT STAIN? : Start by thoroughly cleaning the interior upholstery with detergent to remove any odors and mold spores.  HERE&amp;#039;S MUD IN YOUR EYE: Check the a/c evaporator drain line for road debris or clogging. If your vehicle has a spare tire well, it&amp;#039;s likely a collection point for water. Remove the spare and check the condition of any rubber plugs in the bottom of the well. You can easily reseal them with RTV silicone caulk. WHITE OUT Household bleach is the most potent weapon against whatever&amp;#039;s growing in carpet or upholstery, but you can easily take out the dye along with the odor. If the material is a light color, you might want to experiment with a highly diluted solution on an area that&amp;#039;s hidden from view and see if you get whitening or spots. If not, sponge it into the suspect area, then use a wet/dry shop vac to extract it. LOCKER ROOM Sometimes it&amp;#039;s easy. You know exactly where the odor is coming from because you get it only through the a/c vents. Condensate moisture that promotes the growth of various microscopic organisms on the air conditioner&amp;#039;s evaporator core is the problem. There are two ways to go here. You can buy deodorizers that you spray into the vents, but there&amp;#039;s little chance that you&amp;#039;ll deliver enough of a dose where it&amp;#039;s needed to eradicate flora and microscopic fauna. Professionals inject specially formulated sprays directly into the heater box and really bathe that core. These sprays are available at automotive parts stores and over the Internet, and can be quite expensive. They leave an antifungal coating behind, good for two to three years. Bactine, commonly recommended in automotive folklore, won&amp;#039;t cut it. Another means of keeping the inside of the HVAC system smelling sweet is an afterblower, such as the type sold by AirSept (www.airsept.com). It&amp;#039;s an electronic module that you wire into the blower circuit. It keeps the fan running for a predetermined time after you shut off the engine, drying out the fins. MOUSE CONDO Snug, dry and safe from predators--what could be a better place for a mouse to build a nest than a car interior? Once you&amp;#039;ve smelled that distinctive rodent odor, you&amp;#039;ll always recognize it. And this doesn&amp;#039;t just happen in vehicles that are left unused for long periods--the busy little devils can make themselves right at home in one night, typically in the glove compartment or HVAC ducts. Once you&amp;#039;ve located and vacuumed out all that shredded insulation and paper, you&amp;#039;ll find to your disappointment that the odor remains. Try a product intended for pet odors, such as Zep Commercial Pet Spotter. GAS ATTACK The most likely source for the odor of gasoline inside your car is the evaporative emissions control system, mandated initially for 1971 models. This collects the fuel that evaporates from the tank, and stores it in a charcoal canister to be metered into the engine intake while the engine is running. The vapor hose from the tank can be cut or become disconnected. The result is fumes escaping into the interior. Find the top of the gas tank, which likely will require that you pull up the trunk mat, then follow the hoses that run from it.  DEAD SEA: Look around for moisture and mold collecting in low spots like the spare tire well or footwell.  DISNEYLAND? : All your furry little friends will have to find a new home. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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