I have a 2000 Jeep Cherokee XJ in Patriot Blue, and I have an issue. So we have had this thing of years. And about 2 years ago I started to notice a funny smell when it was hot out. So one day I was taking parts off of the ceiling of my XJ for a video. I was going to buy brand new light grey headliner fabric and some glue. Which now I still am. So I pulled it out with my dad and found two nests in the headliner near the rear speakers. One mouse nest was heavier than the other one, and there the same size . We thought about scrapping the headliner and putting a new one, no dice. We could not find ANY headliner boards for a 1997 to 2001 Jeep Cherokee. So we through out the nests and it sat in the snow for almost a day. A couple of days later I took the original 2000, 21 year old speaker panel out and surgically removed the old speakers lol, which I will get to in a minute. I than used a stiff bristle brush and scrape the dead and dried out foam. I than lysoled the crud out of it and the car. I than ran the house on it and cleaned on the mouse poop and goo. I than cleaned the speakers and put them carefully back in. I finally super glued the sound board back on the headliner. I got most of the smell out. Please tell me how to get the rest of the smell out of the headliner and the interior. For now Im blocking the smell with dryer sheets and one air freshener.

 

dump it in a tub of bleach

 

I would take the whole mess back out. You can clean it with Oxyclean which I believe has hydrogen peroxide in it that should burn away the smell. It will likely take away all the color so this would be if you are going to cover it with new fabric.

Another route you can try is to get an ozone machine and use it on the Jeep. Follow the instructions exactly as ozone at that level can seriously wreck you.

 

Yep. Add a battery charger to the equation. Use it to keep the battery up because you are going to run the fan all night (on recirc, or max) with the ozone machine running to clean the odor out of the inside of the ducts.

In the morning, you take a deep breath, open the doors, and shut off the ozone. Leave it alone for an hour or so to air out.

 

I have used a product in past years called "Over Tone" a liquid odor eraser made by Drummond American. This stuff is STRONG, discovered it after seeing it used on a car where fish had been left in the trunk for 3-6 days or so in a hot summer. It worked.

Problem is, I could not find it on the 'net. I would let you use my bottle, but you are a ways away! You might do a net search for it as my googlefoo has been weak lately.

Good Luck!

These pics may help.

 

Excellent info on the battery charger and blower!

 

Can't the ozone machines start burning the fabric if you leave it in too long?

 

I expect the ozone would quickly age just about everything if left too long. I assumed that aspect was covered by stating that the instructions need to be followed exactly.

OTOH I did a "restore to driver" on a Subaru that sat for 7 years. The very numerous air fresheners placed in it by the owner to fix the rodent smell throughout those 7 years contaminated the plastics and fabrics both of which turned to dust if they were disturbed at all. Headliner, air vents, climate control *****, dash, seat belt covers, oh crap handles, pretty much everything except the wheel and the cluster were ruined. Plus it took a couple days to get the glass clean on the inside.

 

[QUOTE=doublechaz;3645338]I would take the whole mess back out. You can clean it with Oxyclean which I believe has hydrogen peroxide in it that should burn away the smell. It will likely take away all the color so this would be if you are going to cover it with new fabric.

What are the ingredients in oxyclean? Would hate to damage the floors and seat.

 

I don't know for sure what is up with Oxyclean. Their website says primary ingredient is sodium percarbonate. I expect this breaks down to peroxide during use and the peroxide oxidizes the bad stuff and the good stuff if not done correctly. I believe I remember the old shouting guy infomercial about it saying to use it on items labeled "Colorsafe" or "Colorfast". The implied statement was that fabric dyes other than that would turn white.

For your use case I would use Oxyclean only if I was removing the headliner from the vehicle and planned to cover it with new fabric after. You could also find a hidden bit of each kind of fabric in there and test on it to see what happens. If it does not harm on all of them, then just proceed per the instructions.

Otherwise I would look at the ozone treatment system.

Also, do NOT taunt Happy Funball!

 

It was probably found to be uber-toxic and got pulled from the market.

OR at least, the EPA decided that it is.

 

Kinda like how propane can be used to replace R12 refrigerant, it cools better, is vastly less toxic, and is very inexpensive, so some special lobby guys helped the EPA make it illegal for use in mobile applications.