Hi All,

Bad news: My 500E had an electrical fire in the passenger door as a result of a seat switch malfunction.

Good news: My insurance will cover the cost of having the inside cleaned.

The Question: What kind of service can get rid of this obnoxious burnt electrical and foam smell out of the car? I suspect there is a residue on the seats and headliner and it will all need to be cleaned.

Can anyone recommend a service in the San Francisco Bay area?

Thanks,
Eric

Morning EricH- sorry to hear of the unfortunate incident

You can most likely stop by your local fire department and inquire, they will have the best info/ sources for you.

Also in the phone book there are Haz-mat clean-up specialists and/or crime scene clean up specialists- - you may wish to inquire from them as well...

good luck. one of these days we should get our 500e's together

-fad

For what it's worth dept. My Honda was owned by a smoker before I got it. While standing at the checkout counter at Discount Auto with some deodorizers, a man next to me identified himself as a HVAC tech. He said that they used a highly concentrated mix of vanilla extract (the real stuff) and water sprayed directly into air ducts to kill smoke smell from fire damage in buildings. I tried it and it definately helped in my car. Give it a try. Wipe down the upholstry and spray into carpet. Worst that can happen is you'll have an uncontrollable desire to stop at every Dairy Queen and Baskin Robbins.:p

Try running Ozone in it, removes all organic smells, probably will put a big dent in your odours. Friends and I have used this in houses and in cars to remove cigar smelland it actually does it! Problem of course will then be finding someone who has an Ozone Generator, good ones go for hundreds, though there is one that's made for cars, I think the brand is Csonka.

Some good sound cheap advice...hang an old, or new tube sock/rag that has been soaked in white vinegar. Wring the sock out so that the vinegar does not drip, and hang it from the rear view mirror. This also works for other strong odors that you would like to get rid of around the house. Trust me, it works. This works well with getting rid of Skunk odor when the dog gets into one too.

__________________
1981 280SL Euro 107
1978 VW Convertible
1984 280SE Euro

Actually have an Ozone generator that plugs into the cigar lighter. Works great takes out the previous owner foul smells

__________________
Ricali

03 C240 4matic wagon
95 300E 234,000
7 prior 240;s 5 still going
81 300sd gone
65 230sl gone
49 Studebaker Champion
90BMW convert.167,000
60 Dodge D-100

Another cheep method is to hang some activated carbon pellets in the car, it absorbs all the smells....

You can get them at the pet shop.