It can be highly infuriating to be forced to drive a car that smells fishy. This can happen for various reasons, and regardless of the cause, it will be infuriating. Perhaps you have caught fish and transported it in your car, or maybe you have purchased seafood and had a spill in your vehicle at some point—the best thing to immediately prevent your vehicle from being permanently contaminated with the stench. Here are the tips on how to get shrimp smell out of car.
After accumulating the relevant data, you can choose the most sensible strategy in your particular case.
How to Get Shrimp Smell Out of Car
Cover the spill
Use newspaper if you have any because it absorbs chemicals considerably faster than other materials. The sooner you can contain the spill and start cleaning up, the better.
Use an old rag
Combine two liters of water. Add later a cup of vinegar. Then, rub it with an old rag on the area where you think the fishy smell comes from. Remember that vinegar is a natural cleaner and odor absorber. Its capacity is penetrating the fibers of the car’s upholstery.
Baking soda time
Sprinkle baking soda over the area that smells fishy. The way baking soda gets rid of odors in refrigerators will also work in your car.
Windows down!
Roll down your car window to allow the odor to escape, especially when it’s hot. Drive without the air conditioner on, as this will only recirculate the fishy smell throughout the vehicle. Driving with the windows down and the vents open to the outside is good. This allows ample fresh air to enter the car while escaping polluted air.
Wait for the results.
If the stench persists after a day or two, spray a fabric freshener spray on the affected area. At this point, the stench may be sufficiently attenuated for the fabric freshener to take effect.
If you still have problems, take your vehicle to a car wash. Sometimes, you will not be able to remove the odor on your own, and in that case, a professional will need to do the job.
Ways to Get Rid of a Shrimp Smell
Cleaning with soapy water
Cleaning your car with soapy water can be beneficial if you are trying to eliminate a fishy odor. This is especially true if the spill occurred recently and you try to contain the situation before it worsens.
It would help if you scrubbed the region with the fishy odor to remove it, and you could do so in such a way that the smell does not settle into the carpet.
The good idea is to scrub the carpet with dish soap and water. Put dish soap and warm water together in a bucket. After that, rub it into the mat with a brush.
You don’t need to scrub vigorously if you’re worried about damaging the carpet, so go easy.
If you use a wet-dry vacuum, you can wipe the area. Repeat this procedure until you are ok with the results.
Combine equal parts of water and vinegar.
When it comes to cleaning up the spill, a solution of water and vinegar can be beneficial. To start, combine one cup of vinegar with two cups of water.
Use an old rag to rub this mixture on the floor of your car.
Vinegar is a natural odor absorber that works wonders. It should allow it to penetrate deep into the fibers of your carpet to eliminate the fishy odor.
Baking soda can also be beneficial.
It’s usually wise to keep some baking soda on hand to help solve minor problems like these. You can sprinkle baking soda around your vehicle.
Determine which areas of your car emit fishy smells, and then use the baking soda to eradicate them.
Just keep in mind that before using this baking soda approach, you must clean up any spills or messes. While this may seem obvious, you can’t just sprinkle baking soda on a bowl of spilled chowder and hope for the best.
However, it is surprising how effectively baking soda neutralizes odors, and it will work well to eradicate any remaining fishy aroma.
Let your vehicle air out.
When it comes to a situation like this, it’s probably a good idea to air out your car. If you keep the items contained in the vehicle, the fishy odor may linger longer than desired.
Roll down the windows to allow natural ventilation
The heat can exacerbate the fishy odor when the windows are not rolled down, and you don’t want to drive like that.
For a while, avoid using the air conditioning while driving and roll down the windows instead.
Your car should start to smell much better after you ventilate in this way. Although fishy odors are notorious for their persistence, circulating your car significantly improves the situation.
If you combine this suggestion with some of those described above, the smelly air will be able to leave your car and return to normal in no time.
Use odor-eliminating cleaning products.
There are odor-neutralizing cleaning products available in stores that quickly remove odors. One of the reasons you might want to use this type of solution is if you don’t like the smell of vinegar.
Vinegar is indeed a reasonably potent substance, and this may not be something you want to experience. It is pretty simple to buy an odor-neutralizing cleaning product from a store, and they come in various sizes.
You can choose from products with a pleasant scent or ones with no smell.
In either case, these products are straightforward to use. Spray the solution on the section of your car’s carpet that smells fishy, eliminating the stench.
While these cleaning products usually work well when eliminating fishy odors, numerous applications may be necessary over time if you have a significant problem.
The only significant downside to this strategy is that you will have to pay for the stuff. You will find that most of these odor-neutralizing sprays are reasonably priced, but that also depends on your perspective.
Vinegar and water will also help, but you must decide how you feel about the smell of vinegar.
Bottom line
Your car should no longer smell fishy when you drive it.
In the future, it will almost certainly be necessary to exercise more caution when transporting fish or any form of food containing fish. You don’t want to spill any of it in your car, but at least you’ll be prepared if the worst-case scenario happens.
If you follow the tips above, dealing with a fishy smell in your car doesn’t have to be a time-consuming task.
I am an Automotive specialist. I graduated from Michigan with Bachelor in Automotive Engineering and Management. Also, I hold degrees in Electrical and Automation Engineering (BEng), Automatic and Industrial Electronic Engineering, and Automotive Technology. I have worked at General Motors Company for over five years as the Marketing Operations Production Coordinator. Now, I own my garage in Miami, Florida. I love cars and love to share everything about them with my readers. I am the founder of the Automotiveex blog, where I share everything about automotive, like car news, car mechanical issues, and anything else that comes up in my blog posts.
