A gallon of milk broke in my bosses car a few weeks ago, and it still reeks. Her son shop-vacced the excess milk, and dried it as much as he could with a towel. She used febreeze, carpet fresh, baking soda, lysol, etc, and it still smells.
What can she do?
She should take it to a good auto detailer who can steam-clean all the carpets and upholstery, preferably twice, with the chemicals they use to treat for pee. The do-it-yourself steam cleaners you can rent will do nothing to help.
Do not mess around with this. My family had a few tablespoons of milk leak in the trunk once and that car had the Evil Sour Milk Ghost visit every time the humidity got over about 50%. Still happened eight years later when they gave me the car.
After all the cleaning she can think of, she may want to try masking it. She can try leaving some evergreen branches in the car. I still have my Christmas wreath on my front door (trapped between the main door and the storm door) because it fills the hall with a wonderful scent every time I open the door.
She may have to replace the car; I’ve never known any one to get rid of sour milk smell.
I really did mean ‘carpet’.
What emilyforce said.
My friends spilt some in their car and despite repeated cleaning it still smelt months later. Get it professionally done and spare no expense.
Ice Cream spilled in the back of my husband’s car once. It, too, never went away. He even hosed out the car, literally. Anytime it would get humid…
Try this. Fog down the carpet with water from a spray bottle. Generously shake meat tenderizer on the area. (The kind without seasoning, if possible) If the powder doesn’t become wet from the carpet, fog it again. Let it sit at least an hour. Then use a rental carpet cleaner or take it to a pro. The tenderizer (papayin) eats the protein in the putrid milk, so there’s nothing left for the bacteria to eat.