Milk leaked in trunk

Had a gallon of milk that leaked into my trunk yesterday. I'd say 3/4 of the gallon spilled into the trunk. I hosed it out as soon as I found it. There's no stains, but after a day in the hot June sun the trunk's not exactly smelling like roses. What would everyone recommend for getting rid of the smell?

A bucket of Baking Soda & water followed up with a wet/dry vacuum. Also put in a couple of drops of white distilled vinger to the solution & your problem should be less of a milky smell.

You can follow up with a piece of cedar wood from your local lumber store. Shouldn't cost more than $10.00 for a good piece of cedar. Good Luck with your results.

I agree with Todd, but I think I'd go a step further and remove the truck liner/carpeting to make sure none of the milk got between the carpet and the floor of the trunk.

If it did, a bath of Simple Green for the floor of the trunk (licorice smells MUCH better than sour milk), followed by a complete air-dry. For the carpeting (if it's out) spray it down with Simple Green & let it soak for a bit. Then rinse thoroughly and use the baking soda & water solution. Let the baking soda & water soak for about 1/2 hour or more, then rinse the hell out of the carpeting. Use a wet/dry vac to get the majority of the water out, then lay the carpet in the sun. DO NOT replace the carpeting until it is TOTALLY DRY, OR YOU WILL GET MILDEW.



Don M
'02 Cavalier LSSC
2200 DOHC

Get and apply a good enzyme based cleaner product. These products are designed especially for food based spills and they actually digest or eat the remaining food residue in the carpet. When the source is gone so is the odor. The ones I have used are granular and are mixed in water to be activated and applied. See your local janitorial supply house to obtain the product. These products are used often in food sales areas such as resturant dining rooms and bars where solid and liquid food spills often occur.

They work great too.

Good luck

Gentleman,

Thank you very much for the suggestions. Yesterday I removed the trunk liner, and hosed out the trunk one more time to be safe. Disconnected the courtesy lights and left the trunk open to dry. While the trunk was drying, I soaked the liner and the carpet in the baking soda/water mixture. Rinsed them and I hung them out to dry. With the trunk dry, I cleaned the trunk with simple green. Left the trunk open for the remainder of the day to be safe.

The liner dried after a few hours, so when the trunk completely dried ( I made sure to check all of the nooks and crannies for moisture) I reinstalled the liner. The carpeting was still moist last night so I left it out.

This morning, I am pleased to report that the milk smell is completely gone from the trunk itself. I will check on the carpeting when I get home from work. I did not detect any odor last night, so I am sure it will be fine.

It was sunday, and I don't know of any stores that would carry the enzyme cleaner mentioned in the post above, and even if I did they probably would have been closed. This sounded like an afternoon's worth of work and I work full time during the week which meant I'd have to wait until next weekend to do this. There was no way I could live with the smell for another week, so I went with the baking soda solution.

For anyone else who might encounter this problem, I would suggest following the steps outlined above. I think that removing the trunk liner is extremely important. I worked on this a day and a half after the spill occurred. There was still small traces of milk under the trunk liner. In order to completely remove the smell and to avoid mildew pull out the liner. Its a lot more work, but its definately worth the effort.

If that doesn't remove the odor, than follow up with an enzyme product or fork over the cash and let the pros handle it. He might be expensive, but the smell of spilt milk in a car, during the summer time is one of the fouliest, nastiest odors I've ever encountered. Trust me, it would be money well spent.

Again, thanks to everyone for their suggestions!