RedHotFuzz

Hi all,

New forum member here and first-time Nissan owner. Tomorrow I am buying a '98 Maxima SE for my 16-year-old daughter. After a long and painful search for a decent $5k car that's safe and hopefully reliable (it's amazing the amount of crap out there for sale in this price range), I came across a one-owner Maxima with 56k miles on the clock. The car looks and drives like it just rolled off the showroom floor. At $4,995 it's $1,000 above "book value," but it's far superior to anything else I have found at that price point, so I decided to pay the premium. (The owner was not budging on price and I didn't dare call his bluff and wait it out for fear someone else would ****** it up.)

The owner has been fanatical about taking care of this car. BUT...the owner is a smoker. Many years ago I bought a smoker's car and swore I would never do it again. I could never purge the car of the smell (though I never took it to a professional).

I've been reading about these ozone machines some detail shops are using to remove the smoke smell. My local shop will charge me $120 for a full interior detail plus another $75 for the ozone treatment. But I've found some small ozone machines on Amazon that should have plenty of capacity for a car interior for $70. Would I be better off buying my own machine and doing that part myself? Does anyone have any positive reviews of the results of these machines?

I promised my wife and daughter I would get rid of the smoke smell or I would sell the car. I hope not to have to sell the car. Please tell me there is a way to ban the smoke smell forever?

Turbobink

iTrader: (2)

Leather or cloth interior?

Have you tried the baking soda thing yet?

CS_AR

Rent The Rug Doctor with the upholstery attachment. There is some cleaning liquid that removes pet smells. Let the seats and carpet dry in the sun with the windows down. I use a couple of Scotchgard coats on cloth auto upholstery with good results.

allmazda

Since the buyer will not budge on the price see if he will pay to have the car detailed with the treatment.... When you add an alternative for the seller it shows interest.

I would recommend at least pulling the blower motor and cleaning as much out of the air box you can. Also with the blower motor removed you can semi clean the evap box as well with a funnel and short hose.

Cat litter - the old non clumping type placed in plastic storage containers with holes drilled in it to allow air movement. Also try regular charcoal in plastic contained as well. Put the bricks in a walmart bag and hit with hammer to break them up so more surface area.

To help cover up odors let your daughter pick out some of the scented oils. Take a popsicle stick and break it into smaller pieces. Drill a small hole in each end and tie together with fishing line. Dip the pieces in the oil and then place in the vents. The fishing line keeps the pieces in place and allows you to retrieve the pieces to add more oil when needed. this is like the vent air fresheners but smell better and you can vary the amount of oil so it is not overwhelming.

PH98I30

^^^
Like CS_AR says, clean your interior using an alkaline type cleaner(baking soda and water) has worked for me. Then spray the interior with a product like Ozium. I have an ozone air purifier I used, but the result was not permanent. The smell was back in a few weeks. Ozium worked well.

RedHotFuzz

The seating is leather.

I haven't tried anything yet as I don't pick up the car until tomorrow.

My wife and daughter have vowed to kill me if I can't get the smell out. I stunk like a cigarette butt all day after test driving it for 10 minutes. If the car were anything but perfection I wouldn't give it a 2nd thought, but honestly it's many levels above everything else I have looked at in the sub-$5k range. Almost pulled the trigger on a Mazda6 wagon until the pre-purchase inspection mechanic told me it looked like the engine had been pulled or possibly swapped.

Everything else has been high-mileage crap. I'd like this Maxima to survive all three of my kids, and with only 56k on the clock (and 90s Japanese build quality), I expect it will.

CS_AR

If you can't remove the smell by cleaning the carpet, and removing the blower and cleaning the evap box is on the list, there is a screen behind the vent in the center console that I found to be clogged. I can see how that screen could hold some odors. See the following thread.

https://maxima.org/forums/4th-genera...-resolved.html

Many years ago I bought a 4th gen with a perforated leather interior. The previous owner must have had a young kid that needed a diaper change often. You get the idea about the smell that car had.

The carpet was in bad shape so I just replaced it. Most of the smell was in the carpet. The upholstery cleaner did clean up between the perf leather.

allmazda

Pictures please.....

max ride 41

iTrader: (4)

and, we hate uuuuuuuuuu

Turbobink

iTrader: (2)

There's a "remove cat urine odor from carpet" mixture that is very effective for that particular smell ... I've used it.

Based on the ingredients (baking soda, hydrogen peroxide and white vinegar) I can't imagine that it wouldn't be just as effective on tobacco soot.

Google the recipe and the application and removal procedure ... I can't specifically recall at the moment.

93SCMax

iTrader: (3)

Congratulations on your upcoming purchase. If you can get rid of the smell (I'm sure you will), and you just do the basics (regular oil changes and tire rotations), the car will last your daughter a lifetime. The 98 SE is a great car, and spare parts are readily available.

Good find...there are a lot of people on this forum who would love buying that car. Enjoy!

JvG

See my post called seat and carpet cleaning with a garden hose.

This would not work for leather seats, obviously.

You might want to do two detergent applications.

The first to get out most of the dirt and stench, the second to remove the remaining stench.

Some nice, hot sunshine will dry the interior soon enough.