We just hit a Skunk with the car !

[BGater]

Wife, step-son and I decided to run into town for ice cream this evening. On the way home, a Skunk stepped out in front of us........bump bump bump . I got out and lit up the L1Dce and looked under the car for the critter........no bodies but the smell was making my eyes water :sick2: ! Its the wifes work car, all white. I told her maybe we could paint a black stripe down the middle and then it would look like a reverse Skunk and smell like one to . I then asked her to wave will ALL of her fingers next time.....LOL . Ran it through several auto washes in town, the one that sprays under the car to. No dice, its rank big time. Have no idea how to get it right, the inside is just as bad. Sister in law said to put lots of sliced apples inside for a day to help with the odor.

Anybody have any home spun cures for pole cat smell removal ? :shrug:

 

[CLHC]

That's too bad. I knows what it's like to runover Pepé Le Pew. Maybe you can try one of those auto detailers?

 

[Dawg]

Wife, step-son and I decided to run into town for ice cream this evening. On the way home, a Skunk stepped out in front of us........bump bump bump . I got out and lit up the L1Dce and looked under the car for the critter........no bodies but the smell was making my eyes water :sick2: ! Its the wifes work car, all white. I told her maybe we could paint a black stripe down the middle and then it would look like a reverse Skunk and smell like one to . I then asked her to wave will ALL of her fingers next time.....LOL . Ran it through several auto washes in town, the one that sprays under the car to. No dice, its rank big time. Have no idea how to get it right, the inside is just as bad. Sister in law said to put lots of sliced apples inside for a day to help with the odor.

Anybody have any home spun cures for pole cat smell removal ? :shrug:

When I worked for my state, I hit a skunk on the grave yard shift with my squad.
I took it to our maint shop and they put it up and sprayed the bottom with watered down tomato juice, then power washed it with soap and water. It still reeked. We took our vehicles home everyday, and I had to park it downwind out in front of the house. I sprayed it with some odor nuetralizer that my wife found and then ran it through a local car wash that had the underbody wash. It never really smelled the same again. I kept deoderizers under the seats and the trunk. Thankfully, I got a new squad later that year and the old one was sold at auction.

I remember a DUI suspect I had in the back seat a few months later, quipped, "nothing personal officer, but your car smells like a skunk".

Best of luck, I hope you get it worked out.

 

[benchmade_boy]

Thats funny, I just hit a Skunk with a .22 caliber slug about four hours ago. But this one was on porpuse.

 

[greenlight]

I remember a DUI suspect I had in the back seat a few months later, quipped, "nothing personal officer, but your car smells like a skunk".

You can't make that stuff up. Thanks for sharing that.

 

[BGater]

Well, the wife has been wanting a new Jetta diesel. Problem is.....I bet we wont get a dime for the trade in ! LOL. I was just outside and checked......its still a level 6 or so on the Richter scale. The inside may be toast......its way bad.

I used to work Illinois Corrections. One day the outside grounds crew (inmates) tangled with a skunk. We had them strip down right there at the sally port, naked to the world, and scrub with lots of variuos types of detergents and a garden hose ! We burned the cloths. The push mowers got hot water pressure washed several times and it did no good. I think we just junked em.........the push mowers that is.

 

[will]

There are products out there - search on 'skunk odor removal' I don't know how effective they are. Chances are the odor has gotten into cracks and crevices underneath. Also attached to grease and dirt, probably into the plastic as well. good luck..

 

[gregw]

I remember seeing this on MythBusters:

Hydrogen peroxide + baking soda + liquid dish soap actually cleans better than the commercial skunk remover products.

 

[BGater]

gregw, I think I saw that one...or part of it. They had a skunk and had a heck of a time getting him to spray. I'll try it today. Wife couldnt take that car to work this morning......its still pretty bad. The inside is worse than the out I think. :green:

 

[DM51]

LOL Just as well you didn't get a flat when you hit it, and had to change the tire.

I saw that Mythbusters episode too, but IIRC I don't think that remedy was very effective, even if it was better than the commercial stuff.

What would your local carwash say if you took it there???

 

[NeonLights]

You could try ammonia, that has worked better than anything else for us in the past. I grew up in a farmhouse out in the country that was built over a crawlspace that (apparently) wasn't completely sealed up. We had a skunk get under the house and spray, and everything inside the house stank. I went to middle school that day, and after being quite a distraction for a few hours, they asked me to leave.

We ended up getting a small tanker (for farm use) of anhydrous ammonia and pumped it under the house. It got rid of the skunk, the smell, and us. We went a bit overboard, and the house was unliveable for a few weeks, but except for the occasional unused closet, the smell was gone. We had another minor incident a year or two later, but we just got a few gallons of household ammonia in pressure sprayers and hosed down the crawlspace again.

 

[BUZ]

I hit a skunk with my car a while back, the thing got caught up in the under carriage and god O mighty did it stink! :shakehead

 

[bwaites]

Having had our inside dog hit twice by a skunk last year, I've got a little too much experience.

Water actually releases the smell, because the oil it is contained in is respread by the water.

Thiols, the sulfur containing compounds that create the smell are incredibly aromatic, and humans can smell them in incredibly small amounts, as low as 1 part per BILLION!

The only way to neutralize the smell is by oxidation, and Hydrogen Peroxide compounds are the most easily available and useful.

1 quart 3 percent hydrogen peroxide (fresh bottle)
1/4 cup baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)
1-2 teaspoons liquid dish soap.

Ingredients must be mixed in an open container and used immediately. Never mix the ingredients in advance because oxygen released from hydrogen peroxide may cause a closed container to explode. The solution can be used on people or pets; avoid splashing the product in the eyes or mouth. Allow the solution to remain on hair for five minutes before rinsing with water. Repeat as needed. Do not use this solution on clothing — it may discolor the fabric.

Give that a try.

Bill

 

[DM51]

Ammonia - lol that would certainly make your eyes water! It's what they use in smelling salts to bring people round who have fainted. I suppose on the plus side you wouldn't fall asleep at the wheel with that stuff around. Really pungent! I suppose better than skunk though lol.

 

[AndyTiedye]

We had a skunk come in through the cat door into the dining room
Fortunately, it DIDN'T spray, and we were able to lure it out again.

 

[geepondy]

Oh god, it's so awful. Years ago, roomies dog was sprayed by a skunk. Dog spent night in cellar. My area was on the third floor attic so there were closed doors and three sets of stairs between us but I could still smell the skunk on the dog. After six months or so the dog did smell better but maybe it was because the coat of hair was transplanted in that time.

In high school/college I had a restaurant job and rode my bicycle nine miles home at night with my weak little generator headlight. I saw plenty of skunks but contrary to some people's belief they will try to get out of the way rather then spray. I suppose not much luck going against a moving car though.

 

[TorchBoy]

Thankfully, I got a new squad later that year and the old one was sold at auction.

:lolsign: How much did it get, do you know?

 

[TorchBoy]

I went to middle school that day, and after being quite a distraction for a few hours, they asked me to leave.

The way you put that - classic.

How about using an ozone-producing air freshener in a car? Even though ozone is really poisonous it's also a great oxidiser. For example, http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2148 - even has chemical equations on its packaging giving the oxidation of hydrogen sulfide and methanethiol (aka methyl mercaptan).

Oh yeah - sulfur dioxide (SO2) produced as an end product of the reaction is also highly toxic.

 

[Mike Painter]

Sigh. All right I admit it, thanks to a lady who also came out of the closet and formed a club about 10 years ago.
I like the smell.
I've had skunks spray from less than ten feet away and it was not pleasant but didn't bother me.

Anything else I find pleasant.

$1.98 for the car?

 

[TedTheLed]

Skunks are harmless very intelligent and amusing creatures. They won't spray, witness the Mythbuster's failure to achieve an emission from 'Pepe la Peu'...sp? unless really cornered frightened and forced into it, and before they do spray they'll give you all kinds of warnings including a little rotating war dance, (hilarious!! I've seen them do this in the wild) and hand stomping ....They're in the mustelid family, along with ferrets, weasles and racoons -- they eat many of the vermin that bother us humans, so you shouldn't hurt them if you can avoid it.

I like the smell of skunk on th highway especially whne my sinuses are clogged -- the skunk smell is like medicine..to bad the lil critter got run over though..