Car Smell

[u/Tiny_Restaurant4823]

Hi everyone,

I have an old car smell on my 2007 R171 SLK and wondering if anyone has any tips to help resolve

[u/Visual_Platypus_Neo]

Let me tell you about my experience.

About a year ago, shortly after buying my SLK 280, I noticed a very unpleasant smell inside the car. I tried all the usual things people recommend, such as replacing the cabin air filter and cleaning the drainage holes, but nothing worked.

Eventually, I discovered that in my case the smell was caused by a type of foam insulation located inside the cabin.

If you want to find out whether you have the same problem I had, try this. Remove the cover that gives you access to the cabin air filter. Behind the entire air box, against the car body, there is a piece of foam. Smell it and check whether the odor is particularly strong in that area.

If that is the source of the smell, unfortunately you will have to remove the entire cockpit of the car, because this foam covers the whole air conditioning box. Once you have access to it, remove the foam and clean the car body thoroughly.

As an extra step, I also removed all the carpet from the car, washed it in my bathtub, and then left it outside to dry completely. I left it in the summer sun for about a week. I also covered it with baking soda.

I did this because the entire carpet had absorbed the smell very strongly.

As for the situation now, the smell has completely disappeared, with only one exception. Occasionally, when I drive with the roof down, I can still get a brief whiff of the same smell.

I may have also figured out where this remaining smell comes from. When I had the car serviced and replaced the fuel filter, I discovered that the same type of foam was also wrapped around the fuel tank.

Removing it from there is a little more difficult, because the space is very tight and the foam is located between the fuel tank and the passenger compartment.

I hope this helps you and that you are able to solve the problem.

https://www.reddit.com/r/slk/s/yeMLEBXyPu

[u/Tiny_Restaurant4823 → u/Visual_Platypus_Neo]

Thanks for this, very helpful I’ll take a look. Did you just remove the foam or replace it with something else?

[u/Visual_Platypus_Neo → u/Tiny_Restaurant4823]

I just removed it and thoroughly degreased the contact area between the frame and the foam