Is that CAT PEE I smell?
 

What is going on with my car ('86 300e)? When I get in and turn on the circulation system, there's an overwelming smell that fills the car. It's a super strong amonia smell that I swear smells just like cat pee. Now, there is NO WAY that a cat has gotten into my car and pee'd in there. I guess it's not impossible, but it's highly unlikely. Is there some air-filter that is desecrating? I mean the car is 16 years old for crying out loud. Did in fact, a cat or dog perhaps pee on the front of the car somewhere near an intake? Am I crazy? Ever heard of anything like this before? Should I just take the car on a long drive and run the circulation system on High with the windows down to flush it out? I did just start using the AC for the season? Is there any connection?
Thanks Guys and Gals

Kyle,

One of our kats had a knack for peeing on the stove. Not only that, but he was able to target stove vent! Repeadidly, I’m sorry to add. The first time we found about that we literally had to evacuate the house. We ended up having to get a glass top stove and keep it’s vent covered when the oven is not in use. Yes we should have kooked the kat instead, but we are soft-hearted when it comes to our 4 legged friends....

The test would be to get a flourescent black light, put the car in a dark room, and shine the light down the air intake. Kat pee flouresses pale yellow under black light. BTW an incandescent black light won’t work. Now how you’re gonna be able to look down the vent is another problem.

There are products that will remove most pet odors. Nature’s miracle, which is available at pet stores, is one such product. Use it liberally as you have to put in more natures miracle than you had kat pee to begin with.

All of this aside, there a possibility that the odor is simply the result of bacteria build up in the AC system. Odors are fairly common as the system accumulates water and whatever else the intake sucks in and will sit and fester until something grows....and dies.

Best of luck, keep smiling, and keep those windows opened for a while....:D

you can try oxi clean it is supposed to get rid of pet stains and is a very versatile cleaner when mixed appropriately.

I have used it on pet stains on carpets and all sorts of other stuff, including, getting oil off my driveway that spilled when changing the oil.

Alon

There was an earlier post about such odors
 

to which I replied that we have indeed had an incident in our neighborhood of a cat which would jump up on the hoods of cars and use the vent intake grills as a litter box, and someone else on cartalk.com reported a similar incident somewhere else in the country.

That's what I was thinking, either mildew or cat pee in the vents. Nothing I can't fix without some natures miracle or a shotgun! I'll first try the heater at full blast trick before I lock and load.

It's quite a funny concept... cats peeing on cars. I once thought of pooping in my sister's cat's litter box, what a suprise that would have been to her! hahah!

I'm with the other guys with if the smell comes only with the AC running, it's definately an AC issue. If it comes whenever air flow is comming from the vents then it's a system-wide issue. Does the smell come from all the vents?

Our cat was peeing all over the place because he had a UTI. Male cats are prones to this, please take your cat to the vet if he is exhibiting this behavior.

PS-My cat's name is CJ!!!

Nature's Miracle would have been my 1st thought however my experience is that it DOESN'T work. We had a cat pee on the carpet in our living room and nature's miracle just made it wet.

Try pouring vinegar down there or/and alcohol (I'm into cleanliness). I am assuming nothing will short out though (check me on that!). Vinegar will neutralize the pee smell and alcohol will kill the bacteria so you and/or your family don't have to breath in that sh@#.. before it dies, just in case. Just don't light a match for about 45 minutes.

A friend of mine has a cat that peed all over their house, they ended up getting hard wood floors and then went to Don Pablos for dinner!!!

The 300D 2.5 is just a little bit faster..just a little bit!!:D :D

If the concensus is that a cat really did urinate in you air intake, my first thought would be to flush water down the air intake to get rid of any remaining, uh, "fluid" in the plenum chamber. Maybe pour a gallon bucket of hot soapy water in there. This in itself may fix the odor. As a matter of fact, if this is what happened, why would it occur only on A/C? It should be coming in through the plenum, not only on the evaporator.
If it's only on A/C, then a stinky evaporator would make more sense. There are sprays you can buy at Auto Zone, Pep Boys or someplace like that which treat this problem. The usual course is to turn the A/C on with high blower speed and spray this deodorant/bacteria killer into the plenum, then shut the car off and let the spray do it's thing for a half hour or so. You could also use Lysol if you don't mind the smell. I'd do the water flush first though, just in case.
Gilly

I gotta say...
 

after reading the POST by 190D22

It's quite a funny concept... cats peeing on cars. I once thought of pooping in my sister's cat's litter box, what a suprise that would have been to her! hahah!

This for some reason struck me funny! I guess the concept of that actually being done and the subsequent results is one of the funniest things I have read!

Thanks for the laugh, I needed that!

I own a number of rental properties and have dealt with a lot of cat urine problems. The only product I have successfully used is an enzyme product that produces bacteria to eat the protein in the urine. I have bought it with two names, Liquid Alive and Microdyne. Most maintenance or cleaning supply houses will carry it. It is also sold as a product to put in drain lines to clean them out. You keep the area where the cat urine is moist as the bacteria eat the smell out. Although I have not used it, a lot of posters at Mrlandlord.com swear by a product which is sold at that website. It is called OdorXit. It is quite a bit more expensive than the products I have used.

I've had chipmunks get into our cars. They leave berry seeds (as well as other things) all over the place. They do get into the tighest places and have found their way into the heating vents of our, and friends, cars.

I catch chipmunks with a small cage. I used to put nuts in it for bait, now they just go in there without bait. I think they smell the other chipmunks that have been in there and go in. I just dump 'em off accross the resevoir (they'd have to go over a bridge to get back and then 3 miles through fairly heavy traffic). Haven't had chipmunk problems yet this year, they always eat my flowers in the garden. Rabbits are becomming a problem now, I have a larger cage that I am going to put to use... but what for bait?