With one project down on the E28, on to other items on the long list. Cleaning the throttle body yesterday and the smoother idle led me to take some longer trips. No additional issues (that I didn’t already know about), but longer time in the car made me take note of the interior - particularly the smell.
First time in the car my girls said “this smells” and my response was “it just smells like old car, which it is.” The front seats were reupholstered and look great, the rear seats are in good shape but need cleaning and dye, and the carpet is in good overall shape.
But it does smell. I assume it is mostly the carpet, and I can’t trace any distinct odor, though it may have been a smoker’s car at some point in the past. I don’t see any direct evidence of that, but I can’t rule it out either.
So my question - recommendations on really cleaning the carpet?
The other option is replacing the carpet, but lots of searching has left me with two answers:
(1) there isn’t a great replacement source (some decent ones, but none that fit perfect or match colors perfect)
(2) pulling the carpet and replacing isn’t hard, but to do it completely is a PITA, and you will probably break some number of interior plastic components since they are just old a brittle.
I’d like to at least try cleaning before I start down the replacing path.