[yrbender]

So long story short..... wife goes to store to get milk and leaves milk in the car for about 4 days. I try to get the odor out of the back carpet and notice another smell and maggots in the truck. I think a mouse or something smelled it too and tried to get to it. Took it to dealer to fix they told me they found some green slime and removed it from the car but could not find a rear carpet. I called a few weeks later and they said still waiting on the carpet. So a few days ago the saleman called and said he opened my door and the smell brought him to his knees. Now I'm a little upset because my truck sat out in the heat just baking the smell in, I thought the source was removed. So now they say they cant find anything in the truck causing the smell.

The main smell was coming from 2 main places: the dash and in the back around the dvd and cd player. Does anyone have any suggestions on where I can tell the dealer to go, oh I mean look.

The bigger problem here is dealer told me I would take a 10k hit in resale from him so I will probably smoke a few cigars in it with the window up and trade for an ugly LX. I really want to keep the RR only has 30K miles

 

[Mr R]

If it were just milk that was causing the smell then there would not be maggots in the car.
Milk would turn to mould and then smell.

Maggots are evidence that there is rotten meat in the vehicle be it something dead or bought meat that has been forgotten about.

My money is on a dead mouse either in the spare wheel area or behind the dash.

Looks like an interior out job.

Mr R

 

[yrbender]

Yeah they basically ripped the interior out. I may have no owther option then to make this a total off-road vechicle. Is there an ARB bumper for the RR like the LR 3? Liking the matte black finish. Well you cant polish a turd... so I may just have some fun with it.

 

[Dave S]

Well I had a dead mouse in my LR3 in the heating ducts behind the dash. Quite a job to find it and boy it did stink. But if you are willing to spend the time and energy or cash then you will find the problem and get rid of it. At that point you'd think the smell could be totally eliminated. Hope you find it.

 

[yrbender]

Its actually at the dealer and my insurance co. has already spent about 4k to try and find the problem. If anyone has an info on where to look I have about 4 days before they give up.

Thanks

 

[Mr R]

Take or get them to take every bit of interior out but not the dash.
Then get them to shut the doors and leave it overnight and see if the smell is still there.
When the interior is out it would be worth going to the garage and looking at the vehicle yourself. (I know you are paying them but lets be honest sometime garages miss things)
Look in the base of the seats and behind any recesses within the vehicle. This can be done while you wait to see if the smell is still there.

If the smell is still present when the interior is removed then the dash will need to come out and be taken apart ie vents, etc.
You should find some evidence of mouse activity. ie chewed plastics or wires or droppings.

It is not impossible to sort but very labour intensive.

Maggots can only occur if the dead animal has been used as a host by a fly to lay its eggs on. This would indicate that the animal can be accessed from the outside of the vehicle quite easy. Even if the window were open the `meat` would need to be in an easy position for the fly. ie Not hidden too far away.

Good luck and hope you get sorted soon.

Mr R

 

[gw2doc]

not sure if you still have this car but if you do and you have removed the "MEAT" *chuckle* :lol: , they make a chemical you put in the car, roll up all the windows, and run the air with the recirculator on full blast for like 5 - 10 minutes and it removes nasty smells, was designed for cars with previous owners who smoked...

a buddy of mine used it on a smoker car he got from ebay and it worked...

also had a mouse nest in the engien compartment after it had been semi parked for the summer, caused a CEL to come on, dont know exactly where it was in the compartment (previous owner)...

 

[Vogue]

If it is dead meat and you have maggots, why not just let them do their job, they will eat up every bit of meat and leave just the bones. We had the same problem in a wall cavity in the house, the smell was there for aweek to 10 days and then it just cleared, the maggots hatched and the smell was gone.

 

[gw2doc]

yah and while its all going on, maybe you can get a tax break for your ride being an "eco-system on wheels" :lol:

 

[leaseguy]

You should give the car to your wife as part of the divorce settlement!! :wink:

mb.

 

[garioch43]

Gruesome!

How about as sniffer dog. It would have a BALL!

 

[gw2doc]

lol, divorce settlement, yah make sure she is forced to drive it... wait dont get divorced make your M.I.L. drive it!

 

[KJRR]

Or you could park it in front of Tiger's house and maybe someone would crash into it with their Escalade.

 

[Mirage]

Moving to a LX isn't so bad, it may not be a looker but it does everything else pretty **** good. Dont need to worry about to much for a failure like in the Range rover.

 

[lear60man]

A couple open trays of cat litter in the rear floor boards will help. Cat litter will absorb the smell more than the leather. Oh and give us an update on the funk in the trunk.

 

[yrbender]

Update: been about 2 months at the dealer. He pulled the car apart removed the carpet and sent it somewhere to do an ionizer treatment where they seal the car and run some interior cleaning thing. Yesterday they replaced the carpet and are sending it down for another ionizer treatement (doesnt sound like good news to me). They said they are done and I can pick it up Monday. Funny thing is they asked me to pay the bill on the phone I told them no way they were getting anything until I see the truck.

As a side note I got my navigator stuck in ditch up in the mountains. Which I would have had the RR and not been stuck. We got 26" in under 24 hours and the plow that came to help got stuck too. Had to order chains before next trip

 

[leaseguy]

What an ordeal you've gone through! Yikes. Was this an insurance claim? I don't know what the bill is at but do you not have an argument for it to be considered a total loss? Either way, if its through your insurance, there is no way you should accept your RR back until you are 100% satisfied right?