I own a 2003 Camry LE, and almost since the first year we owned the car, there is a smell that seems to be prevalent MOSTLY during the warm months, or months where the sun's rays heat up the car.

It most closely resembles body odor, actually. It is a pungent, not musty or mildewy, odor.

It was detailed thoroughly last summer, and the smell remained once the "cleaned" smell vanished.

It doesn't seem to be happening as a result of, or when the A/C or vents are running. Quite the contrary, when we enter the car, especially when the interior has been heated, we are greeted by the BO smell before the car is even started.

I don't believe there is a leak inside the car anywhere, even after heavy rains, there is no evidence of such.

Has anyone else experienced a similar smell in their car? Help! I am about to get rid of the thing already!

Thanks, and glad to be aboard the forum.

 

Here are a couple suggestions. Shampoo the interior of your car thoroughly. Seats, carpet. Spray it with febreeze. I read about these people with other cars in a different forum removing their seat covers and washing them in the washing machine if they are cloth. Also, there is a cabin air filter behind the glove box. You might just atleast take it out and look at it. I've changed some in other cars that were disgustingly gross. Your owners manual should tell you how to replace it. I had this problem in another car and the shampooing and febreeze helped a lot. I ended up having to take out the whole center console and clean the food and soda out from under it and shampoo the carpet under where the console sits. Good Luck.

 

even though the carpet feels dry the insulation under it may be wet..if this is the case the most comman issues are. ..plugged ac/heat drain or sun roof drains if you have sun roof...in the morning..is there alot of moisture on the inside windows..if so you have to find where the water is coming from...try the top 2 suggestions first..and good luck

 

shampooing helps and you can rent the machine and do it yourself. don't be shy with the spray, as long as its a pretty warm day the car will dry out pretty quickly.

i would put a generous amount of baking soda down on everything (carpet, seats,etc) and let it sit for the better part of a day and then vacuum it out. then do it again and possibly even leave some behind in the carpet. baking soda will actually absorb the odors. not sure butfabreezemay just mask them. also i don't really care for the smell of fabreze when there is too much of it and in a car you are gonna have no place to hide.

worst case scenario you can do what Seinfeld did and drive it to a neighborhood of high crime and leave it with the keys in the ignition!

 

Ok, you are probably going to say "what the hell" to this, but I ascertained the source of the bad smell, and it makes sense why it only happens when the car gets warm due to sunlight.

First, thanks forthe feedback, butI'll tell you there is no condensation on the inside of the windows ever, so I am 99% sure of no leak. And I changed the cabin filter, which, BTW was black with dirt and debris...horrible and probably was useless for a while,but it wasnot tremendously smelly.

While cleaning out the car the other dayon a nice warm sunny day here in NY,my wife andI noticed the smell seems to come from the speaker deck behind the rear seats. Upon closer inspection, the plastic stockspeaker covers stunk like the offending smell.

I don't know WHY the polymer that the speaker covers are giving off this smell when 'cooked" by the sun, but they do, and unfortunately all the cleaning andFebreze-ing in the world has no lasting effect. We tried.

So, the answer I suppose now is getting new speaker covers that somehow DON'T smell, or, well, trying to find something to eliminate the odor. My motto is: whichever is more cost-effective.

Thoughts anyone?

 

Thanks for the info as we have an 03 also and if it starts smelling we will know why.

 

NP, but I hope you DON'T have this issue, my friend! It stinks! lol

But interestingly enough, my parents have an 03 and live in FLORIDA...with no smell.

I swear, it is just my luck.

 

could be the speakers, not the covers.

 

yepp! fried voice coils from those paper speakers aren't the best air fresheners. The rear deck is definetly Q U A L i T Y. I know- i have an 02 myself.

 

Go to walmart/supermarket and grab a few packs of the Arm & Hammer baking soda freezer packs. Open up the box "panel windows" and leave one under each seat.

Take the other two and open it up completely and sprinkle it on all your floormats as well as carpeting. Leave it overnight, or longer if you have the time. Use industrial strength vacuum and clean your baking powder up.