Does anyone know how to get the stench of rotten whalemeat out of a Gladiator?

[Pappyjp21]

My wife and I are having a lovely beach weekend for our anniversary. She's been indulging my desire to do Jeep stuff, so we have been using our sand permit.

Yesterday, we drove down to the historic lighthouse...

And we cruised on the beach (in the sections that aren't closed off for nesting shore birds).

But then, right when we came over a big dune and started dropping down to the last section of beach we hadn't explored,

I looked off to my left, and what did I see?

There was a dead whale washed up on the beach below. And this is where I made a terrible mistake. Of course, my wife and I wanted to get a picture of it. So of course we drove as close to it as we could. And of course we rolled down the passenger window to take some pictures.

Thirty feet away and directly downwind from 40 tons of rotten whalemeat.

We didn't get, like, chunks of meat in the truck, or even visible drops of seawater, but I guess that rotten whale oil was in the salt spray, because driving back into town, it smelled so bad I could taste it. We have a two hour drive home today, and despite the 45 degree weather, I might insist we keep the windows down.

I'm worried that this (powerful) stank is going to linger. Any cleaning tips?

Dude, I am so sorry this happened to you,I came into this thread late and thought it was a joke! My wife and I drove the exact same area to the Reach light house and on the beach but couldn't drive up to the whale because of shore bird beach closure. The whale had been cut up by biologists so birds and other critters could eat it faster. Funny thing is we couldn't smell anything ,maybe because of the high winds..good luck with cleaning..maybe strip it right down to the metal floors open the drain holes and use Dawn to clean it out!Good luck..

Sponsored

 

[chaosjake]

A week later, I think we are all good. As soon as we got back from the Cape last weekend, I took the Gladiator through our local car wash... twice. After that, I took advantage of the great weather we were having early last week, and I left the freedom panels off and the windows down for three straight days, including taking it out on the highway a couple of times. That alone took care of 80% - 90% of the smell issue.

After that, I wiped out the cowl air intake with household cleaner and changed the cabin air filter. At that point, we were almost odor free, but there was still an undertone of whale funk after it sat in the sun for a while. Finally, I closed the doors and windows, put the heater on recirculate, sprayed a bunch of Ozium inside, and let the truck idle with the heat on full blast for about a half hour.

Once the wind blew the Ozium smell back out of the cab, I had my wife get in and give it the sniff test, and she says the new car smell is back. Victory!

 

[Pappyjp21]

Wow, what an odessy and lesson learned, don't drive too close to whale blubber! Glad it worked our for you.

 

[aceisback]

Wow, what an odessy and lesson learned, don't drive too close to whale blubber! Glad it worked our for you.

Ummm, I read the odyssey and a whale was not the problem of their voyage!?

 

[Mister Lamb]

This thread reminded me of this scene

 

[Rusty PW]

Should have called this thread, "Revenge of Moby Dick".

 

[Pappyjp21]

By the way that protuberance coming out of the carcass in one of photos may very well be a whale " johnson"..now we know one of the reasons the humpback has been taken off the endengered species list...

 

[chaosjake]

Should have called this thread, "Revenge of Moby Dick".

My Gladiator's name is Dolly, but her nickname is now Ahab.

 

[SpeedNeed]

Maybe there’s a market for Shamu Shampoo.

 

[skindata]

This thread was fantastic. Thank you everyone for all your contributions. ?

 

[DiverDaddy]

Here's a little trick a smoker buddy of mine uses on his rental cars, never been charged a smokers fee. Grab one of those air freshener bombs, in your favorite flavor, and set it off inside your Jeep with the air conditioner on high, both levels, and recirculation. Let that do it's magic for at least 30 minutes. Any offensive smell should be gone by the time its over.

 

[BRMoose]

Ok old thread and all…but obviously you use a sham wow to remove Shamu

 

[Rusty PW]

This thread will never die.

 

[irrelevantgoals]

Ooh that smell
Can't you sell that smell
Ooh that smell
The smell of dead whale around you...

I miss @aceisback.

 

[irrelevantgoals]

Sponsored