General Ugggh I'm an idiot, help!

[Chibi]

I bought a bottle of cream soda...Now you're thinking (oh god this is gonna be bad) Well I'm not gonna lie, it is. I put it in the trunk of my 2012 fiat pop and drove. I made a sharp turn and BASH! The bottle crashes open IN my trunk and my poor car gets cream soda all in the bottom part of the car and a little on the back of the seat and side panel...We pulled over to an auto zone and spent a good hour trying to soak it all up...I lifted the bottom part to find that there is a spongy material underneath which soaked up a lot of it...Idk what to do, I want to fix it myself and I don't want my car to stink forever like cream soda...I'm so sad! I'm goin g to call the shop tomorrow, I really hope this part isn't too costly to replace...My Chibi will never be the same again : (

 

[Eklipze3k]

At least cream soda smells nice, it's not like the gearbox oil that's in the back of my Mitsubishi :yuck:

I can't see it being too difficult to replace the sponge, perhaps the only difficult thing might be removing the original adhesive from between it and the bodywork.

 

[Dcthebear]

Lucky it wasn't milk. Worse smell in the world.

 

[stevenvillatoro]

Try calling a home flood specialist, or a good carpet cleaner. They could likely rinse the affected parts thoroughly with water to remove the soda, in place, and then extract any remaining moisture. You could probably do a pretty good job yourself with nothing more than a wet/dry shop vacuum.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

Try calling a home flood specialist, or a good carpet cleaner. They could likely rinse the affected parts thoroughly with water to remove the soda, in place, and then extract any remaining moisture. You could probably do a pretty good job yourself with nothing more than a wet/dry shop vacuum.

:yeahthat:

A wet/dry vacuum cleaner should be fine to do the job, I once exploded a tin of purple paint in the boot of my car once cream soda is nothing compared to what I had to do to get rid of that

 

[madrat]

Lucky it wasn't milk. Worse smell in the world.

I had a 4 pint bottle leak in the footwell of a car once, I was ready to scrap it the smell was so bad. Carpet shampoo machine with a rinse and a squirt of fabrezz sorted it

 

[306maxi]

I had some leather cream leak in the boot of my 500 yesterday, carpet cleaner at work sorted it out

 

[TheCurleyOne]

Sounds like you've had some good advice already.

So here's the tale of my spill within a month of getting Ruby.

I spotted about a pint of water running around the boot one morning - all underneath my black plastic collapsable basket, my FIAT organiser box and my Meguiars bag of cloths and detailer. Oh no, either the rain had got in or washing her 2 days ago had done this. I threw the cloths down and soaked up as much as I could and then again after work. I had to take everything out to ensure it was all dry. It seemed ok and there was no stagnant water or any other smell - and after more rain she didn't leak again - so I was completely baffled. We'd washed her and she'd been outside in torrential rain at work before and after this incident. Nothing could account for it.

Days later I noticed my boot box had grown some white patches - oh no mould! I also noticed some white bloom all over the visible bolt heads in the boot and the screws that hold the trim in place. Mould on metal? Odd, I'm sure they weren't white before.

We'd been having a clear out at home and there were various bags and boxes piled in the hall. It was days later when I accidently kicked a bag and looked inside it and saw that it was slightly wet that realisation hit. OMG! (sorry but had to try out that phrase sometime) it's the VINEGAR!

On my first trip to BeWise (memorable for it being the first time I dared to leave Ruby in a car-park) I'd bought vinegar for cleaning. At 4% acidity it's little stronger by 1% than the stuff you put on chips, but an ideal home degreaser (windows, add a glug to washing-up water) and gentle descaler. It was a bargain so I bought 4x750ml bottles and popped them in the boot in a plastic carrier bag. Got home, took carrier bag indoors, then left it in a corner for a week, til we got round to organising a kitchen cupboard the following weekend.

I never once suspected it was vinegar. There was no smell in my boot whatsoever, it was just like mopping up water.

it seems the acidic-ness just made the bolts and screws go a funny colour but all's well. Hubby cleaned them up with some light oil (3-in-1 type) and it appears to be all surface only and lifted off easily so restoring the metal surface.

I did buy another boot box organiser but there's one thing which I did have in the boot to mention as this saved the day - I have the boot liner tray. It covers the floor carpeting and also has a lip around it. So what vinegar didn't evaporate from the initial spill was therefore completely contained in the tray for me to find that morning.

I was quite anguished at first thinking my hard-won dream machine was leaky, then the thought of her rusting away in the acid fumes was horrible - but thankfully all's well. So if you haven't got one, I can personally recommend having the boot tray liner for damage limitation purposes, in your 500 too! http://www.fiat-accessories.com/Fiat-500-Boot-Liner

(maybe a FF trader can rustle up a group discount if enough interest from members is shown in this item even??)

 

[306maxi]

I spilt leather cream in the boot last week, cleaned it up on Friday at work with a carpet cleaner. Opened up the boot today and lo and behold a whole bottle of shower gel has leaked.... Well at least it'll do no damage

 

[alexGS]

There must be something about 500s... the day I bought mine, I spilled a lemon-lime flavoured 'sports drink' all over the front passenger seat. As it dried, it left the outline of a puddle.

Finally the other day I got chance to use my Bissell wet vacuum cleaner (with heater) - cleaned both front seats in a matter of minutes, back to being like new again. That silvery fabric (nylon?) of the Sport seats seems to clean really easily and dries quickly enough too.

-Alex

 

[varesecrazy]

Sounds like you've had some good advice already.

So here's the tale of my spill within a month of getting Ruby.

I spotted about a pint of water running around the boot one morning - all underneath my black plastic collapsable basket, my FIAT organiser box and my Meguiars bag of cloths and detailer. Oh no, either the rain had got in or washing her 2 days ago had done this. I threw the cloths down and soaked up as much as I could and then again after work. I had to take everything out to ensure it was all dry. It seemed ok and there was no stagnant water or any other smell - and after more rain she didn't leak again - so I was completely baffled. We'd washed her and she'd been outside in torrential rain at work before and after this incident. Nothing could account for it.

Days later I noticed my boot box had grown some white patches - oh no mould! I also noticed some white bloom all over the visible bolt heads in the boot and the screws that hold the trim in place. Mould on metal? Odd, I'm sure they weren't white before.

I was quite anguished at first thinking my hard-won dream machine was leaky, then the thought of her rusting away in the acid fumes was horrible - but thankfully all's well. So if you haven't got one, I can personally recommend having the boot tray liner for damage limitation purposes, in your 500 too! http://www.fiat-accessories.com/Fiat-500-Boot-Liner

(maybe a FF trader can rustle up a group discount if enough interest from members is shown in this item even??)

no offers of a group discount.. - BUT I've got one going for @£10,
I bought a "500 one " for my panda but it's not quite the same - so if you want it for a tenner it could save you a LOT of grief in the future,
Charlie - Oxford

 

[DDart1]

Heh heh heh. Sorry but I had to laugh. I'm glad I'm not the only one who has things like that happen. I guess it gives new meaning to your Fiat 500 "POP".