Like I'm living a Seinfeld episode...

[lazytiger]

...you know, the one where he gets his car back from the valet and it has this horrible smell in it? Last night, I got my Vibe back from the valet and there was this rancid smell in it, which I later determined to be coming from the air vents. I am guessing that the smell is urine; I can only hope that the valets weren't acting a fool. Maybe an animal? There was no evidence of shenanigans other than the smell itself. I already took the cover off the outside vent and took a look, but everything looked fine. I took out the cabin air filter, and while it's dirty and could use a replacement, it didn't smell like it was the source of the problem (just a victim). Basically, the smell is very evident throughout the entire engine compartment. I've sprayed air freshener and Lysol all over the air intake and the air filter, but you can still smell the urine.What the heck could have happened? Any ideas?

[redlava]

I have never had that happen before to me or anybody I knew. Not sure why an animal would pee allover your engine compartment or even how they would get in there. Sounds to me like some person didn't like your ride. You might want to consider tipping more. But seriously something isn't right there. I would consider complaining to the restaurant because I suspect they might be the likely culprit.

[Ponyota]

It's possible that someone could have squirted doe urine somewhere inside or at the grill. They package that stuff in very small squirt containers so it's easy to conceal and carry. That stuff is pure rank! I would try washing off your engine at a carwash.

[lazytiger]

I could tip more, sure, but they would have done this before they knew what their tip would be anyway! I don't get it... this happened in a nice part of town. I can't imagine someone squirting doe urine on people's grills. But then again, stuff can happen anywhere.Sigh... I think it's going away, slowly. I just don't know where to look; there's no obvious source of the smell, but it's pretty strong in the cabin if you crank up the air.

[Ponyota]

When you use the air. Try turning on the air recirculator, is it as Strong? The reason I ask is because just using the air conditioner brings in outside air. When you hit the recirculating button I believe that it stops the outside air from coming in. I'm just trying to figure out if it's inside the cabin or outside.

[DavidPIL]

hiya,Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think the air comes inside the cabon from the air intake, or are you talking about the one in the glove compartment area?I think the inside air would be coming in from the area by the window wipers. Check there for anything. You may want to spray a good deodorizing cleanser in that area with the inside fan on. Might help get some of the smell out. You may want to pull the cabin filter out and clean it with something like Turtle Wax carpet cleaner. It leaves a nice deodorizing scent.I just remember as a kid, my brother would get stink bomb stuff... he and his friends would always put the stuff in that vent area to prank people. Dave

[lazytiger]

The air intake I'm referring to is the one by the glove compartment, just under the hood by the bottom of the windshield. I saw another thread here about taking it off. It looked perfectly clean. I was thinking, if some dumb kids were going down the street pranking people, where would they most likely spray urine? The answer is almost certainly through the grille on the radiator. But would that lead to such rancid air problems? I guess so, else the *******s wouldn't bother.When the A/C is on, the smell is much less prevelant. When it's set to cool, but not A/C, the smell is evident. When the heat is on, the smell is really bad. I haven't tried it with the air on recirculate.