My '14 Overland (only 21,000 miles on it) has the WORST dead animal smell (think spoiled month-old milk mixed with baby vomit and farts) permeating the entire cabin. It takes your breath away as soon as you open a door or the tailgate.
I took it to the dealership who advised that there may be a "dead and decaying animals" in the rear wall. You know where the button to lower the tailgate is? It is coming from that vent right by that button. They told me it may be "$1,000s" of dollars and that I should go through insurance. So I now have a Comprehensive Claim with my insurance.
Honestly, the car is undrivable at this point b/c I get extremely nauseous and dizzy from the smell (and I'm a 6'4, 220 lb. dude).
I was planning on trading in soon for a '17 as my lease is expiring soon. But now with this smell, I'm sure that the trade in value would be greatly decreased.
Do you think the situation will ever be remedied? Could the smell be in there forever? Any advice? Would the insurance company total the car if it can't be located? Thoughts on trading in?
Removing interior panels to see what lurks behind shouldn't be that big of a deal...folks do that for audio installs all the time. 'Not sure why your dealer is telling you it's lot of bucks to "fix".
It is possible to get rid of dead/decaying animal smell...
It somewhat depends on what is generating it, and where physically that is located, as hard surfaces are easy to clean, but if it managed to get into something else, not so much--and whether that something else can be replaced you won't know until you start taking it apart.
Hopefully it isn't a pizza slice or Limburger brick with a note regarding you being a rich enough capitalist pig to be able to afford a wk2.
I suspect if you tried to trade it without remediation, you might be shown the door except for parts value.
I had a rat die in my ceiling. I couldn't get to it with out cutting drywall. I put up with smell for 3 months until it went away sice I didn't want to deal with paint and drywall.....
Something died in your car. If you can't stand it, go through ins
The quickest and easiest thing to start with is to pull the little storage cup out and poke around with a flashlight. It's meant to come out since that's where the manual release for the fuel door is. You could probably try sucking anything in there out with a shop vac.
From there, if that fails, with the rear hatch open, you should be able to pop off the panel where the rear gate switch is and do further looking if needed.
Down here rodents don't smell that long but cats, raccoons, and possums stink pretty bad. I'd put it up in the air and look behind the fender liners or in other crevices that may allow a smell to migrate. You can eliminate quite a few possibilities, and the interior panels are fairly easy to r/r if done correctly.
Your dealer is lazy and unwilling. It's nort technically their job but their the "experts" and their familiarity, or not, should make them the safe bet.
Ozium is an effective helper but not nearly as effective as commercial machines...
Good luck
If you've never smelled a critter that got across the wrong electronics or hot object where it both got cooked, then left to rot for a week or two, you ain't smelled nothing yet.
Surprisingly, you can usually get rid of the smell unless it got into something absorbent.
Regardless what the dealer says, I would start at the front of the interior and work my way back, just to make sure there is nothing else causing the smell. Sounds like it could be a dead rodent nestled in somewhere.
Dead rodents can give off a truly repulsive smell. Once they fully 100% dry out, the smell dissipates. From my experience in the house, that takes several weeks assuming I can't find and access the mouse first. Larger rodents take much longer.
Your only solution is going to be find the source; "air freshener" type products don't work with something this strong and repulsive.