Pressure wash interior?

Question for you all: I just inherited a 1957 Chevy truck that belonged to my grandfather. It sat in the barn for 34 years before I pulled it out a few weeks ago. It was a mess of rat's nests, rat poop, etc, and was pretty disgusting when I got ahold of it. I've since taken out the seat and gas tank and gave the inside a good cleaning to at least have a good place to start on the interior.

My question is this: if I could seal off the dash area reasonably well, would there be any harm in pressure washing the interior of the cab to get that last little bit of "funk" out of there before I recoat the floor and put the seat and gas tank back in the cab?

TIA

I think it would be OK, as long as you protect all the electrical components and wire harnesses.

If it was mine, I would probably pull everything else out of the cab and get it media blasted.

I would also remove ALL old seam sealer, adhesives and deadener material.

The rodent urine has soaked into all those porous materials. I think it's easier to remove and replace it all than to try to remove the smell.

I think it would be OK, as long as you protect all the electrical components and wire harnesses.

If it was mine, I would probably pull everything else out of the cab and get it media blasted.

I would also remove ALL old seam sealer, adhesives and deadener material.

The rodent urine has soaked into all those porous materials. I think it's easier to remove and replace it all than to try to remove the smell.

I agree with this. You will never get the smell or bacteria out with a simple power washing. You do NOT want to chance getting the hanta virus or any other malady the little rodents carry.

I think it would be OK, as long as you protect all the electrical components and wire harnesses.

If it was mine, I would probably pull everything else out of the cab and get it media blasted.

I would also remove ALL old seam sealer, adhesives and deadener material.

The rodent urine has soaked into all those porous materials. I think it's easier to remove and replace it all than to try to remove the smell.

yes this. I once bought a 72 Chevelle 4 door sedan. It was a one owner car and it came threw with power nothing and radio delete! Guy used to take his dog with him everywhere and sometimes the dog would be wet, and would leave muddy paw prints all over the seats. It also smelled like wet dog. Took the entire interior out and scrubbed it and finished it off with Armor all. Then removed the heavy rubber mat from the floor and cleaned it and left it outside hanging in the sun to dry. Cleaned the floor, the glass (he was a smoker too) and then used Febreeze on the fllor and underside of the seats, Rubber floor covering and after installing the interior again I put dryer sheets under the seats. Not only was it clean but it smelled great !

yes this. I once bought a 72 Chevelle 4 door sedan. It was a one owner car and it came threw with power nothing and radio delete! Guy used to take his dog with him everywhere and sometimes the dog would be wet, and would leave muddy paw prints all over the seats. It also smelled like wet dog. Took the entire interior out and scrubbed it and finished it off with Armor all. Then removed the heavy rubber mat from the floor and cleaned it and left it outside hanging in the sun to dry. Cleaned the floor, the glass (he was a smoker too) and then used Febreeze on the fllor and underside of the seats, Rubber floor covering and after installing the interior again I put dryer sheets under the seats. Not only was it clean but it smelled great !

That's fine for a dog smell, but rats and mice can get into smaller places to pee and build a nest.

I would think it would be fine, but I would recommend to take the time and use a scrub brush and some good soap.

I agree with basically all that has been said thus far, but if you can find a local station or contractor that has a hot water industrial pressure washer (like the Hotsy company makes), you can give it a good, deep cleaning. Years ago, we had a cigar smoking driver that was a great driver but careless with his ashes. Every now and then, we'd make him take the truck to a local station and have it "steamed" out. It looked and smelled like new... at least until it had a few weeks worth of ashes on the floor again.

Just remove the gauge panel and thread the harness out of the cab and clean away. It shouldn't take you more than a few hours. I'm sure a good washing and a good wet down with some Lysol, bleach, or some other disinfectant, will kill any Hanta or other microbes.

And now for something completely different.

Dry Ice blasting!!!

Unfortunately the location for this video is Denmark

There are some Dry Ice blast services available in Canada, (not sure about USA), that are usually for industrial/commercial cleaning or fire damage or brick restoration but none that deal with vehicles that I know of?

Twer it me I would pull the dash and complete interior out, Pressure wash, let it dry out real well and shoot a coat of rustolium or other seal type paints over everything that won't show. Not a big a job as it sounds. You probably have a mess inside the doors too.................Bob

I have pressure washed the seats, carpet and door panels of one. I had the carpet out where I could hang it up and the seats took several days in the summer heat to dry but it got all the smell and most of the stains. Just don't get real close and blow a hole or rip a seam apart. I was completely surprised with how well it did do. It was either that or replace the interior!

Thanks all for the info. To clarify, the seat and gas tank are out already. Floor cover is out too. It's down to bare metal inside. Surprisingly the floor looks really good. The seat will get taken down to bare metal, probably repainted, then new foam and cover. I plan to do some sort of spraying of the floor before I put down a new floor cover and put the seat and gas tank back inside.

I'll give the blasting some thought. Not sure who to talk to about that around here. Will a local body shop do that sort of thing?

I would take a look under the dash,those little suckers like to gnaw the insulation off the wires and any rubber hoses they can get their teeth into.

I'd use a pump sprayer, like used for applying weed killer to the fence row or individual weeds in your lawn.

Put a strong mixture of Clorox or other bleach and warm water, spray it down, make sure your door bottom drains are open and that any water and crud that collects in the rear quarters behind the doors can either be washed out, or scraped and vacuumed out later.

The strong bleach will kill off any bugs, bacteria and viruses.

Follow with a regular pressure washing.

As long as you don't spray directly at the dashboard, or spray upwards under the dash at the back of the instruments, the wiring and instruments and switches will be fine, a few drops of water will do on harm. The wiring is rather impervious to water, think of the environment the same wires exist in on the engine side of the firewall, same wires but rain water spray, accelerated by the radiator fan, and the wires hold up fine.

If you want to help preserve the metal, then a coating of Rust Bullet, POR 15, or even rustoleum will pretty much put and end to any further rust.

GLong

My first job while in high school was at a Car Wash doing used car set-up on mostly mid to late sixties domestic vehicles. We would first vacuum out the interior, then pressure wash everything, the seats, the headliner, dashboard, everything. Then we'd scrub everything with a brush and interior shampoo. Pressure was again with plain water to rinse, then vacuum water up off the floor, and park it in the sun to dry. Insides looked showroom new when dried, and never any ill effects that I can remember.

Dad was a chain cigar smoker. Eventually the interior of his '64 Coupe Deville developed a coating that resembled old varnish, brown and dirty. One hot Summer day he took it to the local car wash and pressure washed the entire interior, dash, windshield, seats, headliner, everything. He left it sit in the back yard for several days to dry out. Only long term effect was that the speedometer fogged up inside and stayed that way but Dad never paid much attention to the speedo anyway.

My first job while in high school was at a Car Wash doing used car set-up on mostly mid to late sixties domestic vehicles. We would first vacuum out the interior, then pressure wash everything, the seats, the headliner, dashboard, everything. Then we'd scrub everything with a brush and interior shampoo. Pressure was again with plain water to rinse, then vacuum water up off the floor, and park it in the sun to dry. Insides looked showroom new when dried, and never any ill effects that I can remember.

I did the same thing with trucks when they had vynal seats.

The only problems that I ever had was a few ignition switches went bad and the horn blowing after the bath. I soon learned to put tape over them.

The reason that a car rots out is that the cracks and crevases get full of dirt and then condensation makes mud and thats what rots a car. Wash it out real good and there will be no problem. I would actually fill the doors with water and then poke open the drain holes. The same with the rocker panels and qut panels.

Take care with personal hygeine while working around rodent pee. You don't want leptospyrosis. Wash your hands frequently and wear rubber gloves.

If you use any kind of chlorine bleach, make sure you get all the Chlorine out of the car. It is a powerful oxidant and will promote rust.

That's fine for a dog smell, but rats and mice can get into smaller places to pee and build a nest.

Like I said, I removed the whole interior. Everything was cleaned.

If you don't have a suit like these guys:

hire someone who does. You can die from digging around in that stuff.

Bernie