Okay, we're not talking a spilled drip or a sneezed mouthful...

While transporting three 5 Gallon urns of hot coffee in the back seat of my SCab today, I went around a corner, apparently too fast. One of the jugs started to tip, so instinctively reached back to set it upright...just in time for freshly brewed coffee to pour out the top, onto my hand, and then onto the seat. I'm guessing approximately a half gallon of Jaun Valdez's finest is now soaked into the grey cloth back seat.

I have blotted up what I could, but tell me, oh wise gurus of the cleanup bay...is there any hope to ever have the smell and color out of the seat?

BTW, if you have to know, I was hauling the coffee to a church where the Patriot Guard was standing a Flag Line for the funeral of a Marine killed in Iraq last week. We had 86 bikes show up on a blustery, windy day that topped out at about 48 '. The coffee that did make it tothe flag line was greatly appreciated...

 

First off--sorry to hear about this tragedy (Both the Marine and the Coffee)

Secondly, I would start with steam cleaning it if you have a steam cleaner. If not, try a general carpet/upholstry shampoo-cleaner-type deal. Aside from that, Febreeze or other Odor eliminators should do the trick (Mostly). To prevent this from being such a problem in the future, try scotch-guarding the seats and when possible, put all cargo on the floor rather than the seats. This makes cleanup easier, more effective, and stains less noticable. (granted, I know the size of certain cargos can prevent this, but it's useful whenever possible. Toolboxes are nasty, too--they tend to rip fabric...fyi)

Good luck

 

Whew... That's deep-soaking. Your best bet is replacement honestly. If all of that soaked in, I'd probably remove the cover and see if you can clean the foam a bit rather than just working on the surface... This one will be nearly impossible I'd bet...

Very sorry to hear about another fallen soldier. I lost a very good friend a little over a year ago over in the sandbox... I'm very thankful for the work that you guys do... especially when the crazy Kansas church folks show up.

 

I agree with RockPick, take the covers off! Get a good cleaning machine, I have one that works on carpet and upholstry! I use bissel, but be careful what products you do use, as some cleaners will remove color.... Get as much out of it as you can this way, and then move on to trying to clean the foam.....if you transport liquids on a seat its always a good idea to cover it with some sort of a plastic or any other barrier that does not soak up liquids! GL!

 

Soaked up what I could by placing towels across the wet areas, blotting up coffee until it was just damp to the touch. All day yesterday I kept changing towels every two hours, with a couple plastic tubs of various weight pressing the towels down.

Spent about two hours on the back seats last night with 75% Simple Green/25% warm water in a spray bottle and a scrub brush, then left all the doors open in the garage overnight to air dry. It's now 7:30 am, and it appears it's almost dried out, and while the fabric looks like it might be a little darker than before (may still just be moist) at least the stain appears to be gone.

Thank God for Simple Green...

 

Work on removing the odor with a good steam cleaning and Febreeze, and then I'd consider some good seat covers. I've got Covercraft. Heavy denim, custom fit, color matched perfectly.
Seat covers, all around, will run you about $250, which will probably be less expensive than anything else. Scotch Guard the covers, by the way, and when they're dirty, pull 'em out and wash 'em.

Problem solved.

 

I had a problem where a youngster in the backseat let loose of his bladder.
Removed the seat, removed the fabric and foam, threw them both in the washing machine using the gentle cycle. No stain, no odor.

SL

 

One product I have found that works very well on these seats is Hoover Spot & Stain Cleaner. I pick mine up at Lowe's. I also Scotchguard my seats so there are very few stains anymore.

 

Wow... it made it through without trashing the foam eh? That's a VERY good tip!!! Thanks bud... btw, how have you been? Haven't seen you on much.

 

That's what I did to these seats & seat belts to get the junkyard stink out of them. I did the same thing to my back seat cushion to get what seemed like a gallon of coffee out. Using a steam cleaner just moved the stain around in the fabric.

 

Honestly, I was worried whether the foam was going to survive, but it was either roll the dice, or smell pee for weeks/months. Gentle cycle w/ slow spin was the ticket.

Been good, you?
Been around quite a bit lately, just doing more reading than posting. Unlike you. >20K posts?! That's a heck of a lot of posts.
I finally got around to faxing my sheets in to TP, and like an idiot, I forgot to include tire brand and size, AF1 addition, and UD pulleys. Lucky for me TP is used to people using their heads for hat racks, and Crystal buzzed me looking for the info. You would think after having them for a month I could at least fill them out correctly.
BTW, congrats on your aquisition of the 10 gals of Final Detail. Who had it?

SL

 

Yea, steam cleaning really only pulls the top couple of millimeters worth of junk out. If it's deep, a thorough washing is the only way to get it all out, and fortunately, Ford made it easy to pull the seats apart.

SL