# Mk IV Crayon Smell - Gone Forever



## Microsoft Sam (Oct 13, 2019)

We all know the crayon smell. It's a love-hate relationship amongst VW people. For me it is a very very strong HATE relationship. I recently inherited an '04 Jetta from my grandmother. Classic grandma car. Grey, now features. Low miles, no wear. I was pretty happy with it until I got in for the first time. I don't think in the 15 years this car has been on the road it's windows has been rolled down ONCE. The crayon smells, especially in the heat, was nauseating. After a few months living with it I decided it had to go.

There seems to be uncertainty online as to what causes the smells. After doing some reading on several forums, the conclusion is the smell is caused by the sound insulation VW uses under the carpet. The ONLY way to get rid of the smell is to remove that crap. No amount of Ozium or Febreeze can help you here.

Yesterday I decided to do it. If you are thinking about doing this know it is an all day job. You have to take off everything that touches the carpet. Seats, trim, center console, etc. Once you get the carpet up the rest of the job is straight forward. Remove the crayon factory, lay your own insulation (I used 1/4in thick Dynoliner), clean the carpet with a carpet cleaner if you can, put the carpet back on and re-attach everything you took off. 

It is a long ass day and very time-consuming but the result is NO crayon smell. There is more insulation behind the dash but I was not interested in taking the dash off. I just pulled out as much as I could. I expected there to be some residual but even the next day the car smells new. Amazing. Good luck!

Front seats out









Rear seats out









Carpet out (with dog)









Everything out. Trim, crayon ****, etc.









The culprit









Dynaliner finished


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