Herculiner fumes/odor in XJ

I herculined the floor of my XJ on Monday afternoon. I drove it to work after lunch on Tuesday, even with the windows about half down the fumes were bad enough to burn my eyes. I have a short drive to work, about 10-15 minutes, I figured driving with the windows, down, and the "vent" on full blast on i should be fine.

Here we are on Friday, the herculiner seems to be fully cured, but the odor is still really strong, it gives me a headache, irritates my nose/throat/ and I get pains in my l lungs. This is during short drives to work. I think some of the discomfort may be residual from the fumes i was exposed to when applying the herculiner, I was wearing a paper mask (which is like putting a newspaper over your head during a nuclear attack) and I had my garage door half way up. Hindsight 20/20 I should have had the door all the way up and a fan going (it was fregging cold outside though).

My question is.. how long does this freaking smell/fumes last?

drive with the windows all the way open? You're in Texas, how the hell is it cold there?!

hah its actually been snowing.. keep in mind the humidity is really high here so the cold gets through your clothes.. its a biting cold..

CO poisoning takes about 72 hours to clear your bloodstream, so whatever you inhaled will be with you for awhile. What did the directions tell you about protection/ventilation?

You may need to call the CDC's poison center.

umm at least its not your hootus. I did my jeep and waited a full day in the summer, I think it was a scorching 60 that day. one thing to be said about wet and cold don't wear cotton. Up here in Alaska we have a saying... cotton kills. Have fun with the snow we've been wondering when winters comming hear in kodiak.

I left mine with the windows down for a week and the smell was still there. Takes a couple of weeks to air out.

joe_peters said:

CO poisoning takes about 72 hours to clear your bloodstream, so whatever you inhaled will be with you for awhile. What did the directions tell you about protection/ventilation?

You may need to call the CDC's poison center.

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CO binds to hemoglobin really damn well, even better than oxygen iirc. That's why it's so toxic. Calling the CDC is still a good idea but I doubt whatever he inhaled has anywhere near the half-life of CO in the blood.

Stihl029 said:

umm at least its not your hootus. I did my jeep and waited a full day in the summer, I think it was a scorching 60 that day. one thing to be said about wet and cold don't wear cotton. Up here in Alaska we have a saying... cotton kills. Have fun with the snow we've been wondering when winters comming hear in kodiak.

Click to expand...

:roflmao:

Yeah, the park rangers around here (and up in the white mountains in NH) call cotton "death cloth".

The instructions said to apply in a well ventilated area. I've done a bunch of googling, and read forums where other guys have applied it in their jeeps. I've seen where a few people complained that even after 3-4 days the smell was strong enough to cause a head ache. the TJ guys just leave their top off a couple weeks.

Its hard to know what the line is between odor, and fumes. I know "odor" can't, or shouldn't cause your eyes to water or light headedness. I really think that, by now its has to be pretty much cured. The curing of Herculiner is activated by humidity, and it serves as a catalyst. I've noticed that the smell seems to get stronger the longer I drive, and sit in traffic, which I'm convinced is linked to the muffler heating up the floor..

Stihl029 said:

umm at least its not your hootus. I did my jeep and waited a full day in the summer, I think it was a scorching 60 that day. one thing to be said about wet and cold don't wear cotton. Up here in Alaska we have a saying... cotton kills. Have fun with the snow we've been wondering when winters comming hear in kodiak.

Click to expand...

Is this your thread from 2000?

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=18595

if you check out that thread, its important to watch this:
http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/4194411/

mine lasted almost 2 weeks! hang in there - blast heat and keep windpws down! normal with herc even though it does not seem so

box fan in the window might help some

Its still pretty dang strong.. hoping next week it will be better.

sounds like the residual odor may be par for the course with herculiner considering how long ago you applied it, but i was thinking - are any of your exhaust components mounted close enough to the floor so as to radiate enough heat to soften the liner up again? just a thought....

yes there are.. but the jeep sat in the garage Thursday- 10 mins ago, and it was still pretty strong inside. It does seem to be slowly fadding. I think the exhuast might make it worse when driving.. but like I said.. even sitting all weekend, the odor is sitll there.

fabreeze! :dunno:

haha I don't really care about the "smell" I think there are still some fumes. I've read that the "new car smell" is actually hazardous fumes being emitted from the new interior materials reacting with the sun, and oxygen..