A BIG bottle of wine shattered in my trunk (03 530) up close to the back seat area. I don't know where all the wine went, and it smells like a brewery inside the car. It has been two weeks, I thought it would go away. Where would the wine go, and how do I find it? I checked under the spare and there is nothing there. Any ideas?? :(

Are/were the carpets wet? If so pull them and steam clean/shampoo
Otherwise it could have ended up down by the fender wells.

I will pull them and clean them, but I don't think that is what is causing the smell. If the wine is trapped in the wheel wells, how do I get to it and clean it out? Thanks for the help!!

You'll have to pull the sidepanels
I'm not overly familiar with the car, but from the pic they look easy to remove.
http://www.midwestroads.com/scottkuznicki/auto/e39/e39-trunk.jpg


Worse comes to worse remove everything you can, you should be able to find where it's pooling with all the panels out.

baking soda always works

Did you check the battery compartment? And the compartment on the other side where the CD changer sits?

Probably what you smell was absorbed in the trunk liner material.

Thanks very much for your suggestions. I found the wine today. It went down under the seats and saturated the bottom (foam) of the bench seat in the back and saturated the black foam thing that is between the gas tank and the seating area in back. Not good! I am trying to dry them out as much as I can. Is there anything else you can think of that I should do short of replacing all of it? :( :( :(

You might try using club soda. I've used it before to remove red wine after it was spilled on felt cloth and it did not have an odor afterwards.

If you are trying to get rid of the smell you can do some of the same things that can be done with puke. Baking soda works. As does white wine vinegar in a bowl that you leave in the car overnight near where it seems to have spilled the most. It some how pulls the smell out...and it worked for puke. Id imagine wine smells a little better then puke. Haha. But as said steam cleaning is definately very effective too.

I had to take out all the trunk carpet including the sides. Then I used a generic febreeze that removes all odors like piss, shit, vomit, wine, and vinegar. Had to dillute it with water and then wiped the whole trunk down with the wheel removed. Had to wipe down the wheel too. That did the trick.

I had to take out all the trunk carpet including the sides. Then I used a generic febreeze that removes all odors like piss, shit, vomit, wine, and vinegar.

Dude, who or what has been living in you trunk. ;)

You'll have to pull the sidepanels
I'm not overly familiar with the car, but from the pic they look easy to remove.
http://www.midwestroads.com/scottkuznicki/auto/e39/e39-trunk.jpg


Worse comes to worse remove everything you can, you should be able to find where it's pooling with all the panels out.

Hey... this picture looks like as if yuo're about to go hide or burry a dead body somewhere! haha
It's not very common to see a shovel in an 03 5er. :lol :lol :nono :nono

A BIG bottle of wine shattered in my trunk (03 530) up close to the back seat area. I don't know where all the wine went, and it smells like a brewery inside the car. It has been two weeks, I thought it would go away. Where would the wine go, and how do I find it? I checked under the spare and there is nothing there. Any ideas?? :(

Since you already found it... my suggestion may be worthless... but for future reference, if you can't find it just pour some more wine into the trunk and then follow where it goes.

:D :D :D :D