[quote name='CBlakeNS']My girlfriend's interior of her car is pretty soiled (carpets and seats). Anyways, I want to tackle this over the weekend but only have access to pretty basic supplies (auto part stores, etc). What is the best way to tackle this to get the majority out without using a hot water extractor. I am going to try to use a hot water extractor, I know she has one but it is for cleaning the carpets in her house so I don't know if it has an attachment I can use in smaller areas.
If it's got a furniture attachment, USE IT!.
First, if you have an aircompressor, that helps, so you remove all the junk from the car, you vac, then use air to blow out the imbedded stuff and vac again.
Spray any good all purpose cleaner on the carpet, a little extra on the spots, let it dwell/set, for 5 minutes or longer.
Then, with a good "stiff bristle" brush, agitate, rewetting with the selected all purpose as needed, agitation of the carpet breaks the soil loose.
Then, you can use the extractor, "hot water only" in it, no cleaners!
Mist the hot water on to an area of 1 to 2 feet and extract. Use a clean white towel and rub the area to see if much soil, etc is still coming up, if so, re-extract.
Personally, at that that point, once you are satisfied, another wipe with the towel and let it dry.
There are other finer points that could be added, but under the circumstances you mentioned, this should do just fine.
One other thing, if you see what you know is "grease", wet it first with some naptha (lighter fluid) and agitate before doing anything else, wipe with a towel to remove as much of the grease deposit as you can at that point. The all purpose and the hot water extractor should remove any left behind residue.
Grumpy