simple question,
put vent on, no smell. Put heater on, no smell. Put A/C on with recylcer realy bad mildew (sp?) smell. what is it? kinda smells like a realy old car after its been sitting for awhile. its been about 4-5 months since i used the a/c so i have no clue when it started. any idea why it smells? how to get rid of it? and how to prevent it from happing agian?




-Shawn

 

i'm not sure what exactly is stinking your car up, but when I bought my car, the previous owner was a really bad smoker and everytime I turned the ac on it smelled horrid. I used this stuff called ozium which works really well (i think it has ozone in it so it kills bacteria and stuff). Just spray it in the vents and it should give your car a spring fresh scent

 

well i do smoke in my car but i always put both windows down (r the top) when i do, and its more like a mildew smell, and its only with the a/c on so i have no clue what is making it reek, i also tried numrous air fresherners (sp?) which only seem to work for a breef period of time then the smell fades away, and the mildew smell returns


-Shawn

 

maybe you have a dead animal that crawled in your vents

 

Try turning the AC off before you stop the car, like a block away. That should give any built up moisture time to evaporate and drain.

 

where is the drain hole for the a/c? i am now thinking it is clogged


-Shawn

 

That's odd, 'cause a/c comes through the same duct work as vented air. On my wife's car, with the fan running, I sprayed Lysol into the air intake. Did it a couple of times...No problems. They do make something specifically for auto a/c systems, but sorry, don't know the name.
FYI-When hot humid, if you see condensation on ground, drain is open.

 

well i thats it i don't see any on the ground, and sometimes when i turn the a/c off then back on a couple of min. later mist come out the vents.


-Shawn (post #700)

 

Most likely you have a nasty buildup (moisture in the system) in the Receiver/Dryer unit on the car. You should take the car to a shop that can properly evacuate the system and then purge all the moisture out of it. Then of course recharge the system. Too bad you're not here, we could do it for free (college...w/all the tools and machines ).

 

That makes no sense. The A/C system is closed, and any moisture in the receiver/dryer unit (or compressor, or evaporator, or orifice tube, etc.) would never reach the atmosphere.

Try sprays like "smoke away" and the like. Put A/C on full, then spray into the air intake near the heater core. Empty the whole damn can. Worked for me.

 

Hey, the smell is coming from your condensor, which is located near your blower fan most likely, its prolly got some build up or mold growing on it, remove your blower fan and check it out

 

My brother had an old jetta that would smell like car pee whenever we started the a/c then frost would shoot out the vent. We sprayed lysol in it and it seemed to get rid of the problem.