when i turn on the blower for the heater/ac...it smells like ***. is there something i can do to make it not smell? is there some sort of filter i can change? also is something wrong with my blower motor. sometimes when i turn on the fan, i can hear it scraping against something.

 

check the evap case drain tube under the car. if it is plugged up water will rot in there

 

Where exactly is that?

 

yah, where is that?

 

Two things you need to do.

First off, pull the blower fan out and clean it out. If you remove the passenger kick panel and unbolt the ECU, you can get to the blower fan. Look above the ECU, and you'll see the round bottom of the fan - it's held in with 3 screws. 10mm socket should remove the screws, then unplug the electrical connector and it's out. Dump all the leaves/wrappers/crap out of the fan and reinstall. Also look up in the fan's housing to make sure it's clean in there.

Next, get some Lysol, preferably the anti-mildew formula or whatever that has a good smell. It HAS to be Lysol with the anti-mildew stuff - plain air freshener won't cut it. Turn the fan on full blast with the recirc turned off, and spray the Lysol at the outside air intake for the fan - it's at the base of the windshield on the passenger side. The fan will suck the Lysol through the system, and it will kill the mildew and stink.

Dale

 

i noticed today that it only smells really bad when i turn the **** to the heater side. if its just the fans blowing in outside air, it'll be fine. will the lysol trick fix the heater smell?

 

Maybe you have a dead critter in there and not just mold and leaves. Mice and such have been known to make a home in the heater ducts.

My Mazda dealer had some industrial strength spray that was designed to neutralize any mold or mildew in the AC/heater core. Stronger than any Lysol. The car had to sit for several hours to let it work, but it really worked.

 

Thread bump from '05.
My wife complains everytime the A/C is on that it "smells like ***". Previous owner had the car stored in a shed for quite some time, so I'm guessing crap has been "stored" in it for awhile.

Has anyone found where this is?

Will try this too. Thanks!

 

When I did this tonight I could only find fan air intake on the drivers side.

 

Most anywhere along the outside air intake will work. You can also turn recirc on and spray the Lysol up under the dash, maybe remove the glove box so you can see the AC air intake and let it suck in there.

Dale

 

I was thinking of removing the plastic cover & the gasket? on the passenger side to see what's really going on. The plastic cover is more of a gray color now so I was thinking of repainting it. However my luck lately with "preventative maintenance" has started to sting. With the luck I've had lately, the plastic will break somewhere along the way.

 

http://www.autogeek.net/1z-einszett-...freshener.html


Try that. I only get this smell with old cars that have mildew and stuff building up in there after years of dust, dirt and moisture.

 

I might give that a try if the Lysol stuff doesn't work. The previous owner didn't drive the car much (10k miles in 5 years), so it did a bit of sitting. When I pulled the fan out there were only a few leaves, so I'm guessing it's just crap built up in the ducts.

 

Bit the bullet last night and took this apart. I mangled a couple of the screw covers but not too bad. It's amazing how a little bit of black paint can make things look better. After I got the cover off, there was a ton of crap underneath it and in the ducting. Got all of that cleaned out (2 vacuum canisters worth), turned on the car/ac and started spraying in the Lysol. I could smell the orange smell inside so I knew it was sucking it in. I'll probably do some follow-up treatments just to make sure everything inside is killed. On my car, there is 2 intake ducts on the driver side (1 square shaped, and 1 big rectangle shaped), and 1 on the passenger side (same size as the squarish one on the driver side). The one on the passenger side had a cap on it, so not sure what that is for or if needed. I threw away the vinyl stuff that was on the passenger side.