Ok... I'm sure this has happened to someone before, but I couldn't find anything in the search.

My air coming out of my A/C flat out stinks!

It's only for the first 5 minutes or so when it's on, but it wreeks! It only happens when I turn my A/C off and then turn it on. I normally just leave it on all the time on low and point it upwards, but sometime my wife or daughter turn it off, then want it back on. Then it stinks and then they want to turn it off. The smell is strong like a bad mold smell. Anyone have any clues as to what it is???

 

Roger that! I get the same thing in mine. Not sure what the hell it is, almost seems like stale air from the compressor even though it had just been running the day before.

 

It can be mildew on the evaporator and/or in the vents. They make a few chemicals that can be shot in there.
I have heard that to get rid of that mildew smell in the summer months, just crank the heat and it supposedly burns the algae out of the vents. I am not sure if this works or not though. Its also good to run the a/c in the off season once in a while just to keep everything working properly, just use the slide control to use hot air.

 

See the page below for some ideas:

http://www.4crawler.com/Diesel/Cheap...ml#ACDrainTube

 

Roger... you're just a wealth of knowledge. You seem to chime in with details and a write up on every problem that everyone has. You're the bomb! Oh to hang with you for just 1-day to pick your brain.



Thanks for the suggestions... I will have to give it a try! Thanks.

 

Now, if I only knew where the hose was on the 4Runner as opposed to a VW

 

Just poke around under the dash and see if you can find it. That is how I found the one on my VW. I know the rubber tube comes up along the firewall on the passenger side. My A/C has been dead for so long and I never used it much while it did work that I never had a problem with the drain.

 

I also have had that stank smell in my Runner(3rd gen). There is a aluminum J-tube (it should be draining toward the ground) that comes out of the passenger side into the engine compartment (about 3-4 in from the wheel well and about a foot, maybe foot and a half below the hood). Just pull on that J-tube and it should pop out and may drain water that has built up from the A/C. This relieved the majority of the stank but I believe I need to take out the fan behind the glove compartment and clean that to get it all. there is an article on cleaning the fan here: http://www.4runners.org/articles/fan/

 

I've read that article before... Bob did a good write up on that one. I haven't cleaned that yet, but I will do that along with blowing out the airline hose. Does anyone know where the hose starts so I can blow from there to the OUTSIDE of the car. I don't want the funk on my flooring, if you know what I mean.

 

erik,

yes, its mold inside the a/c condensor filter (hopefully thats the right word). what happens is that, if you have it on recirc when you turn it off, the vent remains closed. over time, this allows mold to form and accumulate. my wife's camry had the same rancid, urine-like smell in it. we'd have to run the AC on outside air mode w/ the windows down for a few minutes (not more than 2) and then we'd close up the windows and hit the recirc button.

no amount of spraying febreeze, lysol, etc will kill that smell. ive tried down the vent, through the outside plastic cowling (intake vent), etc.

there is a product/service that you can get done at the dealership and AC shops. basically, its a service where they drill a hole in the plastic AC shroud and then spray a germ/mold killing foam in there. after that, you should try to remember to open the vent on the AC (outside mode) everytime you turn your AC off to prevent the possiblility of mold accumulation

bob

 

that won't do anything. the writeup only deals with cleaning the fan of any organic obstruction (leaves, etc). one lady sent me a pic...oh my goodness! a rat had built a friggin' nest in her fan!

bob

 

So what you're trying to say is that I should save my time blwoing out lines and cleaning fans?

So how much did Toyota charge you to clean the A/C ducts in your wife's Camry? Did it work ok or did it still wreek?

 

Not just switching to outside air, but also turn off the A/C and leave the fan running for the last few minutes of your drive. This will warm up the condenser coils so that moist air will not condense on them after you shut off the engine. This is especially true in humid climates, but I even found it helped a lot in my VW driven in northern CA. And the Lysol spray treatment worked wonders for me once I cleaned out the drain tray/hose and followed the early shut-down regimen.

 

you can also check out your local parts store i know here in hawaii at car quest (not sure if they have that up in the mainland) but they do sell that foam spray that someone talked about more earlier in this post. it will say you the trouble of going to the STEALERship. just have to be carefull when drilling into that plastic housing. and i believe after you spray that foam you have to put your heater on full blast for a while. then hopefully everything will be all good from there. but check out your local parts store first. it has instructions and all in the package. if you dont have it upthere i can arange something with you that i can ship one kit out from here. good luck!

 

I did some research on the internet because now I know what the problem is... and check this out. The solution (pun intended) in quite simple. H2O2... Hydrogen Peroxide is used to kill mold (among MANY other things). However, you have to use a stronger solution that what is sold OTC. The OTC version is 3% concentration and the recommended concentration for mold removal is between 6-10%.

So, for the people with stinky A/C's (like me) look around and see if you can't find some commercial grade (apparently they sell it in 35% concentration) and then dilute it to 6-10%. Spray it in your vents and it should kill the mold. I don't know about blowing it into your cab though... either the HP or the foam. I think that if you maybe blow it into your car and put a home air filter over the vents or something, maybe it'd save you from dead mold flying in your face! Who know... they didn't talk about that one!

 

i have never blown the lines out, so i cant comment. but if roger says give it a go, its worth trying

cleaning the fan: it has nothing to do w/ the mold smell

i did not have the service done on my wife's camry. we just went thru the routine i described above. we just sold the camry today

bob

 

Mine did the same thing at the begining of the A/C this year. I had to pull the that whole side of the lower dash out to clean up all the parts.....the intake side on the A/C coils was almost completly clogged with drit and grime. I use an 40 PSI air hose and 1 can of brake parts cleaner and some tilex mold and mildew remover. Also cleaned that hamster wheel fan while I was at it......The change was instant.....I can now run the fan on 3 and get more air than before when I had it on 4, the air is much colder. The shop that I take it to was surprised by the changes....thye had looked at it once and thought the compressor was getting ready to fail......took me a day to do it all but well worth the time.......

 

good to know

 

did you have to pull the evap out of the car? or did you do it on the car?

 

This did the trick with my Corolla. The wife always kept it on Rec., low fan and the coldest setting. It stuck. I follow the above process and I have never had to take anything apart. It worked for me in my case.