Air Conditioner Smells!

The A/C on my 2010 Tacoma smells badly this spring. I assume moisture has remained trapped somewhere and is causing the mouldy smell. Anyone know how to get rid of the smell and how to avoid it in future?

Thanks

 

ozone?

 

Take it back to the dealer or at least ask them why

 

Where do you park your truck, outside? I know a guy that had dead mice somewhere under his dash and it made his A/C stink.

 

I would like to know also. Wife Mazda STINKS

 

When you turn off your vehicle, open the vents to the outside air and any condensation that forms will evaporate out instead of staying in the ducts. That will cause a moldy smell. Also, change your cabin filter. Then, you can buy aerosol "bombs" and get rid of the smell in your car. Try an auto part store.

 

Try changing the cabin filter; this is usually where the small comes from. Some people change theirs once a year to avoid the smell and maximize air flow. Some people never change it and when they run the AC/Heat it smalls like dirty socks.

If it still smells after you change the filter, try taking a shower or mask the stank by loading up on cheap cologne. I recommend Drakkar.

Best of luck to you TW member and happy trails.

 

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/106490-diy-get-rid-c-stink.html

I've also learned that since then, don't leave the air vent open when you're going to park your truck, keep it on recirculating.

Oh and this only seems to work for like a week or so. After that it comes back, but not as badly.

If anyone has a more permanent solution, please share! I've also considered using one of these to clean the inside but just haven't gotten around to doing it yet:


I got the idea from here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNMAmhGrxR8&feature=sh_e_se&list=SL

 

The book says make sure recirculate vent is open when you park.

Extra step is make sure you turn off ac a few miles before you park to give it time to dry out.

I don't use the recirulate vent unless some stink is getting in. One oddity to the 2011 ac is that it goes to recirculate when you put ac on.

 

Fram cabin filter at walmart has baking soda and what looks like charcoal. The haines book shows some air freshener being sprayed on the cf as well. Maybe that fabreeze will work.

 

Not really, only when you turn it all the way to cold. Leave it turned up just a notch and it won't do that. So if you mess up and turn it all the way to cold, you have to turn it back and un-puch the re-circ button.

IMO this is absolutely retarded that Toyota would do something like this.

 

Also if your truck smells like mildew, there is something wrong. The dealer should fix it. There's no reason a 1 year old truck should be doing that, I don't care how often you leave it on re-circ.

 

Is that a Miata? They are known for that, I had water leaking on the floor on mine and it stunk. Was an easy fix... got rid of it.
Actually there is a drain hose that got clogged regularly in the cow that you have to un-clog to fix that.

 

im having the same problem, it smells like something died in my ac. my truck doesnt have a cabin filter but it has a slot for one. im gona buy one and hope it works, if not i need some help on how to look into the ac. the smell comes and goes so i dont know what it is.

 

I have a 2011 and it STINKS like glue or something.
Its really bad if I have the AC off, and the recirculation. on, I have no idea what it is but it drives me nuts.
Maybe its an adhesive in the system somewhere?

 

Haha why on earth would you have it on recirc without the ac on unless you are boxing in some gas... that just fogs up the window. Ok maybe if you are going thru a tunnel and you don't want to breath in exhaust. Even so, my AC is on 90% of the time even the winter. Just push the button. It removes moisture from the vents and keeps it from stinking.

 

well most the time I dont, but lets say I have the recirc and AV on, I will turn off the AC for a bit once its cold enough, and just let it recirc the cabs cold air, then if it gets warm again I will turn the ac back on.
I try to keep it off as much as possible, save gas. :/

 

I have the same problem.. It goes away after a few seconds on high. Not sure how to fix the problem. I have a 2010.

 

x2 on the Fram Febreeze cabin air filter.

 

I have the same issue. Sometimes when I first start the trunk there is a strange chemical smell from the AC, it goes away after a minute or so. I'm not sure if this only happens when the re-circulation is left on, I will try turning off the re-circulation before I stop.