Interior Odor

So suddenly, and without the slightest warning, I have an odor in my Tacoma.

I went out to my truck, parked in my garage, and smelled a garbage odor and assumed it was the trash can near my truck. A few minutes later, a friend came over and noticed the smell and said it was coming from my truck (windows down).

Sure enough, when I open my doors to my truck I could smell it awfully bad. I'm not 100% sure if its a mold smell or a dead animal (it just smells awful). It seams to be coming from the vents; however, I'm not 100% sure but smelled every inch of the interior (every parts of the seats, every square inch of the carpets, etc) and it seems to be coming from the A/C vents. We tore the truck apart thinking we were looking for rotten food left in the vehicle or something. We found nothing. We both smelled the entire vehicle and narrowed the smell to the vents (or so we think).

When I start the vehicle you really smell it and it doesn't go away no matter what A/C or heater selection you make. Did I mention the smell is awful? lol The last two days I drove with the windows down.

I've checked for rodents in the cabin filter area and fan. Nothing. I've obviously read about the evaporator getting nasty but its just over a year old and I can smell it regardless if the truck/AC is running or off. Most threads indicate the odor is upon startup and can go away. Also, the drain appears to be working fine (water under the truck).

When I tell you I've smelled every square inch of the truck, I have! The bed, engine compartment, undercarriage, seats, headliner, carpet, high and low. It appears to be coming from the vents and it never stops smelling.

Anyone? I'm calling the dealer tomorrow but thought I'd ask.

Garage kept
20K miles
Cabin filter is clean (like new, not sure if dealer changed it)
Was in for the 20k service a few weeks ago for oil and tire roatation
Just started a few days ago with no warning!

 

I was reading that some guy found dead mice everywhere inside the glove box, behind dash, etc.

 

Remove your cabin air filter and check for dead mice and nest.

Have you been using A/C a lot with re-circ kept on? If so, try turning re-circ off.

 

I had the same issue, believe it was from stall water due to not turning my ac off. I ended up pulling the cowl off and running the truck and spraying Lysol into the filter and have not had an odor return since.

 

Driving without shoes?

 

If the smell is that strong...you likely have a carcass somewhere.

 

Don’t eat pinto beans before getting into your truck.

 

I was just gonna say...Seinfeld couldnt even sell a car that stank.

 

If you run the truck with the A/C on prior to parking it...all the moisture/condensation just sits there causing a mold smell. Get in the habit of shutting the A/C off and running the air to get rid of that moisture and condensation inside.

 

I though the same thing!!!

 

So dealer service says dead animal "somewhere" and for a starting price of $500 they will start to look for it. They checked the easy places like cabin filter area inside glovebox and under the dash without luck. So, anyone have any suggestions besides a $500 down?

 

Besides looking for it yourself your only other option is taking it to an independent repair facility.

 

Trade it in...

 

You need to get under it...under the front. Check up in the wheel wells, in the seams, etc. You probably ran over some unlucky critter and it got flung up and stuck somewhere. This stank gets pulled into your vents and the result is your Seinfeld face.

 

Might not be a bad idea to run the air on recirc. and see if the smell stays or goes away. Might help you narrow down if the critter is interior or exterior.

 

No odor at all in the engine compartment or under wheel wells at all. Tried running head/AC with recerc on and off with no help. I'm 100% sure its a dead animal inside the dash or in A/C vents. Tonight I will try to remove the cowling. I had hoped I'd find something when I opened by cabin filter area but no such help. Owell ... bye bye $500. Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

 

without tearing the dash apart, or disassemble neatly , you could mask the odor.maybe with a cleaner, sanitizer, or combination.. just thoughts. also contact a pest control service to see what they think..

 

Till the odor goes away, can you drive like a dog with the head off the window?

 

Longer than you'd think, we had one die in the bottom section of a fridge and we couldn't isolate the smell since the fridge fan would blow the smell all over the house. We figured we'd wait it out and after two weeks we gave up and did a top to bottom sweep, then someone got a facefull of it when the fridge fan kicked on and we knew exactly where it was coming from.