A/C bad smell

I have a bad smell that comes out of my a/c vents when I turn it on. It last about 10 mins. then seems to go away. Smells like mildew and crap. Any thoughts out there?

 

From past vehicles I would say you're dealing with mildew growing from moisture build up in the system. One way to avoid this is to run the fan on high for a couple of minutes without the AC on before you shut your vehicle off. I assume this is to allow the moisture some time to get out of the system. My previous car was a MazdaSpeed3 and there was actually a TSB for smells coming from the vent and this was the solution.

 

Just had this issue with my FJ. Sucks. It caused by condensation in your AC system which forms when you run the AC then turn the car off and don't let it air out. This is especially true if you use the recirculate button. You should turn the AC off a few minutes before arriving at your destination, and maybe even run the fan alone to let it clear out.

I fixed mine with a whole can of Lysol. Sprayed it into my ac air intake (near
Front windshield/wipers). I sprayed a can while running the AC, and some more while just running the air. Worked and it's finally clear. Took a good month for it to go away after treatment.

 

Spray Lysol into the intake air vents at the base of the windshield. Problem solved. I love it when us old farts know the answer!

 

Thanks guys. I thought that could be my issue. I drive in the heat then my truck is parked in a very cool garage. (It is a drive under) I will try to run the fan more with air off.

 

I will try Lysol too

 

...my dad parks in a drive out basement that is cool/moist. He hasn't found a fix and I don't know if just drying out the AC will help. The smell seems to invade both of his vehicles from the cool/moist environment in the basement. Might help to put some something like DampRid in the garage.

 

You may want to change your cabin filter located behind the glove box.

 

I changed my cabin filter. It looked new. Damp rid may be an idea. Sounds like I have ZX5go issues. My other truck does not seem affected though. BTW Italian, your speaker setup is PIMP

 

Thanks man!

 

Is it still thread jacking if the OP starts it?

That is one cool speaker setup! Sign me up.

 

You'll want to remove the cabin filter BEFORE spraying the Lysol in the intake duct - or the filter will trap most of it. Spray the filter itself when you have it out too, but you need the Lysol to make it through the whole duct system.

I haven't had this problem in my truck yet, but we have with my wife's '07 Camry (and the Lysol trick worked on it). Just about every time I get in it, she has left the temp dial on full cool - which automatically switches the system into recirculate mode (true on my truck too). If you spin the temp dial to full cool and then back it off one click, it'll switch to fresh air mode. All you have to do is look at the recirc switch as you do this. Light on = recirc mode... light off = outside (fresh) air. I think you can override either of these behaviors by pushing the recirc button manually after setting the temp dial where you want it - but that's what happens automatically.

Anyway... when I run the A/C in my truck, I always push the A/C button to turn the compressor off and just let the fan run wide open in fresh air mode when I'm a couple of minutes away from my destination, so that any condensation inside the ducts will hopefully dry out by the time I reach my destination and shut everything down. So far, so good.

 

I had a 2007 Tacoma for 3 weeks and it have the same problem. At this moment I thougth was a bad air cabin filter and thought to change it but then I bought a brand new 2011 and it have the same problem. I saw in the posting how to solve it (thanks!) but my question is why that smell don't happen ever before in my Odyssey or happen in my wife CRV? Somebody have the same problem in other car?

 

Seems to be a common problem for our tacomas.

 

If it smells like CRAP, then you have a completely different issue...