AC smells like stale water

I call mine the cow manure smell.

 

I am in FL too, happens in all of my cars, just change out the AC filter.

 

This may work in your situation but does not work in everybody's. Does not work for me. I even went as far to buy a K&N cabin filter I can clean every 6 months.

 

Where is the fresh air intake on the 2016-2019 Tacoma? There are about 4 vents between the hood and windshield so I suspect those are the intakes. I got the AC evap cleaning kit mentioned above and will be ding that this morning.

 

The main one is under the hood directly above your glove box. Don't forget to take your cabin filter out if you spray anything in the air intake.

Good thing about living in a cold climate I don't have no issues till next spring with the odor.

 

Thank you LarsonFan. That is what I would have expected. I will certainly remove the cabin air filter.
Strange that this AC Smell is happening on a truck with under 2K miles on it. :-(

 

Ozium is a hell of allot better than Lysol if you have never tried it.

 

I had a similar thing in my truck a couple weeks after doing the water crossing from the mojave trail, I followed this and haven't had the smell since. I used just regular lysol with crisp linen scent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrVc_FXrbHY

 

I have not seen a can of Lysol on the shelves at our local Walmart in 4 months at least. Was tickled I found a can of Ozium air sanitizer back in automotive dept.

 

The way to kill mold and bacteria is by using an ozone generator. It will also disinfect the interior of your vehicle.

Put the ozone generator inside your vehicle and let the generator run for an hour. Air out the interior for 15 minutes. Start your vehicle, air conditioner on, air on recirculate and fan on low. Turn on the ozone generator again, and let it run for about half an hour. The interior should be thoroughly disinfected. Let your interior air out for a couple hours. Don't breathe the vapors ..........

Some rental places have ozone generators. A California law prohibits importing ozone machines for private use into the State.

$80 Enerzen Ozone Generator 40000mg Industrial O3 Air Purifier Deodorizer (40000mg - Black)

https://www.amazon.com/Enerzen-Commercial-Industrial-Deodorizer-Sterilizer/dp/B00JAP7388/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b77YKfIfAQk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKO55DsQ4Us

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwWHz30nMCI

 

I must have the china virus, i can't smell anything when my ac is on...if anything it smells like a new truck.

 

Google "Dirty Sock Syndrome".

This has been plaguing the HVAC industry for awhile now. Various methods will resolve it, but drying the coil before letting the truck sit is what you are trying to achieve. Clean, disinfect, then adjust your behavior.

I have replaced coils in homes under warranty for this issue, but usually cleaning it is good enough.