Smelly AC

So, I have had my truck for a little more than a year now, bought it in April last year. I checked the AC when I made the purchase and it worked great, but then I didn't use it much until summer time because it was still cool out, and I like the 4/60 AC anyway.

Fast forward to summer, and I noticed that after the truck sits in the sun and gets hot, if I turn on the AC it blows raunchy stinky air until after it has run for a while. It bugged me last summer a bit, but I didn't typically drive it during the day when its warm so it didn't bug me that much. This summer tho, life is a bit different, and I'm using the AC more.

I'm kind of at a loss as to what to do about it. But this smell has got to go!

Any ideas from the TacomaWorld? Anyone else experience this kind of thing?

 

Have you checked that the cabin air filter isn't full of mouse nest?

If that's good then you can try some evaporator cleaner.

It's often due to moisture and mold, I always turn my A/C off with recirculate on when I'm about home so it kind of dries out before I shut the truck off. Also clean my cabin filter every 6 months or so.

 

Check out the filter and blower motor area. Something might be rotting or you might have some moldy science experiment going on in there. I never had a bad smelling AC but usually spray Freebreeze on my cabin filters to make it smell fresher.

 

Yeah you need to pull the cabin air filter and replace it. Remove the entire blower motor and clean thoroughly. Shop-Vac everything you can reach getting deep in the filter area. Remove the wiper cowl and check for debris in the tray, as this is where the air inlet is.
Its probably a mouse nest or decaying detritus.
Cabin air filter available at most larger walmart

 

dirty or blocked AC Condensor Box Drain tube ? Look from under passenger side and long Pipe cleaner or wires to poke in and clean out, and shop vac to suck out debri?

 

Clean or replace cabin air filter. Blow out the squirrel cage. When arriving home, about 90 seconds before turn the ac off , put the vents on fresh air and the blower on high until all the cool air is out. Do this every time.

 

Get ac refresh kit... I'll get a link in a min.. worked awesome on mine. I found some on ebay. Mine was Subaru labeled, but it's all the same.. I just provided a quick link.. I'm sure you can find it cheaper. Also, people suggest to turn off ac a few minutes before you shut car off.. I can't remember the why, but it's around onnthe forums somewhere
https://autoparts.kingstoyota.com/p...5x8MJ5TNcsFCrZadR9D7VM_2xthAt-phoCnKYQAvD_BwE

 

Here is what worked for me:

1. Order FJC evaporator cleaner from Amazon. It should come with a long flexible tube that on the end sprays out in all directions.
2. Remove the passenger glovebox entirely from the truck.
3. Remove the cabin air filter
4. It helps if you have a borescope camera, but from this point you can snake the FJC flex tube into the cabin air filter opening and then down to the left which goes straight into the box where the evaporator is. (if this ends up being too hard to see/maneuver, you can also remove the blower motor assembly since it's only like 3-4 simple screws)
5. Spray the FJC into the evap coil box until it foams out, then let the bubbles die down and repeat until the can is empty.
6. Once all the fluid has drained out of the rubber evap drain tube, assemble everything.

After this if it smells clean, then you need to do a few things:

1. If using MAX A/C in the summer, switch it off before you park at home at the end of the day. You want recirc to NOT be on as this blocks fresh airflow into the HVAC system.
2. While on the way home if you have been using AC, turn off the AC about 30 seconds before you are finally home and put the blower fan on high. This will dry off the evap coil so that all the water drains out.
(you can combine steps 1 and 2 into the same step. when you are 30 secs from home, switch from MAX to non-MAX AC and then turn off AC and turn blower speed up to high)

Also - make a habit of changing the cabin air filter twice a year and ensure it has a good seal and there aren't huge gaps. The reason the system smells moldy is because you have condensation in there and then organic debris finds its way in and starts growing.

 

Thanks for the responses everyone! Ill definitely have to get some cleaner and a cabin filter. I guess I had never really thought about condensation, and then mold and stuff being the problem, but it makes a lot of sense.

 

Spray Lysol in the cowl with the inlet set to open, and have the air on full blast. Spray heavy. It will kill whatever mold you have or bacteria.

 

Won't work, or will work weak at best. Aerosolized disinfectant will dry out by the time it gets sucked into the cowl and won't actually dwell on the evap coil long enough to kill the mildew. Plus most people who do this think it works because the lysol scent just covers up the mildew for a while.

 

Agreed... that won't get into the box.. and my instructions say to spray up drainage hose. That seems easier than taking the glove compartment out and trying to shove it down there.. it was wicked easy to just put it up the drainage hose, plug it with supplied plug.. wait few and watch the gross drain out.. the kit come with vent refreshing too.. I had to spray that in the intake and close the windows and run ac for a whike.. If I remember correctly... I have only had to do this once in 20 years... not sure if it's worth shutting off ac and worrying about mold... but thats up to you of course