My 2013 Tacoma smells like feet when the A/C is on...help?

2013 Tacoma

Mileage: 1,870

Purchased: December 21st, 2012

Parked: I park this on my driveway overnight

Location: south Texas

Every time I turn on my A/C, it begins to smells like feet. It goes away after a minute or sometimes it lasts longer. I just began noticing this a week ago. It is getting frustrating, my 2008 Mazda 3 never had this issue, it was parked in the same driveway . What can be the problem? Any advice or tips for getting rid of the smell?

 

Ask the dealer to check the A/C drain hose to make sure it's not twisted. If it is, water can go stagnant in the unit and make it smell like.........(place description here)

 

This is usually caused by mold inside the evaporator coil in the car due to dampness. The cheapest way to avoid this is when you go to turn off the truck for the night is to turn the heat on full for a minute or two before shutting it off. This will kill the mold.

Also make sure the drain is not plugged.

 

Wow we posted at the same time! 10:45PM

 

Where is the drain hose located? Sorry, I am not that mechanically inclined.

 

Is having to blow heat before shutting off a Tacoma normality? I have never had to do that with my previous cars.

 

It will be on the firewall at the passenger side. If you look under the truck, it will be sticking out about 4 inches with a slight bend down.

You could pull the pass side carpet back to see it.

 

I've never done that. Mine doesn't smell. But then again, It's currently -40 where I live...

Actually, it's probably more like 15 - 20... just feels like -40

 

I haven't had to do it either and mine doesn't stink. That being said, I know that my drain hose is clogged and the heat exchanger box isn't full of rotten condensate...

It is a common issue with all make and model vehicles with AC.

Running the heat wide open is a common way to kill the mold ( if there is mold ).

The Toyota dealer also has a a cleaner that they will back fill the heat exchanger box with that is supposed to clean and kill the mold.

Ditto on the location of the drain hose.

 

wow! i didnt know there was an actual explanation for the smell other than someone who got in my truck had stinky feet....

 

You learn something new every day.

 

how does the cabin filter look?

 

Take it to the dealer and have them fix it. You paid for the Warranty, use it. Plus It's a cya thing, it might be something more serious now or develope into something more serious. feedback is a good thing, might be an ongoing problem that Toyota can address to improve quality.

 

I will def be contacting the Toyota dealership. Has there been other reports of this? I shall try the heating solution aswell, to see if that helps.

 

I'm having the same problem with my 13 Tacoma it only has 3200 miles purchased it in Sept. 2012 and with my wife's 4RUNNER Limited. I don't know if its because of this crazy Texas weather heater one day and a/c the next. But
I'm taking both of them in to the dealership to be checked out.

 

I called and I will be dropping off the truck tomorrow at the dealership. They will be dropping me off at work, instead of giving a rental car. Hmmm...

 

Yeah, feet and toxic mold is the aroma I'm frequently greeted by. Sucks too because my humidity here is about as low as it can go - I can't imagine how bad it must be in swampy states. Must be some serious moisture trapped or the area must be pretty air tight / void of air flow when off and sitting for my 15% relative humidity to not just zap it up.

 

the drain hose is behind the upperleft pass side footwell carpet.

sometimes it can get crushed

-----------
I solved this problem on my yaris, and it was a very odd problem
---
a) going around corners, pass carpet got wet. clear sign water is building up

b) checked everything, no clogs...but water would only drain if I squeezed the hose
manually. there were no clogs anywhere

c) it would not drain on it's own...a few drops would come out then
refuse to drain. WTF ??? some type of bubble/surface tension problem ?

---
FIX (this surprised me but hey it worked)

a) i got a smaller stiffer clear plastic tube off a reel at auto-partz-hauz

b) pulled off the black rubber hose in the footwell from the condenser drain,
and fed my insert tube down inside it, like a liner, into the engine bay until it stuck out
past the end of the black tube by 1 inch.

c) effectively i have lessened the inside diameter of the large black rubber
hose to the same size as the nipple coming off the condenser tank

d) inside the footwell, I cut the tube off flush with the black hose, and then connected the
black hose back where it goes. now I have basically the original tube but
a smaller inside diameter tube inside it...and that just touches the condensor drain
nipple it doesn't attach to it...the black original tube is what goes over the nipple
and the inner tube is just held right up against it

e) now for some reason it drains fine all the time. very odd since there
was no clog. the black tube with the insert tube is now un-crushable where
the original black tube was easy to crush (if you stick your feet up there
for example) maybe that is what was doing it...carpet pressure

all I know is it works great now...and if my Taco ever had a drain problem
I'd do the same thing...stick a hunk of my homemade catheter in there and be done

 

happen to me with my 13' one time i only have 400 miles on it..