[GTOJon]

I'm just curious if anyone has had a problem with a strange smell coming from the vents. I can best describe the smell as wet cat litter. The smell occurs only when the vents are drawing the air from outside. If I use the control for recirculation of the air then the smell is not noticeable.

My problems are mounting up and I really don't want the dealer keeping my car...but I may just get everything done at once. It sucks when you can't trust a service department.

Thanks.

 

[BV GTO]

Mildew on the condenser. You can have it professionally cleaned or you can try spraying Lysol or other disinfectant into the cockpit intake vents while placing the fan on high. A tip from another forum was to turn off the a/c and putting the fan on high before you shut down the car. It lets the condensor dry off a bit. It's not always convenient to do, though.

I did the Lysol trick on my company Ranger p/u and it really cut down on the musty smell.

 

[b_a_betterperson]

* If you don't see condensation dripping under the car, check the drain tube.

* If you do see condensation under the car, turn the heater on full blast for a few minutes (I'm not kidding).

As pointed out, there's a smelly bacteria responsible for the stink -- but a few minutes of heat will kill it and eliminate the problem.

Remember one guy called a radio talk show about the problem -- and the idiot host told him he had a dead mouse somewhere in his a/c system. Imagine the wild goose chase that poor guy went on...

FYI: Just posted this on another thread.

 

[lkynmbr3]

:agree Also if you run your A/C on recirculate all of the time, that'll cause the mildew to grow a lot faster. You're only supposed to run recirculate for a little while to get the hot air out faster then you have to put it back in regular A/C. All it is usually is, is all of the moisture build up and then just shutting the car down. It'll build up like moldy bread if you don't use it properly.

 

[VQ35DE]

The key to this is to cut the A/C compressor OFF and let the fan run untill engine shutdown.

 

[GTOJon]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I will give them a shot and let you know how it turns out.