Musty A/C smell

[mclasser]

My A/C has developed a stinky smell recently. I've heard of people spraying Lysol disinfectant into the intake cowl as a remedy. Anybody who's done this care to share their experience? Is there a chance the Lysol can seep into the electronics behind the dashboard and cause problems?

 

[01rangerxl]

It shouldn't cause any problems...rain water gets in through the fresh air intake too.

I had to clean out the cowl area on my 1994 Ranger a couple months ago to get rid of a musty smell after rain. There were clumps of leaves and pine needles in the cowl intake area, so I opened some access panels and got all that out, then sprayed some Wynns product through the cowl while it was running. That did the trick for me, no more smell. I didn't pull the blower motor, but you may need to do that as well.

 

[Wolf359]

It's usually the drain tube that's clogged. You should fix that and the smell will go away. Lysol is just a temporary band aid.

 

[Bgallagher]

Originally Posted By: Wolf359
It's usually the drain tube that's clogged. You should fix that and the smell will go away. Lysol is just a temporary band aid.


+1

 

[mclasser]

Originally Posted By: Wolf359
It's usually the drain tube that's clogged. You should fix that and the smell will go away. Lysol is just a temporary band aid.

It isn't clogged because I see water dripping out of there whenever the A/C is running. It gets humid in the summer where I am so after 14 yrs, I think it's pretty natural for the A/C system to develop some mold and need disinfecting.

 

[JHZR2]

They make products specifically for this. There are multiple on Amazon that are available. I'd use the right process.

 

[mrsilv04]

Does this vehicle have a cabin air filter?

 

[Nick1994]

Turn it off of recirculate before you turn the car off, have it on outside air. That's what I do because mine was all humid and musty the next time I turned the car off. Now the air box is open and can dry.

 

[i_hate_autofraud]

If you have a lot of debris in the air intake and water too, you may have a wet cabin air filter that needs replacing as a possible source of the smell.

Another possibility is wet moldy dirt on the fins of the A/C evaporator core, put A/C on full with recirculate on, then find the air vent under the dash where it sucks air in during recirculate function and spray Lysol there, it'll go straight to the evaporator core and anything on it.

While my daily driver was 2 years old I found the vent under the dash and fashioned a filter to cover the opening out of a scotchBrite pad. I check it once in a while and the fluff it catches spares me an odour issue!

 

[DBMaster]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Turn it off of recirculate before you turn the car off, have it on outside air. That's what I do because mine was all humid and musty the next time I turned the car off. Now the air box is open and can dry.


X2. This is a practice that was actually recommended on the supplemental instruction sheet that came from the dealer with my 89 Accord. IT works!

 

[Gasbuggy]

replace the cabin filter.

 

[Trav]

Get this product, push the hose up the a/c drain and clean the evaporator.

Evaporator cleaner

When that is completed use this bomb with the a/c on and on recirculate, open the bomb and close the windows and door and leave it running for 15 min.

Odor eliminator

 

[Yup]

Originally Posted By: DBMaster
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Turn it off of recirculate before you turn the car off, have it on outside air. That's what I do because mine was all humid and musty the next time I turned the car off. Now the air box is open and can dry.


X2. This is a practice that was actually recommended on the supplemental instruction sheet that came from the dealer with my 89 Accord. IT works!


I've also read that for many cars leaving recirc on leads to smells. I've heard you should turn it off for at least a few minutes of driving to help the areas dry. Don't know how true this is but I rarely use recirc unless it's really hot and I'm not moving in traffic. I have never had an odor issue. What's the purpose of recirc? Cools faster I hear, but some people I know tell me i should always use recirc with the AC and I've never done that and don't have issues.

 

[DBMaster]

It cuts the amount of outside air mixing with inside air. I doubt it cuts it to nothing, but it reduces it to much less than on the "fresh" setting. It does tend to lower the temperature of the air coming out of the vents.

 

[supton]

I tried Lysol a couple of times, but it never fixed the problem--just masked it for a bit.

I try to turn off recirculate&ac a couple miles from home, that helps. It's a bit unpleasant but seems to cut down on the issue.

 

[another Todd]

Originally Posted By: mclasser
Originally Posted By: Wolf359
It's usually the drain tube that's clogged. You should fix that and the smell will go away. Lysol is just a temporary band aid.

It isn't clogged because I see water dripping out of there whenever the A/C is running. It gets humid in the summer where I am so after 14 yrs, I think it's pretty natural for the A/C system to develop some mold and need disinfecting.


A build up of gunk at the evaporator drain (around the drain opening) will cause a "reservoir" to build up inside the evaporator housing, causing an musty odor. As the "reservoir" level continues to rise it overflows the gunk at the drain like a low head dam and flows out the tube. Just because your AC drips water to the ground doesn't mean it is not restricted or partially plugged, and that restriction causes an odor.

 

[Yah-Tah-Hey]

They make an aerosol biocide for exactly this application. I have seen it at Bomgaars and the parts houses carry it.

 

[Trav]

The bomb works great for getting the smells out but doesn't do much for the mold on the evaporator.
Check my previous post for the product to clean the evaporator, you snake it up the drain tube which also cleans that out and sprays the core with mold killing foam that liquefies and drains away. Then use the bomb.

 

[DBMaster]

I always just switched back to fresh when parking for the workday or the night. No need to do it in advance. The switch opens up a blend door somewhere in the plenum and you get the benefit of allowing evaporation.

 

[Nick1994]

Originally Posted By: Yup
Originally Posted By: DBMaster
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Turn it off of recirculate before you turn the car off, have it on outside air. That's what I do because mine was all humid and musty the next time I turned the car off. Now the air box is open and can dry.


X2. This is a practice that was actually recommended on the supplemental instruction sheet that came from the dealer with my 89 Accord. IT works!


I've also read that for many cars leaving recirc on leads to smells. I've heard you should turn it off for at least a few minutes of driving to help the areas dry. Don't know how true this is but I rarely use recirc unless it's really hot and I'm not moving in traffic. I have never had an odor issue. What's the purpose of recirc? Cools faster I hear, but some people I know tell me i should always use recirc with the AC and I've never done that and don't have issues.
I use recirculate because it's 115 degree air outside and the A/C has to cool 115 degree air.

Once the inside of the car has cooled off a little after driving for a few minutes it is easier for the A/C to cool 85 degree air than outside air.