ES300 A/C Odor

I have a 2002 ES300 with 12,000 miles. I live in the Pacific Northwest, not a particularly humid area.

A couple times a month when you start the car, there is an unpleasant odor from the air conditioner. Like a dank, wet, moldy basement. The odor clears afer about 5 miles of driving.

I took the car back to the dealer. He seemed to be aware of the problem and offered an air deodorizer.

Does anybody know what the problem is, and how to correct it?

Thanks ...

Reply to
Walt Lersch
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I had that with my 1994 Toyota Celica. The dealership service writer had me run the ac on full blast with the vents open (recirc turned off), then spray in a deoderizer into the air intakes under the hood. It seemed to clear it up pretty well. Might be worth a try with yours. Otherwise you may have to have the ducts cleaned out, maybe something crawled in there and died... ;-(

Reply to
Steve Larson

My '90 LS400 does the same thing if I try to manage the climate controls manually. If I just leave the system in AUTO, the problem is miniminzed. I don't know if you have that option on your ES300. Good Luck

Reply to
Jerohm

THAT problem affects lots of cars. Dust builds up on the evap coil, and the moisture from operation allows mold/mildew to form. There are some sprays that mask the smell (i.e. Lysol in the air intake vents), but the real fix is to spray the actual coil with a compound that kills the stuff.

A quick Google search revealed the following:

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Fixing the Air Conditioner, Defrost, or Car Vent Smell

Disinfectant sprays Douglas Miske sent us an article by Cam McRae of the Toronto Star with advice on curing the a/c smell (see below). According to this article, dealers can eliminate the bacteria and other growths which cause the smell by using a disinfectant; holes may be drilled to get to hard to reach areas. Ford dealers have a new spray that is (a) less expensive than the one used by Chrysler, and much less expensive than the one used by GM; and (b) is supposed to prevent re-infestation. Do-it-yourselfers can save about $50 by buying Fresh Air from many department stores - it costs $15 (Canadian). Wynn's also sells a spray.

A/C Evaporator David Ta wrote: I am convinced the evaporator design having horizontal fins is the root cause of the AC musty/stench smell on first startup, which will fade out in a good few minutes. ... So, the real cure is to install an OEM evaporator having vertical fins to drain off the condensation, IF there is such one in the aftermarket for any model having this AC smell problem. Or you can modify your car to allow water shedding off easily. An old colleague in the office confirmed that he got this problem with all his recent cars, including Chevy, Ford, Chrysler. Every year, he mixes water and baking soda and poured it into the drain area next to the firewall, rinsing it later with a water hose.

Another option: dry up the evaporator, after every AC use, or at least daily before turning off the ignition, by simply turning up the temperature to full hot, at maximum speed, while selecting "Front Defrost" for a few minutes. You may not like this inconvenience, but comparing to that when a new evaporator is required, and the evap is out of warranty, plus the musty smell every time the "Front Defrost" is selected, I think the inconvenience is justified. (Defrost activates the air conditioner compressor on most cars). This seemed to work for me.

Reply to
Car Guy

unfortunately the deoderizer that lexus has (at least our dealer) doesn't do a whole lot. the problem is that it doens't KILL anything. the smell is being caused by mildew/mold, which likes to collect in your ac evaporator, which comes on whenever you use the ac, or whenever you defrost the front windshield.

grab a can of lysol, and open the hood. start the car, turn on the ac, fan on high, set to FRESH air and open all the windows.

spray the lysol into the vents just under the right side of the windshield (do this from OUTSIDE the car, not the inside. the fan will suck the lysol into the evaporator and heater cores and kill whatever mold or mildew is making that smell. choose any scent you like, lemon seems ok. leave the car running this way for about 10 minutes to get rid of the fumes.

Reply to
MudPuppy1976

I had that in my 98 ES and was told to just leave it in the "AUTO" position (as Jerohm had suggested). That was 4 years ago. I haven't had the smell since.

It's just a matter of keeping air flowing through there all the time, not allowing moisture to remain in the ducts. Some have said they don't like to keep it in "AUTO" mode, though.

While I respect their desire to hit the OFF button occasionally, I was told that the system was designed to ideally run in AUTO mode - that should be what most buyers in this class want anyway.

My problem was severe at the time. No "deodorant" was ever sprayed into my system, and I can say from experience that 100% "AUTO" operation eliminated the problem totally for me.

Reply to
njbok

I have had to treat my wife's BMW a couple of times and used the A/C Pure Air product from Interdymantics. I purchased it at Advanced Discount Auto Parts for about $3.00 a can. One spray can will treat the system several times and it works.

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Very simple and easy.

Reply to
Stuck in Central Florida

Had the same problem in my wife's 2002 ES. Dealer said it was a clogged air filter and replaced it for free. Haven't had the smell since. Had this done late last year. They could have just said that while all they did was spray some lysol. Dealer also suggested to keep the the AC set to "auto" as someone else here mentioned.

Reply to
William

Please go to the gardenweb car forum...

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And read the thread regarding "03 Camry --- Air smells bad.

Reply to
wwest

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