When I switch on the air conditionning, it smells bad in the car for a few minutes.
I was told by a dealership serviceman that a possible cause is the evaporator water drain.
Could you tell me where it is located and how to access it?
Thank you very much for your help.
What year is it (assuming it is a Maxima) ?
More than likely, the drain hose will be an open-ended hose coming through the firewall, on the passenger side of the car..
If the hose is clogged you can clear it out, but if the evaprator has mold growing inside (which is likely from your description), you may need to get in there and spray some chemical solution to clean it out...
Another trick is to run the air and spray in some aerosol disinfectant (e.g. Lysol here in the US) through the cowl intake vents... this will not be as effective as getting to the evaporator and doing the cleaning directly.
Cheers, Nirav
I forgot to tell its a 95 Maxima.
Thank you.
My response still applies.
Nirav
More likely is just mold on the evaporator. If the drain was plugged, you'd have water leaking inside the car. It's simple enough to see if it's open, run the A/C on a humid day and look for water dripping at the firewall area.
Easiest way to deal with the mold is to spray something like lysol into the cowl vents (fairly heavy application, like 4-5 seconds of spraying) with the A/C running on "normal" (not recirculate) so it will pull the lysol spray into the evap and then turn off the system for the night.
Yes, 1995.
I found it. It is a 10 to 15 cm (4" to 6") long hose. It is not open-ended: it is elbow-shaped! It comes from the firewall and it plugs into a strangely shaped box! Worst of all, it is located almost under the two heater water carrying hoses! I cannot reach it. ;-(
I attempted to clean it from the passenger compartment, and to spray Lysol on the evaporator. I removed the glove box door (it might not be necessary, who knows?). Now, I can see the evaporator plastic cover. Its bottom connects to the drain hose through the firewall. It is held to the firewall by two screws, and two the upper cover by a screw and a clip. I removed these. I have been able to separate the lower cover from the upper by about 1 cm; I did not put a lot of force to take it out of the car for fear of breaking something. I have to be careful: there is a cable made up of two small wires. I suspect it is connected to a temperature sensor that tells the air conditioning compressor to stop before the evaporator becomes clogged by ice.
Can anyone tell me how to remove the evaporator bottom cover?
Thank you very much in advance.
As soon as I have access to a high-speed internet connection, I will download the Factory Service Manual. I hope it answers questions like these.
You can't without removing the whole evap from the car.
Did you try spraying lysol into the cowl intake like I sugested? This will normally solve the problem you describe.
.Jean, You could also try "Fabreeze" and if you can locate the recurculate air entry under the dash, you can spray it almost directly into the fan, and therefore onto the evaporator. That worked for me to get rid of smoking oders. Put the a/c control to re circulate, and get down under the dash on the passenger side to locate the air intake. Good luck, Earl
Jean, You could also try "Fabreeze" and if you can locate the recurculate air entry under the dash, you can spray it almost directly into the fan, and therefore onto the evaporator. That worked for me to get rid of smoking oders. Put the a/c control to re circulate, and get down under the dash on the passenger side to locate the air intake. Good luck, Earl
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