Hello,
There has been this horrid sour smell from the van's vents during start up of the aircon. I've been told that the condensor is dirty and needs to be cleaned. What is the proper way to do that? Pontiac said the can do it in an hour for $200. An independent shop said there is no way to clan it with out pulling the parts out ( 7 hours of labour). I've tried a detailing shop spraying stuff into the airvents. Can someone tell me what are my options?
Thanks!
"D" wrote
There are some vehicles that you can clean the evap core by simply removing the heater fan and/or the fan resistor pack. I don't you can do this on the Montana's, but I may be mistaken. I've done plenty on the C-H body styles and the J bodies. But I do know that the W-bodies cannot be done this way, and the Montana may need to have the evap pulled right out. If so, the 7 hrs of labour is about right. You could try some sort of anti-bacterial spray into the air intake area and see if this kills the bacteria that is most likely built up on the evap core fins.
Ian
There should be a rubber hose from the evaporator which runs down under the vehicle. its this hose that deposits water from the evaporator when the vehicle is parked after a run. it may be posible to insert a thin plastic tube up the hose and spray in some evaporator bacteria cleanser. I have heard of people drilling a small hole in the side of the dashboard to allow the insertion of the plastic tube into the evaporator housing. the smell is coming from the evaporator tray which is full of dead bacteria, live bacteria do not smell.
There should be a rubber hose from the evaporator which runs down under the vehicle. its this hose that deposits water from the evaporator when the vehicle is parked after a run. it may be posible to insert a thin plastic tube up the hose and spray in some evaporator bacteria cleanser. I have heard of people drilling a small hole in the side of the dashboard to allow the insertion of the plastic tube into the evaporator housing. the smell is coming from the evaporator tray which is full of dead bacteria, live bacteria do not smell.
You might check the condition of the cabin air filter(s). Don't know where it's located on the '02 but on the '98 access is thru the glove. box. If you have a cabin air filter (I believe the 02 does) and can get one with impregnated charcoal it might reduce/eliminate the odor. A plain non-charcoal filter won't do much. Also in the recent past there was an article in one of the GM techlinks on a particular product that was good to eliminate odors.
As a simple attempt, try spraying aerosol air freshener into the fresh air cowl intake with the heat and a/c on with fan on hi.
Thanks everyone for you suggestions I ll let you all know how things go once I have a chance to get at it.
John
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