My 850 wagon heat and AC vents smell of mildew any time we have a couple of damp days in a row. I had the local volvo dealer replace the filter under the hood and spray it a few months ago, and that helped a bit for a while, but then the odor got worse again.
I bought a can of some sort of aerosol that claims to help. Where are the vents I should shoot this stuff into on an 850 wagon?
Is there anything else I can do?
Thanks.
Charlie
The vents are the ones at the base of the windshield. To do a better job, you can remove that plastic panel (5 screws, 2 hoses) and spray directly into the air intake. While you're in there, you can change the cabin filter if you have one, or put the kit on if you don't. While this will not help your current problem it will slow down its reoccurance.
If you're really serious, you can remove the glove box, knee bolster and heater motor and spray the stuff directly on the evaporator.
Volvo also has a second level of treatment to clean out the inside of the climate control system. They use this if the spraying doesn't work.
Volvo has solved this problem on newer models by creating the following sequence after the car is shut off.
1) The AC is shut off or an extended time that seems to run from a half-hour to several hours to permit condensed water to drain from the system. 2) The AC fan is turned on to dry the inside of the AC unit of residual condensate and general wet conditions that foster the foul odors.I don't know how you could accomplish this on a '95 other than shutting the AC off before you get where you are going and turning the fan up on high.
It sounds like water is getting into the system, or water is stuck in the system. Does the AC drain water when its running? If not, that could be the source of the problem.
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