Each morning, when I turn on the AC, the air coming from the vents smells vaguely like ass for about 1.5 minutes. After approx five minutes, moisture starts coming from the vents in form of cold steam. Then air stops flowing throught the vents. Turning off the AC for about 5 minutes resolves the issue temporarily.
Any ideas?
Spray Lysol into the cabin air intake. You have mold/mildew growing in there. It's not uncommon in humid climates (is it humid where you live?).
The other thing that helps prevent this in the future (after you do the lysol thing) is to put the system into ECON mode (if Climatronic...or just turn off the A/C button for non-Climatronic cars) for the last few minutes before you park the car and you let un-air-conditioned air cycle through it. I'm not sure I understand why (because A/C air is dehumidified and you'd think it'd be drier) this works, but I find that I get less stinky air coming out the vents upon restart if I run non-A/C air through the system for a minute or two before parking the car for extended periods of time.
Spray Lysol into the cabin air intake while the system is running. You have mold/mildew growing in there. It's not uncommon in humid climates (is it humid where you live?).
The other thing that helps prevent this in the future (after you do the lysol thing) is to put the system into ECON mode (if Climatronic...or just turn off the A/C button for non-Climatronic cars) for the last few minutes before you park the car and you let un-air-conditioned air cycle through it. I'm not sure I understand why (because A/C air is dehumidified and you'd think it'd be drier) this works, but I find that I get less stinky air coming out the vents upon restart if I run non-A/C air through the system for a minute or two before parking the car for extended periods of time.
It could be that the drain in the evaporator housing is clogged, and that you are freezing ice in the evaporator. I don't know the exact location of the drain on your car, but typically the drain comes out at the front bottom edge of the evaporator housing and goes through the firewall before bending downwards.
I am assuming your rear end does not smell like anti freeze (and if it does I do not want to know why), but steam from the vents can be a symptom of a heater core leak. The smell of antifreeze is easy to recognize, though, so that is probably not the problem.
John Smallberries wrote:
the cold air from you a/c creates condensation in your heater box (that water that drips from the bottom of your car when the a/c is on). well, it dosen't all drain out, and when you use your a/c all the time it never dries out making it a perfect environment for mold/mildew. Try rolling your windows down sometimes and maybe run some warm air through the system to help it dry up.
Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.
Ask the community — no account required