musty smell from ac system

jdy2kgt · Mar 13, 2006

I have a 2000 GT when I turn on my vents I get a musty smell. At first i thought o the cabin filter needs to be changed but then i found out it doesn't even have one So now what anyone have any ideas??

Kilgore Trout · Mar 13, 2006

The Haynes manual shows a method to inject powerful mildew killer into the weep hole of the a/c evaporator unit.

You could do that or take it to a good shop knowledgable in a/c procedures and have them "nuke" the mildew in the system for you.

Mustang cabin filter... thanks for the afternoon laugh

danny04GT · Mar 13, 2006

My wifes Mitsubishi used to smell real musty when you use the A/C. Went the Mitsubishi dealership and they sold me "Frigi-Fresh". you turn on the A/C full blast and spray it into the air intake for the A/C (next to the windshild wipers). That kills all the mildew. The bottle was like $5

Nater · Mar 13, 2006

danny04GT said:
My wifes Mitsubishi used to smell real musty when you use the A/C. Went the Mitsubishi dealership and they sold me "Frigi-Fresh". you turn on the A/C full blast and spray it into the air intake for the A/C (next to the windshild wipers). That kills all the mildew. The bottle was like $5

I've used something like that. Works pretty well and I applied it liberally. I haven't had the problem in my cars since I've turned my A/C on at least once a month and let the air circulate through the system.

WillDuhhBeast · Mar 13, 2006

I'd imagine to prevent it, you should leave your A/C recirculate button on before you turn the car off.

AdRock · Mar 13, 2006

I just used Lysol disinfectant spray through the cowl vent.

Roll up the windows
Start the car up and turn the A/C on full blast.
Empty half of the can of Lysol into the air intake below the cowl vents then let the car sit there and idle with everything on and the windows up for about 10 minutes.

Then switch it over to heat and spray the rest of the can in there. Then let it sit for about another 15 minutes.

The last time I did this it got rid of any odors that were inside the car. I then cleaned the interior with some Tuff Stuff and that was the cleanest it ever smelled.

BlackenedSVT · Mar 13, 2006

well i'd say the problem is a mildewed up Evaporator, but yaeh do what these guys said above and hopefully that helps

karman · Mar 13, 2006

WillDuhhBeast said:
I'd imagine to prevent it, you should leave your A/C recirculate button on before you turn the car off.

Good imagination, I see your point. You want to keep the "bad air" out of the system when you park it. Actually the "bad air" is already in there. It is the mildew that grows on the A/C evaporator core. If you shut off the A/C, put the fan on high for the last few miles before you park it will dry off the core and the mildew will not have a place to grow. It grows in the left over moisture on the core and the drip pan underneath. If you're drip pan drain hole is clogged (and they often do) nothing will help the smell until you clear it out (a good blast of air up the drain tube quite often will clear it). Once you have "the smell" you will need some type of germ killer to make it go away. I've used scented Lysol in the past. I like to roll the windows down before I spray into the cowl intakes beacuse I'm only trying to make the A/C smell better. On an older car, do it like AdRock said and de-odorize everything.

sgarlic · Mar 13, 2006

Mine has smelled a little mildewy since I bought the car.. where is the drain hole? I'd like to get up there and check it out.. I think I'll try the Lysol thing too.

Kilgore Trout · Mar 13, 2006

Like I said, the Haynes manual has a picture of it. Personally I could not tell where the hell it was by looking at the picture

Mike97gt · Mar 13, 2006

sgarlic said:
Mine has smelled a little mildewy since I bought the car.. where is the drain hole? I'd like to get up there and check it out.. I think I'll try the Lysol thing too.

it's on the engine side of the firewall under the spot where the a/c lines enter the interior compartment.

poorcollegekid · Mar 13, 2006

like the frigi fresh...ive done it with aerosol lysol cleaner...and that did the trick too if you do not find the smell offensive...

MaxedGT · Mar 14, 2006

karman said:
Good imagination, I see your point. You want to keep the "bad air" out of the system when you park it. Actually the "bad air" is already in there. It is the mildew that grows on the A/C evaporator core. If you shut off the A/C, put the fan on high for the last few miles before you park it will dry off the core and the mildew will not have a place to grow. It grows in the left over moisture on the core and the drip pan underneath. If you're drip pan drain hole is clogged (and they often do) nothing will help the smell until you clear it out (a good blast of air up the drain tube quite often will clear it). Once you have "the smell" you will need some type of germ killer to make it go away. I've used scented Lysol in the past. I like to roll the windows down before I spray into the cowl intakes beacuse I'm only trying to make the A/C smell better. On an older car, do it like AdRock said and de-odorize everything.

Karman's right on the money. The odour problem is worse in humid climates, like where I live. I've got a '92 Safari that I've owned since new, and let the fan run on high to dry the evaporatore core, and have no problems with odour.

sgarlic · Mar 16, 2006

I tried the Lysol trick.. seemed to work for me.. talk about a strong smell for a few days.. sheesh.

propellerhead · Mar 16, 2006

Great thread! I'll try the Lysol thing Adrock posted.

DTNODYA · Mar 17, 2006

I have the funk smell and am going to try this after I figure out exactly where I am supposed to spray the cleaner .. I saw the pic in the Haynes manual but I can't tell exactly where they are saying to spray. Someone enlighten me plz.

2000GTNY · Mar 17, 2006

I've used the spray that is for exactly this smell. I sprayed it into the air vent intake liberally and have had great success.

I'm not sure why you suggest to spray Lysol in and do it with the windows up! The windows don't have anything to do with the problem except that now your car is a rolling gas trap for you now!

The sprays do work well, and I always keep my setting to "Vent" when the car is parked. It actaully says to do this in the owner's manual of my Escape.

ArcAngel · Mar 17, 2006

I'd recommend the Lysol fix. I do it at least once a year and it does the trick.

bcwang · May 11, 2006

danny04GT said:
My wifes Mitsubishi used to smell real musty when you use the A/C. Went the Mitsubishi dealership and they sold me "Frigi-Fresh". you turn on the A/C full blast and spray it into the air intake for the A/C (next to the windshild wipers). That kills all the mildew. The bottle was like $5

I was at the mitsubishi dealer for that stuff before and they wanted over $25 for that tiny bottle of frigi-fresh. I walked away.

GettinThere · May 12, 2006

2000GTNY said:
The sprays do work well, and I always keep my setting to "Vent" when the car is parked. It actaully says to do this in the owner's manual of my Escape.

It says it in the owner's manual of a 2002 Mustang too.

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