Air Conditioning Odor

[Densetsu]

Finally got hot enough in here for me to turn on my A/C, and there's a nasty musty smell. I remember it last year, but it would disappear after a minute or so. Now it's persistent for a 30+ minute drive. I cranked the fan up to high to hopefully dry out what's in there, but no luck.

Any hints for getting rid of it? I did a quick Google search, but got garbage results like "spray Lysol into the vents" or "change your air intake filter"

[m0nkeyprince]

well lysol actually works if you spray it into the right places, the smell is probably coming from the moisture in the condenser

this is a prevalent problem on 2007-2009 lexus's , i took out the cabin air filter and sprayed the lysol disinfecting spray with ac on max (in recirc mode i think)

[Towncivilian]

You might want to clean out the blower motor cage and housing as well, no doubt it's pretty dusty. See here for some example pictures.

[Innovazn]

could be a soggy a** rat hiding up in your s*** bro..... change out cabin filter and throw some air fresheners in there while youre at it

[Densetsu]

Oh god, air fresheners... the last owner had tons of them in there. They were popping up everywhere. Mirror, lighter, parking brake, inside the glove box, inside the little rear side box in the cargo area, under both front seats, underneath the rear bench seat... Took a good 18 months for the smell of fake vanilla to go away.

Might have a go at cleaning the blower motor; where is it, behind the glove box? I'd think if this was the source of the odor, then I'd still smell it when the A/C is off, but I don't. No harm in keeping things clean, though. I changed the cabin air filter last year, if I remember correctly, because there was a slight tinge of A/C odor back then. The lysol on the cabin air filter trick isn't ideal -- masking the the odor instead of eliminating it.

In the meantime, I'll just blast the fan at max with A/C on to try and dry things out inside there. Went out for another trip this evening and it seems to be getting a bit better.

[Ingrid37]

well lysol actually works if you spray it into the right places

[wisehunter1]

Hit that with some ozium(original odor). Don't use the new car smell or any of the other scents.

[Pathy415]

I had the same problem and used a combination of Lysol and running the heater on its highest temp and heat settings. When you run the A/C moisture builds up in the system causing unwanted growth of bacteria/mold which causes the nasty smells.

I remember reading somewhere on the internet that it's good to shut off the A/C when you're close to your destination and just run the fan to help the system dry out. I periodically will run my heater on high after it's rained or after using the A/C. It seems to have really helped and I no longer have the smell but you need to be pretty religious about using the heat/lysol combo.

[Towncivilian]

I remember reading somewhere on the internet that it's good to shut off the A/C when you're close to your destination and just run the fan to help the system dry out. I periodically will run my heater on high after it's rained or after using the A/C. It seems to have really helped and I no longer have the smell but you need to be pretty religious about using the heat/lysol combo.

I too read that on BITOG sometime. I used to follow that procedure fairly often after reading of it but I usually forget now. Although, I don't use the A/C very much yet since it's not blisteringly hot.