Inside of I30 stinks bad, no wetness, I am stumped. cabin filter?

[whiteI30]

Hello, The inside of my 1998 I30 stinks lately, when I get into the car the next morning after a heavy rain. (the car is garaged) Like rotten fruit or like a trashcan. The smell is very bad after it rains, but if it doesn't rain, it usually isn't that bad. So I've searched the entire car thoroughly, and there is no food in there. There is no moisture in the car either. The trunk doesn't have the smell, with no moisture in the spare wheelwell. The car has 160k miles. Does a 1998 I30 even have a cabin filter? because if it does, I don't think the cabin filter has ever been changed, would that help with the smell? Has anybody experienced this problem? Why is this smell extremely pronounced after rain?I can't pick my date up with this car right now. lol.Thanks

[BOBCAT]

Hello, The inside of my 1998 I30 stinks lately, when I get into the car the next morning after a heavy rain. (the car is garaged) Like rotten fruit or like a trashcan. The smell is very bad after it rains, but if it doesn't rain, it usually isn't that bad. So I've searched the entire car thoroughly, and there is no food in there. There is no moisture in the car either. The trunk doesn't have the smell, with no moisture in the spare wheelwell. The car has 160k miles. Does a 1998 I30 even have a cabin filter? because if it does, I don't think the cabin filter has ever been changed, would that help with the smell? Has anybody experienced this problem? Why is this smell extremely pronounced after rain?I can't pick my date up with this car right now. lol.Thanks

Same damn thing happens to me. It isnt too bad after a small rain. But if the rain last over say 6hrs it stinks like i left some dirty towl in the car that just got done cleaning up some fruit. It kind of smells like my room used to back when i was in highschool. My car will be clean as hell and still do it. So, i am not sure where it is from.

[whiteI30]

Well we got to get to the bottom of this. There is no reason for nice I30s and Maxs stinking like this. Have you ever changed your cabin filter bobcat? Is there a cabin filter on 98s?

[BOBCAT]

Well i have a '00 and no I had no clue there was such a thing. Can you point me in the right direction of where the sucka is located.

[whiteI30]

I read they are behind the glovebox, but I'm not positive.

[BOBCAT]

I will see if i can get to it today.

[KineKilla]

The cabin air filter is located behind the glove box against the firewall in most cases. Most cars have them but very few people ever actually change them.

I haven't had my 97 long enough to see if a heavy rain will do the same thing to me, but it has been raining most of today so I may soon find out. My car smells very wet when I first kick the A/C on, but it came to me from Tennessee so there is probably a need to chnage the cabin filter because their humidity is way higher than mine here in UT, and it has probably got some mold or something on it.

If it smells when you aren't running the climate control then I doubt that is the problem...the cabin filter shouldn't stink by itself but once you start pulling air through it...

[BOBCAT]

Why wouldnt it stink after time? If the filter collect stink, where will the stink go from there? I am guessing if it is old enough then i would think that if setting or if you open the filter up to replace i bet it will smell.

[KineKilla]

I guess it could, but my thoughts were that it only filters the air inside the cabin then unless that air was rancid it shouldn't collect stink.

I don't know...I would definitely try it though. It would drive me nuts to have my car stinking every time it rains. Please reply back and let us know if replacing solved your issue.

[SteveTheTech]

I know that Infiniti made cabin filters standard on 01 models and up. As for the older ones. I think that they may be optional on the Maxima/I30 I have not had anyone ever express interest in getting one so although I have a good idea of what's entailed I am not sure if its possible. Ill do a search and let you all know what I find.

You may want to open the hood and look at the upper cowl under the wipers and see if there are rotting leaves there. This will cause an awful stink. If you are feeling adventurous you may want to remove your blower motor and see if there are leaves and/or water in there.

There are comercial sanitizers for HVAC ducting that you may want to think about.

It could also be a water leak that you do not see. Check the upper part of the carpet near the pedals and glove box maybe the sunroof drains are backing up and with decaying leaves and crap and as rain collects on top of it and backs it up.

[whiteI30]

Thanks everybody, I will check all those things. Where do the sunroof drains exit on 98s?

[whiteI30]

well I checked the engine compartment, no rotting leaves. I have a feeling the sunroof drains might have something to do with this smell. I should snake out the passages. Where are these drains located and where do they exit?

[SteveTheTech]

The drains are located at all four corners. I am not sure what you plan on snaking them with. A coat hanger might work but it might also dislodge the connectors making everything worse. They drain out inside the fenders (I think). When I get a second I will look into it further.

The best thing I have found to use is compressed air at low pressure.

[whiteI30]

Thanks Steve. The weirdest thing happened. It rained like 5 hours last night. Now this morning the smell is gone, now I don't know what to think!! Maybe there was a dead squirrel in the fenderwell or something.

[SteveTheTech]

That could be possible I used to live in a courty ish area and saw that type of thing on more than one occasion.

More likely than not there is something rotting somewhere that you cannot easily see. The sunroof area is the place I would focus on any leaves debris or crap will smell more when wet.