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AC moisty smell


VanjaCro
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Hello all, I have Auris II 2014 model. Air is fine while the AC is working. After I turn off the AC and keep only regular ventilation working the air starts to smell like its moist. After 10-20 mins off ventilating the smell is gone until I turn on the AC again. So far I changed cabin filter (with active carbon), did cleaning with foam and ozon, made sure pipe for condensate is clean. I would be greatful for any other suggestion.

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Hi, if it’s hot where you are like 25-30C start the car and turn ON ac leave it on for 10 min to cool down the interior then turn off the car and watch under the front near one of the wheels there should be water coming, if not you need to check the drainage pipe if it’s blocked or if it’s all properly connected. 

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6 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

Hi, if it’s hot where you are like 25-30C start the car and turn ON ac leave it on for 10 min to cool down the interior then turn off the car and watch under the front near one of the wheels there should be water coming, if not you need to check the drainage pipe if it’s blocked or if it’s all properly connected. 

"made sure pipe for condensate is clean" this is the same as what you suggested, but my English about cars isn't best. 🙂

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Your English is perfect, I understood your writing but my point with the water is that sometimes even the drainage tube looks clean from inside the car, may have been disconnected or blocked from outside end from driving through high grass in woodlands or something, just double check again under the car, if water runs after ac use and it’s hot outside your drainage works fine, You said that you had use some cleaning sprays to clean the air vents and passages, that can also cause you a problem. If you have a fungus built on air ducts best way to get rid of them is to start the engine, turn on heater at max temp and set the air flow middle of dash, once the engine temp is high enough turn the heater blower fun to speed 3 and leave it like that for 20 min, the high temperature will dry completely your system and kill the bacteria. When using AC switch it off 3min before you turn off and leave your car parked, this procedure will dry eventually any moisture left after air con use. You can try this tips. 
Good luck 

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Rather than spend £20 or your currency for someone to use a "bomb", do it yourself. If it doesn't solve the problem it hasn't cost very much. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silverhook-Automatic-Conditioning-Cleaner-milliliter/dp/B01BMNFHFQ/ref=sr_1_11?crid=1IVZENDUC1YE4&dchild=1&keywords=aircon+bomb&qid=1590399517&sprefix=aircon+%2Caps%2C159&sr=8-11

Or similar from a different source.

Edited by mrpj
Correct spelling.
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5 hours ago, mrpj said:

Rather than spend £20 or your currency for someone to use a "bomb", do it yourself. If it doesn't solve the problem it hasn't cost very much. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silverhook-Automatic-Conditioning-Cleaner-milliliter/dp/B01BMNFHFQ/ref=sr_1_11?crid=1IVZENDUC1YE4&dchild=1&keywords=aircon+bomb&qid=1590399517&sprefix=aircon+%2Caps%2C159&sr=8-11

Or similar from a different source.

Hello, I did something similar already. I went to this "AC car shop" where they have this device which blows Ozon (I think) via hose. They turn on AC on max and put the hose via window in the car, then you close window as much as possible and let it be like this for 30 min.

It was good for some time, but the smell returned after a week or two.

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In what country are they using Ozone in that way?

I'm surprised to hear that they were using Ozone because even inhaling small amounts can be harmful to humans.

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5 hours ago, Stivino said:

In what country are they using Ozone in that way?

I'm surprised to hear that they were using Ozone because even inhaling small amounts can be harmful to humans.

Yes, ozone is dangerous. But you are not allowed to sit in car during this process and the car needs to be aired shortly before driving.

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18 hours ago, VanjaCro said:

It was good for some time, but the smell returned after a week or two.

Why not try a "bomb" then? The same procedure there, don't sit in the car and let it air for some time afterwards. Aircon on max., fan on max., system on recirculation. All windows shut. Let off "bomb" and exit. Leave until finished then open all the doors for 10-15 minutes without entering the car.

I would have thought that ozone masks the symptom, not the cause. It might well remove the smells for a while but not kill bacteria,mould etc. in the system? I have heard of instances using an ozone genrator to pump it into the car's interior. I certainly wouldn't go for it, if there was anywhere carrying out this "service".

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11 minutes ago, mrpj said:

but not kill bacteria,mould etc.

It will do all that and more.

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23 hours ago, Stivino said:

It will do all that and more.

I still wouldn't use it in a vehicles a/c system though.:smile:

Possibly a bit like the fill your tyres with nitrogen con.

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18 minutes ago, mrpj said:

I still wouldn't use it in a vehicles a/c system though

I'm not advocating that you do it, I'm saying not to do it.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Haven't looked at all the recommended links that was suggested as a solution, so my suggestion may be something that was mentioned there..

I have used the below technique on 3 of my own cars and 2 of friends' cars, and came across is on the internet.

The procedure is super simple. You take a spray can of disinfectant (originally I got the idea from a US source where everyone used a product called Lysol, and I've found that the UK equivalent is Dettol, and I think the EU equivalent is Domestos). Point is, that it's a very powerful disinfectant spray to disinfect the air in a room etc, but it should be left to work and not inhaled, because it's quite agressive apparently.

You start the engine and have the fans blowing on full with air-recirculation off and the AC pump running, temperature set to the coldest, and spray the content of the spray as much as you can into the air intake underneath the windscreen, where the car sucks in the air from the outside. On some cars access is relatively easy, on some it's relatively difficult - on my Avensis T25 it's unfortunately the latter. The idea is that the spray is run through the air intake system where it kills bacteria and other baddies causing the bad odour. I always had all the doors and even the bootlid open because my aim was to get rid of everything that had run through the ventilation system. I had the air blowing out on all possible ducts (passenger + footwell), started it with the temperature set to coldest, then when the can felt half empty, I switched over to warmest setting. Once the can ran empty, I ran the car for another 20 minutes (10 minutes on cold, 10 on warm blow - this was all just improvised really, I wanted to air the disinfectant out as much as possible). Finally I had all windows down or doors left open for an hour to make sure all the disinfectant is aired out of the car. These sprays come scented (even though it says on the can that it shouldn't be inhaled) this comes in handy because once you're done with the whole shebang, the less you can smell the spray in the passenger compartment with the fan on and off, the better it all aired out (at least that's my theory)

I tried this method as a last resort in my old Nissan Almera first, which had a well working air con but the previous owner didn't use it and the smell it emitted was absolutely atrocious, one started coughing and spitting up one's lungs in chunks even after half a minute of the aircon being turned on. I tried a cheap Aircon cleaner product first (a la Poundland) which had a long nozzle so you could spray it deep into the air ducts and some of it also in the air intake - it made a huge disgusting mess because the foam was obviously coming out everywhere (dashboard, seats) and resulted (in my case) in no detectable improvement in regards to the smell and the throat irritation when the aircon was turned on.

The dettol trick (I purchased 2 cans because I was 99% sure that this won't work either and the problem will only be rectified with some professional cleaning/flushing/whatever of the entire syste) worked flawlessly - ONE CAN eradicated the problem COMPLETELY! I couldn't believe my nose!

I'm not saying it will help you, or anybody, but I've been doing this time and time again with absolute satisfaction. If the problem (smell) would have persisted, I would have definitely tried to get into the system and look for trapped moisture but even in the worst case (the Nissan) it turned out to be a permanent (and unbelievably great and super cheap) solution.*

God bless the internet, the USA and Dettol, and may he have mercy for the souls of all the dead bacteria which were clearly harmed through many of the successful applications of this method!

 

*T's & C's: your mileage may differ :)

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