Smelly Air

[LucyD]

Hi Everyone,

I was just wondering if anyone had any ideas on how to cure the following problem...

I turn my ac on and it works fine, is nice and cool and has no smell, however when I turn of the ac and the air is just coming through the vents it has a horrible smell, kinda of like wet dog and I guess its sort of 'damp'.

I've had a search through the forums and couldn't see anyone else with a similar problem, but I have seen that a lot of people have suggested that changing the pollen filter will help improve the ac, will that help me? I got the car second hand and with its previous owner the car used to sit under a tree and wasn't used very much - could this have added to the problem?

Thanks in advance for any replies!!

Lucy

[atif_farooq]

Mine does the same thing - I thought it was unique to my car!!

[Razzputin]

Besides the air filter the vent ducting may have some stuff in them. Here in Maine we get squirrels building nests in various parts of the engine and even after they move out the leaves and stuff stay there. While it may not be enough to plug up the system it can add quite a smell. The other thing could be the underside of the carpet...mold, mildew.???

[atif_farooq]

I haven't got any mould or mildew - it's something to do with my aircon. I'm going to get it checked out when my mini goes for her check up.

[LucyD]

I don't think it is the carpet as it only ever happens after the ac has been on. I have seen on some websites a gas that you let of in your car and it can clean out the vents and stuff, it actually said that if it was like a fungus or summat like that it can actually be quite harmful to breathe in!!

[Olly.]

Yeah mine does the same, and has done since the day I picked it up

[ombler]

yeah dont worry mine does that it's just humidity from the system if its been used and then off for a bit. try running the A/C hot for a bit it seens to stop it smellin in mine

[MINI-Morgan]

Doesnt every car with Aircon do it?? all my cars have and I just usually run the heater on hot for a minute when I want to turn the aircon off.

[Harpo]

Quote: Originally Posted by LucyD

... it has a horrible smell, kinda of like wet dog and I guess its sort of 'damp'...Lucy

Funny you should say that...

Not 5 minutes ago, I just got exactly the same whiff.

The thing is, I'm at home and have just had to close all the windows. I've also got all sticky all of a sudden, and I reckon the humidity has just rocketed, and that we are about to have a bit of a storm. Well, a storm of biblical proportion at least.

Watch this space...

[MINI-Morgan]

Quote: Originally Posted by Harpo

Funny you should say that...

Not 5 minutes ago, I just got exactly the same whiff.

The thing is, I'm at home and have just had to close all the windows. I've also got all sticky all of a sudden, and I reckon the humidity has just rocketed, and that we are about to have a bit of a storm. Well, a storm of biblical proportion at least.

Watch this space...

Hopefully some thunder and lightning here

[M11NYL]

Mine does the same, i looked into it a while ago andi think the user manual says you should run the air for a few minutes after turning the aircon off to dry out the system, what you may be smelling is the left over water in the system and if left can make a funny whiff

so as every one is saying run the hot blowers for a while and it should help.

[Wesmonster]

Haven't had this problem in the MINI, but my last vehicle (Honda Odyssey) had this problem just before I traded it. I changed the filter but it didn't fix the smell. It smelled like mildew from stagnant water, probably caused by some moisture in the fresh air intake. I set the A/C to pull fresh air (not recirculate) and set the fan on high and sprayed Febreeze into the fresh air intake under the hood until it filled the cabin. I didn't drive it long after that so I can't comment if it was a permemant fix but it worked. I'm certain Lysol or some other anti-fungal spray would have worked as well.

[PW/B_JCW210]

this is a known problem with aircon systems that have not been run.

I have the problem in the other car in the house (E46 BMW), the previous owner didn't run the aircon. What then happens is that various fungi find themselves a nice warm moist home in the aircon system.

Then when you do run it you get a horrible smell out of the vents.

My dealer tried to disinfect the aircon, and it has partially worked.

A guy who works at my dealer told me about a product that can be bought from Halfords that he reckons works pretty well, I tried to find it in my local one at the weekend but they didn't have it.

[M11NYL]

[quote=PW/B_JCW210


A guy who works at my dealer told me about a product that can be bought from Halfords that he reckons works pretty well, I tried to find it in my local one at the weekend but they didn't have it.[/QUOTE]


Any ideas what the name of the product was?

[PW/B_JCW210]

sorry no I can't remember, will email my contact and ask.