Prius (2010-12) :: Odd Smell From Ducts After Using Vent After A/C Off
Jul 11, 2012
In my 2010, when I use the A/C, the air comes out cool and dry. When I turn the A/C off, and just run the vent, I notice a few things.
1) The air warms up (duh!)
2) The air is more humid (duh!)
3) The air has a mustier, stale smell to it.
When I just run the vent (and don't run A/C prior) I don't notice the odor, but if I then run the A/C for a bit and then run the vent, the musty/stale smell returns.
I've noticed it and tend to ignore it. My wife noticed it and pointed it out to me, and it prevents me from cycling the A/C off as the odor fills the cabin.
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I did read the most recent thread on this, and while those lessons would be good if I was out of warranty, I'm about to go in for the 5k service after 2 months on the road.
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My wife has a 08 F-150 LIMITED and at random times gets a raw fuel smell through the air conditioner ducts. It will happen after we fill it up and it will happen @ a 1/2 tank. No smell under the hood and no visible leaks from anywhere. Pretty important issue to me.
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Today I noticed a sound as I was driving almost like I forgot to shut a door. I believe it is coming from the vent which is located on the right side of the back seat. I'm not sure if I ever heard this before. It's been in the 90's this week.
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I like to have heat coming out of the vent. However, in the winter, when I click for it to come out of the vent (as opposed to the floor), it turns on the A/C full blast. I then turn off the A/C and turn down the fan speed. About a minute or less, it automatically turns itself back to floor heat.
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How the rear seat vent works? When you started your car and car was moving, did you notice that vent is always blowing? OK, I just notice that my rear seat vent just keeps blowing when my car is moving. Especially, it is loud as I hear when I turn off my radio.
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My toddler spilled an open bottle of water from her rear facing car seat on the passenger side of my brand new Prius III. From what I can make out, her car seat and the sides of the passenger seat took most of the damage. But there were a few drops of water on the spokes of the battery vent. I cleaned it up and tried peering inside the vent to see if water got in but I couldn't tell much as it was dark out. We had to drive it back home as we were 20 miles away. What should my next steps be? Should I take it to the dealer in the morning to have the battery checked out? Can I remove the vent cover and wet vac it?? What signs should I look for? Am I looking at having to replace the battery!
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I purchased a brand new 2013 Prius 2 last October and I'm loving it so far.
However, I notice that even if it's slightly warm outside, and I have my cabin temp set at a higher temperature than outside, the vent blows cooler air.
For example, the other day it was 65F outside. Since it was warmer than usual, I turned down the cabin temperature to 65F as well. It was nice and cool, but a little TOO cold. So I turned it up to 70F. It was still blowing cold air. I had to turn it up to 72F before it was warm enough to feel comfortable.
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I sat in the back of my recently purchased 2011 Prius Three, not III, for the first time yesterday. I learned from this forum that the vent in the rear seat is to keep the hybrid battery cooled. However, while sitting the back during a ride, I noticed it was blowing air out instead of sucking air. I would think the vent should be sucking air from the cabin to keep it cool, but that does not seem to be the case here. After a 30 minute drive, I even felt the air coming out of it was warm and the A/C began to feel that it was not enough for my area in the back of the car.
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A few weeks ago I started to notice that the battery vent fan was turning on way more than usual. I've had the car now for five years (34K miles) and I've only heard the fan go on a handful of times, even in the hot Las Vegas summers. Once I really started to pay attention to it I noticed the noise only started once I hit about 30-35 mph and got louder as I went faster. As I slowed down, the noise would get quieter and eventually stop as the car came to a stop.
This week I caved and brought the car in to the dealer to get checked out and they did an inspection of the vent, fan and did a complete diagnostic on the hybrid system and batteries. I was worried about damage to the traction battery if the vent fan was malfunctioning or clogged. I'm out of warranty with no extended coverage so I was pretty shocked that the dealer didn't charge me a dime to do the tests. All the tests came back clean and they said all the systems tested above average and that the fan was operating normally so I shouldn't worry about it.
But the noise still persists and it's starting to drive me a little batty. It has never made this much noise before. Is there something else that could be going on that the dealer missed? Maybe the noise I'm hearing is something else and it only sounds like it's coming from that area?
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I got my heater core replaced about 2 months ago. Since than I get this almost like a burning smell coming through the vents. Took to dealer they said they dont know, because i replaced cabin filter, and they say they don't smell a coolant leak. So to find out they have to take apart my dash! Comes through when the car heats up/ or i turn on heater.
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what could be causing a terrible odor when the fan is used to heat or cool my 1998 subaru legacy wagon? note: this occurs only when the outside air vent is open.
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2000 F150 4.6 i have an anti freeze smell and coming from my AC vents, stronger from Passenger side vents. I am losing some anti freeze from the reservoirs, where should i look for the leak?
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Getting a fuel smell especially when 2004 3.0 escape is idling. Is there a replaceable evap filter or maybe the pcv valve?
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94 ford f150. I have replaced a leaking heater core and replaced all heater hoses, radiator hoses and water pump. I do not have any coolant leaks at this time. The problem is: when operating the vent or heat, there is a residual coolant smell. Is it possible that the vents were coated with coolant when it was leaking, thus still producing the smell? If so, is there anyway to clean out the vent system?
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Cleaning out the air ducts in my 88 f150, seems as if every time I turn the heater on high i start sneezing, not sure if its allergens or just dust, bit it is getting really annoying...
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New to me 2003 F250 Super Cab 6.8 V10. Great condition inside and out. 68,000 miles. Began smelling fuel (gas) a few days after driving it 250 miles from purchase location. Traced leak down to the top of the gas tank. Staining was visible around the rear vent. Applied about 5 psi to the tank and sprayed soap around until I saw bubbles coming from a hairline crack at the rear vent connection. Its where the fitting for the hose comes out of the tank.
My first choice would be to hot weld the crack. I'm not very comfortable with the idea of a heat source near a gas tank. I'm not sure, but the heat from the plastic welder might be hot enough to ignite fumes? Second option is to try some industrial 2 part epoxy (PIG) and seal it with that. Is there pressure inside the tank, and if so how much? Can try this fix with epoxy or JB Weld?
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Last week I bought a 2012 with 35,000 miles. It has leather interior that was not factory installed. I noticed a smell when I first picked the car up and asked if the air filter had been changed and it had. It took me a day or two to realize the smell was like a new tire. Sometimes it is stronger than others but, it can actually give me a strange taste in my mouth. I went back to the dealership on a cooler day and they did not think it was anything. Driving home tonight it was terrible.
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I’ve been having this awful mold smell coming from my 3rd gen during the first few minutes of AC use in the warmer weather months when I generally use AC more often. This mold smell rarely happened in the winter since I usually only use heat without AC and the air circulation is usually set to “outside” instead of re-circulate.
So I’ve read somewhere to simply not use the default recirculate setting when operating the AC to avoid the mold smell, and if using the re-circulate – to only use it to initially cool down the car then switch to outside circulation.
Some also state while the AC is on outside air circulation to turn off the AC a couple of minutes before arriving to your destination while keeping the fan on, but mainly I see that simply using the outside air circulation resolves my odor issue.
Keep in mind, that the default setting for AC while cooling down the vehicle is to re-circulate when using the “auto” mode – so you’ll have to be cognitive about switching it to outside air each time.
This method works like a charm for me. It has been driving me nuts for two seasons. Since following the above, I’ve not had that stinky mold/wet sock/hamper smell coming from my vents.
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The only disappointment with the 2010 prius is the terrible chem smell inside the car,, after six months it hasn't changed... in fact it is B.S. and doesn't seem healthy even running with outside air.
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I have a strange (musky) smell coming from my air vents when i turn on the air. I was told by the dealer that this could be mold growing inside the vents because I use the AC a lot. Is there any cure for this besides going to the dealer? they told me that they can partial get rid of this by spraying a chemical into the vent but they cannot guarantee that it will work.
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