My wife was in the car today, and complained about a strange odor coming from the A/C vents. I would describe it as a slight vinegar/alcohol/sour odor. I think it is from the A/C vents.
View 40 RepliesI few weeks ago noticed musty smell out of my air vents but didn't mind it thinking it something temporary. Mind you that this only occurs when i have just the fan running without the AC or recycle feature. I opened up the filter and cleaned it out of debris. Looking at the filter it seem like it got wet because of color change that occurs on it, brownish(muddy). I bought the car pre-owned almost 10 months ago, had one service done but unfortunately Hyundai dealer scheduled the service hour before closing down and i think they didn't mind checking the filter, let alone checking tire/brake tread and no car wash.
View 9 RepliesMy fiance has a 2011 Corolla LE. A couple years ago this weird smell started coming through her AC vents. It is intermittent happening when the car is parked or in drive. Once the smell comes through the AC the only way to make it stop it to push the AC button so that normal air blows through, turn outside air on, or switch the AC air speed a couple times, or just wait a minute or two. I changed the engine and cabin filter, sprayed the vents and everything else with cleaner and check the drain tube. I don't know what else to do.
View 3 RepliesSo I was sitting in my car, running, parked with the ac on and out of no where I got an electrical/burning smell coming from the vents. My volts were reading 12 with ac on at idle but once my rpms reach about 7-800 it goes back to 14. My question is what was that smell? I've had 2 alternators go on this car (power draining aftermarket accessories 3.3 v6) and have driven the car for about 2 hours collective time since the problem started (usually alternator goes quick) and haven't noticed any lights dimming, ac blows cold, system still plays full tilt. could a bad compressor be causing putting some stress on the car?
View 8 RepliesSo I've been noticing this for a while, pretty much ever since ive had my car. I have a 2011 camry se v6 and when i go hard on the gas from a dead stop or accelerating on a on ramp on to the freeway i get this smell coming from the vents that smell like rotten eggs or something and my friend in the back said he can smell it too. This only happens when i accelerate really fast and shoot up to or over 4500-5000 rpm, why? i use cheveron 89 gas which is plus.
View 14 RepliesI have a 2011 BMW 328i and I get this sort of burnt chemical smell through the vents when the heat is on. It doesn't happen until I have been driving for 10-15 minutes. After that you get the smell on some low level all the time, but it seems to be briefly exacerbated by making a hard turn (i.e. a U-turn). You get a stronger whiff coming out of the turn and then it returns to baseline. I also smell it stronger when setting off in low gear (1st or 2nd) like from a stop sign. It happens whether the car has the air re-circulation on or not. It has been in for service twice and they can't find the problem. The car is a RWD manual transmission and only has 20k miles on it. I checked the fluid levels and as far as I can tell they don't seem low. I looked in the service history and a coolant leak was fixed at one point, near the thermostat - yet the car still exhibits the smell. In addition to the smell, it kind of irritates the back of my throat after a while.
View 12 RepliesMy CPO '11 Lux has a strong odor coming from the air vents. First thought it might be some kind of air freshening canister that was injecting the fragrance, but now wondering if I have an antifreeze leak???
View 6 RepliesI got my first Toyota couple months ago, Camry xle i4 38k. Everything is fine except for the not-so-smooth tranny, but I get used to it. The thing annoys me is the moldy smell from the vents. I usually turn on fan (A/C off, inner circulation on), when notice the smell, I changed the cabin air filter (the old one has tons of dirt!!). the smell goes away, but whenever I put on defroster, it comes back.
View 11 RepliesSo, at 14k it looks like I have that musty smell coming out of the AC vents. I've seen a TSB on here that addresses it. Hopefully my first trip to the dealership for anything other than an oil change doesn't present me with any other surprises.
View 8 RepliesI noticed this weekend the vents in my 080camry have a foul musty smell coming from them, what this could be.
View 6 RepliesMy 2009 Corolla "S" has a musty yucky smell that happens off and on. It is coming out of the vents on the dash, and it is worse when the air conditioner is on.
My mechanic has smelled it, but does not know what it is that is causing it.
I put a new filter in behind the glove box, but I think it was worse after that. So strange that it comes and goes like it does.
My bride reports a musty smell, possibly coming from the A/C vents, in her new v5. I've been away from home for six weeks and have not driven the car since we brought it home from the dealer on Sept 2. In years past we had a series of Ford Tauruses that had this problem. Apparently moisture from condensation builds up somewhere in the system and mold/mildew results. We used to have to spray Lysol into the HVAC air intake to alleviate the problem for a while.
View 19 RepliesI noticed a bit of funky smell coming from the vents when I first turn on the AC and after turning off the AC. So I am trying to locate the air conditioner evaporator drain hose and make sure it's not plugged.
View 5 RepliesWhen the car is warm with the A/C off(vent air only) you can smell an oily smell coming from the inside air vents. The smell is also evident from the engine compartment when exiting the car. I do not have any oil leaks that I can find and have been good about cleaning up spilled oil when changing the filter. I've had the car when new and it currently has about 63k miles on it now. The smell seems to be getting worse. No mods to the engine and everything else seems to be running well otherwise.
View 2 RepliesEvery time I turn on the a/c I get a horrible smell coming through the vents like old sneakers or a gym bag that has not been cleaned out in some time. I thought it was just because I hadn't run the a/c all winter, but it has been doing it every time I turn the a/c on or off. Have any of you run into this?
View 2 RepliesI recently purchased a 01 Passat 1.8T and noticed a strong 'used oil' smell coming in through the vents, especially at stoplights; the vehicle continued to smell badly when parked and turned off.
After looking around the PCV system, I found a small check valve near the airbox that was dry-rotted and non-functioning. As I continued to search, I found a large PCV hose directly under the intake manifold closer to the firewall. This appears to be ~3/4" hose that appears to be missing a connector. It appears as though there was supposed to be some sort of male/male insert and some clamps that are supposed to connect these tubes.
Any diagram or a DIY replacement walk-through for the PCV sytem on the 1.8T? Now that I've found the pcv break, I'd really like to get it changed out.
Mk7 GTI, currently at 5k miles but strong mildew smell coming from the vents.. I know the cabin air filters will last at least 15-20k miles.
I read before that the condensation hoses were sometimes installed incorrectly leading to run off inside the cabin. Can that be it?
For the past month or so I've noticed that there are a few strange smells coming from the air vents on my GTI. Firstly, if the car sits for awhile and then is started it smells like that model airplane glue or some kind of strong adhesive inside the cabin. It goes away rather quickly. The second one worries me more. When I run the car hard for a few minutes (higher speeds, highway pull or two, etc.) and then come to a stop at a light, there is a very distinctive "burning" smell. It might sound gross, but the closest thing I can think of that smells like it is the smell in a dentists office when you're getting a cavity drilled out of a tooth.
View 7 RepliesI have an electrical odor coming from my vents. I always smell it when I start the vehicle. Other then that its not continuous just intermittent. I did have the passengers side front running board light short out and have since cut it off until its warmer to replace it. I wrapped it in electrical tape and stuck it back in the running board. I did have the odor when the fuse was burn out for the running board light. I replaced the pressure switch for the cruse control last year. I was thinking the blower might be going bad. What it may be?
View 12 RepliesSo I've been noticing this winter that pretty much after every cold start a weird smell comes through the vents. To me it smells like natural gas, like the type found in some gas heating systems. It tends to go away after about 10mins. It may have also faded in and out once or twice when the car was running for an extended period of time.
View 14 RepliesWhen stopped at lights I start to smell burning oil coming from the vents when I have the heat on. It only happens every now and then and only when you are stopped at a light. I tried letting the engine idle after driving once and I can't smell it when i open the hood. I do synthetic oil changes every 5,000 since the car was new. I don't know what it could be? My last oil change was about 2,000 miles ago so I can't see it being burn off from the last change still.
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