Root cause to the sourish air-con smell?

[Kelpie]

1. Lately, my air-con started to have a sourish smell whenever i started the engine after the car been stopped for a while and overnight. The puzzle part is, it only lasted for a minute or so.

 

2. My air-con filter is pretty new and I did clean my air-con vent with sterilizer very now and then. I'm someone who doesn't believe in air freshener as it only musks foul smell without curing the problem. I used air ionizer and clean my interior diligently.

 

3. What could have been the problem? need to top up gas or change gas? Car will turn 2 years old next month. Is this a common problem for all cars under our tropical climate condition?

 

Regards,

[Sony]

Air con filter?

 

How about the drainage?

 

I think this problem happen to some early batch of Saab 95. When the car was parked on the slope, the air con tend to have some smell when start up.

 

you also mention that you clean with sterilizer... how is this done?

[Kelpie]

1. New aircon filter just installed about a month back.

 

2. Just buy those can of air-con sterilizer with long pointed nozzle. Spray at your front air vents as well as those underneath the seats and at rear. Let the liquid dried and repeat the process several times. You will get hospital smell for a few days.

 

Regards,

[Bellaraphon]

bro, try switching off ur aircon 5 minutes b4 u switch off ur car engine. most likely it is a build-up of mould as the aircon compressor is not given enuff time to dry out b4 the engine is switched off.

 

air freshners only cause the air to be even worse wif the air con.

 

the other way is to siwtch off the circulating air option of the air con as well as the compressor on a dry day and let the air come in from the outside. that way, it helps to dry the vents as well. remember to switch on to full fan speed. in tis case, u will be running on fan only

 

hope it helps.

Edited September 10, 2006 by Bellaraphon

[Sony]

have you tried this "cleanAir" product. Think I saw a review on the merchant thread...

 

I have not tried it but looking at the review, it seems to work...

 

Take a look. I will not comment too much as I happen to know one of their distributor..

 

 

Cheers

[Kelpie]

bro, try switching off ur aircon 5 minutes b4 u switch off ur car engine. most likely it is a build-up of mould as the aircon compressor is not given enuff time to dry out b4 the engine is switched off.

 

air freshners only cause the air to be even worse wif the air con.

 

the other way is to siwtch off the circulating air option of the air con as well as the compressor on a dry day and let the air come in from the outside. that way, it helps to dry the vents as well. remember to switch on to full fan speed. in tis case, u will be running on fan only

 

hope it helps.

 

Ok, based on your explanation, it will be a common problem to all cars. Yap, I've been using the method that you mentioned but it is never a one stop solution. I thought there might be something out there to get rid of the problem from happening once and for all.

 

Regards,

[Kelpie]

Is "CleanAir" another air-sterilizer? Will look for info in the web. Tks.

 

Regards,

[Bellaraphon]

i have an air ionizer in the car. maybe it's me, but it seems to work. and mine is a hybrid one. it uses solar instead of electricity.

[Kelpie]

i have an air ionizer in the car. maybe it's me, but it seems to work. and mine is a hybrid one. it uses solar instead of electricity.

 

Ionzier is good during driving but can't cure that sourish smell when the car first started leh. I'm using one that plugs to the ciggy slot. I don't believe in air freshener though.

 

Regards,

Edited September 10, 2006 by Kelpie

[Bellaraphon]

same here, had a super bad experience once.

 

anyway, gd luck on ur search. pls share.

[Route88]

Dont you think the root cause is the cooling coil itself? IMO try to clean it in reputable air con shop.

[Sony]

But apparently, some car's cooling coil is not easy to clean.

 

My car, for one, even the agent don't know where it is. sigh

 

But I do agree with you on that one, thus I ask how he clean his air con when he said he uses Sterilizer

 

Cheers

[Hummer]

I agree with Belaraphon. I strongly suspect the cause of that smell to be mould forming inside the aircon. The biggest culprit is our tropical climate.

 

I just came back from the US a month ago (where they have low humidity). I sat in my friend's 1 yr old Mazda 6 a lot of times and noticed that there wasn't any mouldy or whatever smell coming out when ever they switched on the AC. And you know how the American's do not bother about taking care of their cars. Then, I rented a car at another state. You know how rental cars are usually trashed by renters. I too noticed that the AC did not produce any foul smell when I switched on the AC.

 

Can try Bellaraphon's technique, but your passengers/wifey might complain too hot!

 

And switching off the Recirculate function will suck in all the exhaust from other cars as well.

[Sony]

Is "CleanAir" another air-sterilizer? Will look for info in the web. Tks.

 

Regards,

 

Beside those cleaner and cooling coil, look at your drainage as well..

 

Reason being that the smell only happen during startup. If it's the cooling coil, then the smell shd be there all the time.

 

For drainage, when you start moving your car, those stale water will start to flow up.

You might want to note how the piping goes and how you park your car.

 

For the Saab, it happens when it's parked on the slope. I wonder if the other Civic people faces the same problem anot.

[Sony]

Actually there's another way.

 

When you park your car, turn off the a/c, turn up the fan. Let the residual cool air blow out. This is bring up the temp of the coil and thus, prevent the growth of mould.

 

My car is designed in a way whereby after I stop the car, take out my key and when I press Auto (for air con), it will start my fan and start blowing out the air. On the Board Computer, it will display "residual air con". This will stop in a few mins, so even if i'm not in the car, it's ok. Seems like the german have tot this well.

[Jlim]

my car starting have got this problem. But everyone says thats part and parcel of Civic. Suddenly, it disappeared, I didn't even notice that it disappeared till I recall recently that I have had this problem before. Let me try to see what I have done that solved this problem without my knowing.

[Jamesgetz]

bro, try switching off ur aircon 5 minutes b4 u switch off ur car engine. most likely it is a build-up of mould as the aircon compressor is not given enuff time to dry out b4 the engine is switched off.

 

air freshners only cause the air to be even worse wif the air con.

 

the other way is to siwtch off the circulating air option of the air con as well as the compressor on a dry day and let the air come in from the outside. that way, it helps to dry the vents as well. remember to switch on to full fan speed. in tis case, u will be running on fan only

 

hope it helps.

 

i second this method. works very well on my previous and current cars.... maybe don't need 5 mins that long. 1 or 2 mins will do IMHO. basically, just turn off the aircon but still let the fan blow so that the cooling coil can gradually warm up to ambient temp and any condensation on the cooling coil is blown dry by the fan before the engine cuts off.

 

and of course, the air con filter needs to be changed on a regular basis. a mouldy, dirty aircon filter is another cause of the musky smell

[Seanboi]

bro, my one is just start car, on fan only, smell come out. If on air con, no smell. Weird.