Bad Smell From Air Vents

[Guest Mike the Bike]

I have a 56 reg 1.9 Dispatch that has started to give off an awful smell from the air vents. I contacted my local dealer and they sold me a can of air con cleaner with instructions to spray it down the vents and then run the heater fon full for 15 minutes. They reckoned that should get rid of the smell. Well, it didn't - and it cost me £13.90 to find out it wouldn't work. Has anyone got any ideas on how to resolve the problem?

 

Mike

[paul.h]

If you have air con, the smell, a bit like a wet dog musty smell, is caused by a build up of mould on the air con evaporator matrix which cools the cabin air down but also gets covered in moisture from the atmosphere. To clean the mould off you can try the expensive type of cleaners as you have done but also lower cost anti bacterial surface (non bleach) cleaners will work. I use Dettol anti bacterial surface cleanser (non bleach, no taint, no odour) which comes in the typical hand pump sprays for less than £2 at supermarkets. Remove the pollen filter and with the cabin fan on, spray it in to the cabin air inlet with a fine spray so it reaches the matrix. For the C5 I find it better to use a garden spray lance held just in front of the matrix. It also helps prevent mould build up if the air con is switched off but leaving an air flow for the last part of a journy so the matrix dries out.

 

If you do not have air con then the smell, if a bit like burnt curry, could be from a leaking heater matrix.

[Guest Mike the Bike]

Hi Paul, Thanks for the reply.

The smell resembles, well to me anyway, stale milk - I had a bottle fall over in a Capri I owned years ago - and it took me months to get rid of the smell.

 

I do have air con but the guy at the local Citroen dealers tells me that there is no pollen filter on the Dispatch van. He did tell me the aircon sucks it's air from the vents at the bottom of the windscreen so that's one place I could feed in the Dettol spray.

 

I found a place on the net 'Rimmer Bros

 

They sell some stuff for cleaning aircon and I was considering getting some of that - if you've had any experience of the product your views on it would be appreciated.

 

I'll keep you posted on the results.

 

Regards Mike

[paul.h]

First time I tried cleaning the air con (on a Saab 9-5) I used Forte air con cleaner which at the time cost around £20 inc postage. This was set off inside the car with the air con on recirculation so the vapours were sucked in to the air con system and on to the matrix. It did not work that well, the musty smell was masked by an apple smell and there were powder residues in the cabin air vents.

 

I then read on the Picasso forum about the Dettol surface cleanser and have since used this many times, approx once a year on our cars and it works a treat and costs very little each time. A fine spray is best so I pour the liquid in to a separate sprayer than the one in which it is supplied. Apart from the C5 (where removing the pollen filter leaves a big hole in the air ducting between the fan and matrix), the other cars I just spray a few times into the air inlet with the pollen filter removed, with the cabin fan on and the air con on so the matrix is damp and more likely to catch the spray. Then leave to dry overnight to kill the mould and next day the smell has gone. Have a look on the Picasso forum also.