Musty A/C
#11
08-06-2009, 08:15 AM
Re: Musty A/C
99% of the time, the oldor is caused by something being drawn into the fresh air duct at the base of the windshield. Mold, pollen, leaves, bugs. etc. can decay and cause the problem. I'm sure Ford is sorry you have a problem, but they did not generate it. Any vehicle you might have driven and parked the same place would likely have the same issue. It is pretty expensive to tear down the evaporator plenum and clean it, but short of that, spray, run fresh air (not recirculate), use the heater to dry it out, and check the drain hose to make sure it is open.
#12
08-06-2009, 10:20 AM
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Re: Musty A/C
I have a 2005 escape 4wd only 43,000 miles. Every summer i have to take it to the dealer to do something about the smell. Some times it gets so bad i have to turn the air of comleatly and roll down all the windows. The dealer has deoderized it 4 times,removed the coil 1 time cleaned it, put in a new coil 1 time, and unpluged the drain hose (so they tell me) 2 times. The last time they tipped the drain pan to help. It is going back to the dealer next week to have it looked at again.
One guy at the dealer told me i may just have to live with it. I did not pay 30,000.00 to have somthing smell this bad every year. You would think by now thay would have it fixed. The tell me ford is not reporting any one else with this problem. I find it hard to belive when mine will smell every year.
One guy at the dealer told me i may just have to live with it. I did not pay 30,000.00 to have somthing smell this bad every year. You would think by now thay would have it fixed. The tell me ford is not reporting any one else with this problem. I find it hard to belive when mine will smell every year.
#13
08-06-2009, 10:28 AM
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Re: Musty A/C
From a Lexus site
First, go to airsept.com and read up on their EED, Electronic Evaporator Dryer.
The initial thing you can do to abate the dirty gym socks, mold and mildew, odor is to lower the windows, RELIGIOUSLY lower the windows, slightly in the garage at night, or whenever you can. That also helps to alleviate the unexpected instances of sudden windshield fogging on an early morning drive with the weather moderately cool.
There are multiple aspects of the Lexus design, vehicle and HVAC specifics, that result in this unusual propensity for the microbes that breed within a consistently damp, dank, and moist environment to find a welcoming home in your Lexus.
1. Lexus cars are VERY well sealed, mostly to reduce noise but the result is the same, no easy outflow for the MOIST cabin air.
2. The cabin air exhauster port itself has been intentionally reduced in size to improve FE (if "conditioned" air cannot be exhausted the compressor run less often), lower the blower speed "NOISE".
3. Some of these models will automatically modulate the fresh/recirculate function to provide more efficient A/C operation, esspecally during the winter months. During the winter months the only benefit to the use of the A/C is for dehumidification, prevention of windshield fogging, so A/C efficiency can become SUPER-CRITICAL.
During the winter months, or in reality anytime the system is not being used for cooling, the system should NEVER be in recirculate. Since the system will provide no indication of the percentage of mix, fresh vs recirculate, the only safe thing to do is to manually set teh system to FRESH.
NOTE OF CAUTION.....
There is NO INDICATION to the driver of the fresh/recirculate automatic "mix" mode, the only control you have for assurance of full fresh mode is for YOU to manually depress the FRESH button each and every time you start the car, tun the system on, or initiate the system into "auto" mode.
Here again there is a later, 2001(??) C-best option, two actually, that will allow you to disable the A/C compressor functionality for an indefinite period. The 2nd one will unlink the A/C from automatically operating (with NO indication) in defrost/defog/demist mode.
3. If you were to examine the A/C cooling evaporator you would find the vanes so close together, so much so taht like a sponge they soak up the condensate thus preventing much of it from draing via the provided tube.
Only the years, years since I first fought this problem with my '92 LS, Lexus has tried several remedies for this problem. Anti-bacterial coatings embedded on teh evaporator vanes, initially discontinued to to MSDS problems. And then the fact that the coatings would wash off within a fairly short period. Then a UV light source within the A/C plenum, supposedly to KILL OFF those little buggers.
There were even recommending a spray for spraying into the HVAC intake until it was discovered that the spray was a problem to human health.
The solutions I have found to work best are 1, disable the A/C entirely during the times actual cooling is not needed. Later models have a C-best option to facilitate this. 2, I installed small forced air blowers within the trunk to remove the cabin atmosphere whenever the defrost/defog/demist mode is on, the rear window defrost is on, and the functional equivalent of the Airsept device.
First, go to airsept.com and read up on their EED, Electronic Evaporator Dryer.
The initial thing you can do to abate the dirty gym socks, mold and mildew, odor is to lower the windows, RELIGIOUSLY lower the windows, slightly in the garage at night, or whenever you can. That also helps to alleviate the unexpected instances of sudden windshield fogging on an early morning drive with the weather moderately cool.
There are multiple aspects of the Lexus design, vehicle and HVAC specifics, that result in this unusual propensity for the microbes that breed within a consistently damp, dank, and moist environment to find a welcoming home in your Lexus.
1. Lexus cars are VERY well sealed, mostly to reduce noise but the result is the same, no easy outflow for the MOIST cabin air.
2. The cabin air exhauster port itself has been intentionally reduced in size to improve FE (if "conditioned" air cannot be exhausted the compressor run less often), lower the blower speed "NOISE".
3. Some of these models will automatically modulate the fresh/recirculate function to provide more efficient A/C operation, esspecally during the winter months. During the winter months the only benefit to the use of the A/C is for dehumidification, prevention of windshield fogging, so A/C efficiency can become SUPER-CRITICAL.
During the winter months, or in reality anytime the system is not being used for cooling, the system should NEVER be in recirculate. Since the system will provide no indication of the percentage of mix, fresh vs recirculate, the only safe thing to do is to manually set teh system to FRESH.
NOTE OF CAUTION.....
There is NO INDICATION to the driver of the fresh/recirculate automatic "mix" mode, the only control you have for assurance of full fresh mode is for YOU to manually depress the FRESH button each and every time you start the car, tun the system on, or initiate the system into "auto" mode.
Here again there is a later, 2001(??) C-best option, two actually, that will allow you to disable the A/C compressor functionality for an indefinite period. The 2nd one will unlink the A/C from automatically operating (with NO indication) in defrost/defog/demist mode.
3. If you were to examine the A/C cooling evaporator you would find the vanes so close together, so much so taht like a sponge they soak up the condensate thus preventing much of it from draing via the provided tube.
Only the years, years since I first fought this problem with my '92 LS, Lexus has tried several remedies for this problem. Anti-bacterial coatings embedded on teh evaporator vanes, initially discontinued to to MSDS problems. And then the fact that the coatings would wash off within a fairly short period. Then a UV light source within the A/C plenum, supposedly to KILL OFF those little buggers.
There were even recommending a spray for spraying into the HVAC intake until it was discovered that the spray was a problem to human health.
The solutions I have found to work best are 1, disable the A/C entirely during the times actual cooling is not needed. Later models have a C-best option to facilitate this. 2, I installed small forced air blowers within the trunk to remove the cabin atmosphere whenever the defrost/defog/demist mode is on, the rear window defrost is on, and the functional equivalent of the Airsept device.
#14
08-07-2009, 03:29 PM
Re: Musty A/C
BG has a product-do not remember the name-you just spray into the air intake with the fan running. Not inexpensive nor easy to find, but this what the dealer would use. Also check the cabin air filter and see if it needs to be replaced.
#15
08-22-2009, 03:10 PM
Re: Musty A/C
Check the cabin air filter and replace if it has not been changed in a while. BG makes a foam product that most of the dealers use to remove mold, bacteria, and smells in the air conditioning system. This is not cheap and expect to pay around $30 or so for a can but it works very well. Check the BG website for a dealer that sells it; and it is not always easy to find a local dealer. Just remove the cabin air filter and spray the foam while running the ventilation fan.
#16
08-23-2009, 07:55 AM
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Re: Musty A/C
Just keep in mind that whatever you spray into the A/C plenum/evaporator area you will be breathing for some significant sequential period. Not just a few people have had adverse reactions to some of these chemical sprays.
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