Strange Smell from vents

I, on the other hand, did the Kool-It treatment to my coils and thanks again to The Critic, was able to gain access to the topsides of both the evap coils and the heater coils. I sprayed foam from Kool-it on top of each coil thru the passenger heater vent, which comes off if you gently pry from behind the tubular pillar and then rotate it towards the firewall. After foaming the tops of the coils, I then went up the drain tube and injected the rest of the can until it was empty. I then reconnected the drain tube and pinched off the top rubber segment so the product would stay in the air chamber box and waited 15 minutes. After that, I removed the pinch from the drain tube and gunk drained into a pan below the car - yuck - it was brownish green! (See pictures). Then I had repurposed a yard sprayer so the head could be fished into the chamber and moved around above each coil. I applied rinse water and flushed out any remaining mold that didn't come out with the Kool-It. Again, more brown gunk!
My take-away from this maintenance is that the coils should probably be cleansed perhaps yearly to prevent mold buildup. Now I have the experience and tools to do the job properly. Oh yes, there's a nice clean scent from the vents again. Here are some pictures:

 

i bought a replacement air filter on ebay for 7 shipped and switched it out myself. i noticed immediately the stale air/moldy smell that would come out of the vents was gone. I plan on changing it every 6 months or so.

35667 Toyota Lexus Scion Subaru Cabin Air Filter | eBay

 

Im going to do this on Sunday. Do you guys have any last minute recommendations or pointers? I bought the Kool it cleaner and a sprayer. I had a look at the vent you guys pulled out from behind the glove compartment. I couldnt figure out how to get it loose. I dont want to break the thing but while Im at it I want to do a very good job cleaning everything out. Thanks guys.

 

I have the same problem. But I have a 2014 with 2500. Not sure what to do.

 

I have only had this issue with one car and that is the car that I have had for less than 3 months, it is a 2014 Avalon Hybrid XLE Touring. It smells like dirty socks. I have not experimented enough to give you any concrete advice but try running your heater a couple of minutes before you turn your car off. I have only done that a couple of times but I think that might help.

 

Use a very small thin-bladed screwdriver and with it, find the plastic tab on the side of the plastic vent tube near the shiny metal vertical support member that is towards the console. Slowly press downwards until the screwdriver catches between the tab and evaporator chamber and when you feel it freed from the evaporator chamber, then rotate it towards the firewall and it will release without damage. To re-install it, hook the tab into the chamber on the firewall side first and then rotate it back towards you until it snaps back into place.

 

Hello phoenixgreg, much thanks to you and the critic for the instructions to help with the odor. I too do have the odor and I drove my car onto the ramps I purchased a while back to work on my cars. Found out that there's so much plastic shielding to maintain smooth airflow under the car and I could not find the drain tube. Do you know where the drain plug is located under the car?

I really like the fact that you spray the kool-it cleaner from inside the car. That really helps make it much more simpler. I have a quick question. In the 3rd picture, you mentioned that the clam shell closes off access when the system is on. Can you explain further? What system, the AC being on and the fan being on or the recirculation or recycle air when the car is powered off? It has been pretty cool here in FL so I have not run my AC, but I read that there is a possibility that the tube may be clogged too if no condensation is dripping under the car when the AC is on and the car has stopped.


This is such an awesome forum! So many wanting to help out their fellow Prius owners! The best car I've purchased!

 

I would suggest accessing the drain tube from inside by pulling away the upper left corner of the passenger's carpet. You will see the drain tube lined in a bit of styrofoam. It has a PVC joint where you can separate it to inject the Kool-It upwards so it gets into lower evap chamber. You should blow into the lower end of drain tube (PVC) to be sure it's not clogged. Air should freely flow thru it, or try to blow the clog out (unlikely). BTW, don't do this with the car up on ramps...you want the evap box level so it will drain properly.

Leave the car OFF and you won't see the "clamshell door" getting in the way of the upper and lower coils as per my picture. If you can inject some Kool-It into that opening too, you will get the upper section of the coils. Don't forget to "pinch-clamp" the upper rubber drain tube in the carpet area after injecting the Kool-It so the gunk doesn't get in your car. When the Kool-It has soaked for about 10 minutes, re-connect the drain tube in the carpet area with a catch-pan under the car and "un-pinch" the rubber drain tube. You will quickly discover where the drain tube exits on the bottom! Again, if you can do a final gentle yard-sprayer rinse thru the upper opening, you will get any remaining gunk out of the coils and lower evap box. Good luck.

 

Phoenixgreg, thank you very much for responding so quickly. I will do this this weekend and I will post my results so that others can benefit from this. This must be some kind of a design flaw. I asked a neighbor who has a F150 truck and he's in the construction business so he's out in the heat all day. He says he does not have any musty odor. I really wonder why so many of us have this issue??!!

 

You are welcome! Many newer cars have this design. It took several members here to finally figure out a DIY method to cleanse the evap coils using the Kool-It product. I do mine now every 2 years.

If you figure out any new tricks that could be helpful, or can take some pictures of you process, please post them for the benefit of other members.

 

I finally did the koolit cleansing. I'm a bit disappointed though!
I did what was suggested, peel the passenger carpet top left back, removed the backing under the glove box (take care to disconnect the footwell led light that is attached, not sure if it is only on a P5 though), pulled out the plastic tube from the lower rubber tube, inserted the koolit hose. I could only insert it about 8"-9". I'd thought it would have gone the entire koolit tubing. I discharged the koolit contents, pinched off the rubber tube to prevent any back leaks, let it stay in the system for 20 mins, reconnected and turned on the fan for 10 minutes.

Strangely, I still have a slight odor. I'm wondering whether I need to pullout the glovebox as in post #42, 3rd pic to expose the opening covered by the clamshell like damper and discharge the koolit. Phoenixgreg, your car is a 2010, I'm wondering if it's different in yours since mine is a 2013!! I have an extra can just in case, I'm wondering if I should repeat. Then again, not much gunk should have built up since the car is a 2013 with 24k miles. Thoughts anyone?

By the way, can anyone tell me where the cabin filter is located, I'd want to swap out mine too.

 

The manual says to put the vent mode to fresh air when you turn off the car (not recirculate) to prevent the bad smell issue. This will allow fresh air into the vents. I have done this since I bought this car over a year ago. My car smells great, almost like new.

I keep my car in fresh air mode as much as possible and avoid using recirculate when I can. I roll down my windows a lot too (when driving). If your car is always recirculating air and you never let fresh air that would help mold accumulate I think.

Also try just leaving your windows open overnight and just let everything air out if you have not tried that. That helped my wife's Civic that used to smell musky. I also drove it around on full fresh air blast with windows down for 5-10 minutes, cycling through all the different vent modes. Good luck!

 

The cabin filter is behind the glove box. You have to take it out to access the filter. Suggest you go on You Tube and watch a video to see how to do it. I don't know if a charcoal cabin filter will help with your problem or not. I just put one in my 2014 Avalon but I have not had it in long enough to critique it.

 

prinut, did you get allot of greenish brown gunk in your drain pan? My post shows taking off the glovebox and then the passenger's heat-vent tube to see inside the evap box. If you decide to revisit your evap box, be sure to follow the instructions on how to remove the passenger heat vent tube behind the glove box so as to not break it. You will need a high-intensity mag-light to see in there once the vent tube is removed. What I did was to discharge some of the Kool-It over the top of the coil too and on the underside of the heater coil (they are sandwiched with a bit of air-space in the evap/heater box). Then when the Kool-It has done its job, I also did a gentle rinse of the box using a small sprayer into the access where the vent tube attaches to get the coils completely cleansed:


There's also a small chance that your A/C venting ducts have a bit of mold residue in them causing the odor. You might try spraying (sparingly) some Lysol Clean linen scent into each dash outlet and let it stand awhile to solve this issue.

 

Hi Phonenixgreg, the stuff that came out was not green in color. I notice that when I first use the vent, there's the odor. What I usually do first thing is to put the fan on medium no a/c to get the stink out, then when it clears out (or I must be accustomed to the smell), I turn on the A/C and I don't smell the stink anymore.

I'm wondering if I could locate the intake vent and spray some lysol when it is in recirculating mode so that the lysol can get into the system. Does anyone know where it is located? Also, does anyone know if the lysol will have an adverse effect on the internal system? I'd hate to be driving my Prius to save the environment and gas but at the same time setting myself up for lung problems in the future!!!

 

I'm surprised the discharge from the Kool-It didn't have any brown (moldy) residue...so it was clear, or was it green? Hopefully the foam got all the way into your evap chamber to cleanse the coils and the drain was not blocked. Again, if you decide to repeat the process, maybe injecting the Kool-It foam over the tops of exposed coils as seen from the passengers's heat vent access pictured above might get more hidden mold.

You could spray some Lysol into the intake just below the passenger wiper (the slots in the cowling) but be sure the system is set for outside air (the button next to AUTO and press the right side of it). Do this sparingly and see if that solves the remaining odors. Have you inspected/changed the cabin filter recenlty? That could be part of the problem too.

 

I may do just that. Remove the glove box and the re-do the koolit as you suggested.
Maybe I'll try spraying the Lysol first to see if that works. I hate the smell of Lysol though. I'll check if they have a better fragrant one.
Regarding the intake just below the passenger wiper (the slots in the cowling), you are referring to opening the hood, correct?
Thanks for the very quick response Phoenixgreg!

 

Yes, the plastic cowling between the wipers and the hood. I think Lysol spray comes in a few different fragrances now - I used clean linen or fresh linen. Again do it sparingly as the fragrance may persist for a day. Experiment and let us know. Also, I assume you have checked out your cabin air filter and it is OK...