Musty smell in 2015 v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon)

I know in the gen 2's there was cracks in the roof seams causing water to fill the area where the 12 volt battery sits.. not sure on Prius v.

 

You can get a musty smell from the AC especially after it has not been used for a few weeks in cooling. Toyota sells a cleaner combination to fix the moldy coil, at least for a while.

I have bought the Toyota AC Refresher Kit on ebay for about $20 and at the dealer for a little more.
AC REFRESHER KIT | Genuine Toyota | 00289-ACRKT

 

have you inspected all the carpeting, battery area, spare tyre well and 12 volt for signs of moisture?

 

Let me share this thought for you: It is common here in AZ to get musty smells in the vehicle AC unit considering how dry our air is. Turns out that during our summer monsoon season where the humidity levels can rise to 40%++, the high humidity will cause mustiness in your AC. What happens is, the AC system, while cooling the air, will naturally remove humidity from it. As it does, the removed humidity drips onto the bottom of the evaporator box and runs out the drain hose to the ground. But, when you shut off your AC, there is residual moisture inside the evaporator box, and because the outside humidity is so high, the box doesn't naturally dry out and that residual moisture will grow mold and mildew. Because it's so hot here we use our AC all the time (I've seen folks use theirs in the winter) and the musty problem happens all the time when the relative humidity rises very high (which happens for a few months of the year) - so you folks that live in areas where the humidity is naturally high are prone to the problem quite often.
What I do to avoid this is, about a couple blocks before arriving home I turn the AC compressor off (press AC button to extinguish the light), switch the vents to outside air, and turn the blower up to its highest speed. After a few moments the air inside the car will get warm as hot outside air is drawn in, but it also dries out the evaporator box. I run the fan until the air coming out the vents is warm and feels dry (usally takes a minute or so). Over the 8 years I've owned a few different Prius models, I've never had the musty smell problem.
One side note: I've shared my technique with friends who have this problem and while my technique reduces the smell for them, it never goes completely away because they've built up so much mildew. The solution for them would be to clean the evaporator like the gentleman shows in the video above.
Try it! If you don't have the mildew issue, you can prevent it from starting.

 

Start with something simple: check the cabin air filter. Replacing it with a carbon filter could potentially solve the problem, and inexpensively. When was the last time it was replaced?

 

Got a bad smell in my mom's '12 v. Filter was changed last year towards the end of May. I opened the cabin filter and the area is not a square. The Fram Fresh Breeze does not seal well. I tried to research the OEM filter and the two I found seem to be square as well. Anyone find a better fit solution?

Thank you!


iPad ?

 

Read my reply above. Guaranteed.

 

So I asked my mom about the smell and she said she hasn't been using the air conditioning because of the bad smell!!!

Part of my problem is that I follow directions too carefully, and didn't put some more thought into proper installation in the first place! So the Fram Fresh Breeze CF10285 instructions note to orient "the new filter with the air flow indicator arrow printed on the side of the filter pointing down." So that is the correct orientation of the air flow as the top of the filter is dirty, BUT I decided to look at other Fram Fresh Breeze filters I have for other model vehicles to compare. I found that the others have an arrow as well, but they note "AIR FLOW". This CF10285 has an arrow but says "UP", not AIR FLOW. If one looks at the two sides one will note a white side and a dark side. The white side one can assume is the side baking soda was applied to. Anyways, with the two other filter models I have on hand the dark side would face the direction of air flow, arrow pointing in this direction, with the white side facing up. IN THIS CASE I INSTALLED THE FILTER UPSIDE DOWN. The arrow is pointing towards the white side with UP indicating opposite to air flow! Can't help but wonder how this affected/increased the problem!

I already tried OZIUM 1 second spray into the center of the cabin as instructions note.

Will look into the more rigorous solution when the 1 yr service comes up in about a month.

iPad ?

 

1. Guarantee the Toyota AC refresher 2 part kit will work
2. The smell occurs AFTER the AC has not been used for awhile and the evaporator dries out and then get slightly moist again
3. Defrost and other heating modes automatically use AC
4. The air flow goes up; the filter goes in short side first
5. Toyota will charge at least $125 to install a $30 kit of AC refresher; probably more
6. After you start using the AC everyday you won't smell it since the evaporator stays moist