Rotten Food/Dirty Socks smell coming out of vent?

I bought a brand new car during pilot training back during the Civil War, and my best friends wife threw up down the center AC vents. That baked in the hot sun and smelled really good.

 

Yep, on the Gen 3, I would leave the vent open all day and only close it while driving in hot weather. However this is a dealer issue the first 12 months and they need to fix it. Not sure the 36 covers this.

Yes to the rat issue if you park near trees or outside all the time. Also squirrels love to eat wires.

They prefer some cars over others as it is a connoisseur thing with rats.

Making cars eco friendly can be wrong in some situations.

After the next 7 plagues and a few comets this will take are of itself. A thinning of the herd is needed but I don't want to be on the first batch.

 

When was this Civil War - I thought it was pre-planes and pre-cars?

 

A euphemism for a failed marriage?

 

Ahhh - must be a local term - haven't heard it called that here.

 

Just a wild guess on my part. I really don't know either.
I was just trying to make some sense out of the term.

 

Everybody should watch Ken Burn's "The Civil War", BTW.

 

I don't think that TV series ever made it down here - yet. I'll keep an eye out.

 

So, if the cabin filter is fresh, the smell is after the cabin filter but before the cabin, a rat is to big, a small mouse?

 

It's amazing the places teenage boys can hide used socks and underwear.

 

I can say that I noticed the same issue when turning on the A/C, after 3-5 seconds the smell is gone. I tried tracing the smell, I even ran an entire can of deodorizing spray from advanced auto parts down the intake and the smell seems to creep back after a while. I even pulled out the cabin air filter (smelled that and the smell is not on it) and sprayed some directly in the housing of the filter and that seemed to work for a week or so and then the smell was still there after it dissipated. The drain line is working properly. Anyone else have a silimar problem, I am out of the 3 year 36k warranty. It doesn't seem to be coming from anywhere inside the car, for example I picked up pizzas the other day and would smell that when getting in the car but no musty or mildew smell, but when kicking on the AC or vent, thats when it is apparent.

 

try shutting off your a/c a mile before your destination, and turn the fan up.

 

When my car was newer during the first year, I did smell that dirty socks odor occasionally. Mostly when the AC was off, and just the fan was running. It eventually went away.

 

Would second trying what Bisco noted in post #32.

We used to have this problem in our Plug-in Prius not too long after new. More moldy/dirty sock smell than rotten food. And despite having two boys, it wasn’t them.

Replaced the cabin air filter with charcoal activated stuff and no improvement.

Leaving the fan on but cancelling AC 30-60 seconds prior to destination did the trick and it’s never come back.

 

Thanks for the helpful tip...now to remember to shut off the AC before I pull into the garage!

 

It's become 2nd nature (most of the time ) - that way the ICE doesn't fire immediately if the morning is cooler.

 

Have heard of the problem with other car's a/c systems over here, but garages used to offer a disinfection service for any auto system which cured the problem. Pity I don't know exactly what they used and how they did it.
The following extract from Accurate Auto Advice dot com-----

****The cause of the smell is fungus, mold, and/or bacteria living in your vehicle's climate control system (typically they congregate in the evaporator core and/or near the condenser in your A/C unit). These critters move into these areas because it's a moist enclosed space, and while some cars have a bigger problem with this than others (some models are notorious for this problem), it's very common.

There are a few things you can do to eliminate the problem.

1. Starting now, turn off the A/C at least 2 minutes before you shut off your vehicle - preferably 5 minutes - but leave the fan on. Just get in the habit of shutting your A/C off at a certain point on your commute. This way, your system will dry quite a bit before you shut off.
2. Buy a bottle of lysol antiseptic spray. Start your car, turn on the A/C system full blast, and make sure it's set to pull air from the outside (the recirculate button should be off). Finally, roll down all the windows. Then, start spraying the lysol into the exterior air vents between your hood and your windshield. I'd spray for 20-30 seconds, wait a minute, then repeat until about 10 minutes have gone by. Then I would let the air conditioner run with the windows down for at least another 10 minutes before shutting down.
3. If step #2 doesn't work (and it won't always work), your dealership can try a foaming system cleaner sold by BG products. While some people say that this stuff is no better than lysol, I have seen it work when lysol didn't.
4. Worst case, you can ask your dealer to remove the smell by replacing the evaporator core, condenser, drain pan, etc. However, this is rarely necessary as steps 2 and 3 usually take care of the problem.

Having said all of this, step #1 is key - if you don't start shutting the A/C off (but leaving the fan on) a couple of minutes before you park your car, the mold, fungus, and/or bacteria will just come back stronger than ever.

Good luck!****

 

Thanks for that RCO. I use my AC every day. Might be a good idea to spray the Lysol into the exterior vent once or twice a year as general maintenance. It sounds like he's using the whole can.
After the system is shut down, a couple squirts into the interior vents might help also.

 

Another thing to check - the drain tube - that it hasn't had a wasp build a nest. And no - I have no idea where it is. To be honest, it doesn't drip anything like as much as some cars I've had, but I've seen it on some humid days.

 

Thanks RCO, Im going to give the Lysol a try and also turn off the AC before getting home. On a second note, I ran the fan on high all the way home outside air only yesterday and no smell was present on starting up the car today.