New questions re: fixing musty A/C problem

There have been several threads on this subject. As I remember it is caused from a plugged drain line. The line is accessable from under the car and can be cleaned with a fine wire or blown out with compressed air(an air duster will do). Someone found a spider nest in the drain line on their Prius. The problem went away once the line was clear.

 

Since you did not say that you have already replaced the cabin a/c filter, I am obliged to suggest it.

 

I had the same on a Merc - its mould that grows in between the fins of the A/C condenser I believe.
Plenty of web pages if you type in 'smelly airconditioner'
I tried Wynn's which I am sure you can get in the US.
http://www.wynns.uk.com/contextra/TemplateParser.asp?aId=115
It comes with a long tube you poke up the A/C channel and then spray like crazy - accessing the condenser is a real hassle but it did the trick...... for a while.
The other trick is to turn on max heat, full fan and defrost - the idea is to get as much heat into the condenser so it kills the mould growth (which is the cause of the smell)
Failing that, I was told it meant removing the condenser and cleaning it, and that meant pretty much taking the car dash apart - I didn't want to go there !
Good Luck
Pinball

 

Many auto parts places, and most dealers, have an anti-fungal spray, or something like that, to kill the molds and fungus in the AC vents. You might try to avoid allowing fresh air in when using the AC in very humid weather (keep it on recirculate), as I believe that is when much of the mold gets started.

 

Supposedly the evaporator coil already has a microbial treatment. But anything that gets moist, like the drip pan, can accumulate microbials that might cause odors, as well as organic material that gets stuck there, making it food for fodder.

 

[Broken External Image]:http://www.id-usa.com/images/full/prod_101_ful_APR-8.jpg
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PM me if interested. And if there's enough interest, we can do a group-buy.

 

Point is that if there is an air filter (probably) before the condenser/evaporater, it will simply absorb all the spray and very little -not enough- will get through to the fins where the mould lies...
Remove the filter and you should be clear through to the fins with the spray.

 

The evaporator is in direct air path from the air filter and blower, so you can spray the stuff where the air filter would be after removing it, with the blower running, and it will get to the evaporator.

 

All good suggestions. I would verify the drain line is clear first. I had new car that was clogged from the factory and another older car with a web in it. It will just collect again and mould.

Hey pinball "borrowed" my avatar!!

"dave....dave......I am afraid I can't let you do that......Dave?"

On another thread that I will start later, I FINALLY GOT MY SECOND PRIUS! To replace the first that was totaled (sacrificed it's life to protect us) mid august. Frustrating wait.

 

Craig
Blimey - I wonder what were the chances are of that happening
I guess HAL 2000 was - like Prius - way ahead if its time !!
Pinball

 

I have a five month old Prius whose A/C emits a musty smell when first turned on. The carpet has never been wet. I've been reading posts from other Prius owners who have the same problem. It looks like Toyota even addresses this problem, but I couldn't get the link below to work from someone else's post.

Would this be covered under warranty? I've never had a car with this type of problem.

Toyota has an explanation and and recommendations on just that:
http://toyota.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/toyota....fcGFnZT0x&p_li=

I clicked on the above link but couldn't get it to work.

 

I have the exact same problem on my 07 delivered 8/07. BTW, do us all a small favor please and fill out your profile. It will help everyone. Not sure where you live because of your profile but I bet its a southern state where you run your Ac all the time. But here's the facts as I have discovered:

Its not a clogged drain tube. I know where the tube is. In fact...were best friends. Its clear, Its always been clear. Water pours out of it when the air is on.In desperation have stuck many sharp objects up there to "clear it". Ridiculous.

There's another drain...in fact 2. They drain the water from the windshield cowl vents under the windshield to 2 tubes that empty out behind each front wheel. There clear.Always been clear.Try it by putting controlled flow into the vent area at the bottom of the windshield. Water will pour out of the wheel vents.

Sprays you can in inject into the air conditioner. Tried them all.Spray until your stoned out of your gourd into the fresh air filter motor.Your car will now stink like a third world hospital. With a faint odor of gym socks bouquet on top of it.

Oh and try putting the heater on. That does work...for about 2 hours. Its great having to put the heat on full max the last 5 miles of your trip on a 90 degree day. Then later in the day the gym sock smell happily returns.

You can try any flavor of recirc/non recirc..it does not matter thats one stinky ac system.

You hit it on the head!! Its a design flaw. I've driven one sh*tty car after another down here in Florida but never smelt one so stinky.Don't get me wrong. I cherish this car and will continue to drive it. Now its modus operandus to get in...turn on the AC nice & cold...roll the windows down with the air on cold & drive until the evap coil is soaked and the smell/evap coil is basically covered with water.

I went to the dealer. The service writer did the same I have to go talk to the manager horsesh*t they did to me when I bought the car. Came back and said your in luck...the manager's going to do this just once under warranty....Oh ok lucky me.... I said great what ya got. Oh were going to do a 4 part intensive disinfectant spray into the cabin that should remove any mold. You'll have to leave the car all day.Hmmm..worked on cars all my life. I don't think thats going to get it sport. Thanks anyway.

Needless to say I'm not going to leave my car all day for something thats not going to work for longer than 1 day. Not to mention the free door ding and grease all over the interior.

Were hosed. I keep hoping they will come out with a TSB on this problem. It really sucks doesn't it?

 

In desperation I clicked on your "wynns" linky and its no workee.

 

I've posted this on other threads, so here goes.

I believe the primary reason so many +2004 Prius have stinky A/C has to do with how the A/C works. It's not like a conventional car A/C that has an engine driven compressor and a magnetic clutch to cycle the compressor.

Prius uses a variable speed electric A/C, that is designed to run almost all the time. That enhances moisture removal in humid areas, and also improves efficiency.

However, that means the evaporator coil is almost always super cold and wet with condensed moisture. That is the perfect breeding ground for stinky things, most of which are invisible to the naked eye

My hobby farm A/C and my home A/C are Bryant Evolution with variable speed furnace fan and two speed outdoor condenser. It's designed to run almost all the time, and I've had stinky issues with both. Finally happened to my Prius last summer, as we had an exceptionally humid nasty summer

There are products intended to treat evaporator coils. Never ever use laundry bleach. Although sodium hypochlorite will absolutely erradicate the stinky stuff, it will also attack the tubing in the e-coil, causing a failure at some point

I use professional products from NuCalgon. The first is a combination e-coil cleaner and sanitiser called EvapFresh. It contains n-Alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride and n-Alkyl dimethyl ethylbenzyl ammonium chloride. With my home A/C system I usually have to treat it twice to erradicate the funky mold stuff

Another NuCalgon product I use is BioFresh. It contains chlorine dioxide with inhibiters to protect the e-coil. This product has a harsh chlorine smell, use in well ventilated areas only

With my Prius, I had to look at the shop manual section on the e-coil and carefully drill two large holes on each side of the e-coil. I then used a pump sprayer - same as I use for cleaning the home e-coil - to liberally drench both sides of the e-coil with the product

That appeared to cure it.

At the very least, Toyota should design the e-coil to be easier to clean. A handy door or hatch would work. Just spraying an aerosol in through the blower isn't going to cut it

 

I guess I should provide the links to those products

BioFresh

Nu-Calgon Wholesaler Inc. : Products : Bio-Fresh cd

EvapFresh

Nu-Calgon Wholesaler Inc. : Products : Evap-Fresh

If the e-coil is really dirty, it doesn't do much good to spray BioFresh or EvapFresh first. The dirt will shelter the stinky stuff and the funk will return. There are dedicated and safe e-coil cleaners

CalBrite works good, pretty strong stuff though

Nu-Calgon Wholesaler Inc. : Products : Cal-Brite

I use the CalClean on my electronic air cleaners. Works very well, also good for the washable range hoods

Nu-Calgon Wholesaler Inc. : Products : CalClean, Special HD

Hope this helps. You can probably find these products at an HVAC dealer or follow the links at NuCalgon

 

Thank you Jayman!! Now your talking. Thats exactly what I need to do is be able to directly spray down the e-coil just like a home unit. The Evap-Fresh looks like the ticket for me. I will order it tomorrow and if you could possibly give me a dissertation on how to cut the holes on the e-coil box I would be eternally grateful!!! Can I find a diagram on the pay as you go manual subscription as the real manual is very expensive? And your right also in that Toyota should put an inspection door in the e-box so at least the dealer could spray down the e-coil instead of "fogging" the interior which will do nothing. Lots of people down here have this problem.Thanks again!

 

Ok I'm having a Wth moment here. I downloaded the FJ manual around 6 months ago, and haven't had much reason to look at the Prius manual. It now appears the FJ download has overwritten most of my Prius information!!

Yes, the TechInfo website does have a long and boring section on HVAC, including the heater and A/C case. I made my holes about 3 inches in from the passenger side and 2 inches in from the driver side.

I had borrowed the fiber optic inspection scope from work so I was able to inspect the case area. There was no visible dirt that I could see, but a lot of the stinky molds appear almost invisible to the naked eye

I have to warn you it's a tight squeeze in there.

If you're uncomfortable drilling holes in the HVAC case, possibly hitting the e-coil, another option is to stick the sprayer tube up the evaporator drain. You'd probably need a lot more product to do this, but at under $20 a GALLON, it's a hell of a lot cheaper than those spray bottles of stuff that doesn't work anyway

 

If you're uncomfortable drilling holes in the HVAC case, possibly hitting the e-coil, another option is to stick the sprayer tube up the evaporator drain. You'd probably need a lot more product to do this, but at under $20 a GALLON, it's a hell of a lot cheaper than those spray bottles of stuff that doesn't work anyway[/quote]

Thanks for all your help. I thought about injecting coil cleaner through the evap hose under the car but its a very small i.d. hose. Have not seen any coil cleaner with a hose attachment that small. I bought a spray can of coil cleaner from Auto Zone the counter guy gave me that had a small plastic injector but when I went to use it and read it carefully it was made to inject into the e-coil itself and flush out the hi/low lines after a repair etc. Not for outside coil cleaning. You were very brave to drill holes in the box. I'm that desperate too. After you drilled how close is the coil to the sides of the box inside and what is the box made out of please? Thanks.

 

No no, the NuCalgon stuff I use comes in gallon - 3.78 litre - containers. Some of it, such as EvapFresh and BioFresh, is ready to use. The Special HD CalClean must be diluted with water

I use a sprayer intended for herbicides and pesticides, the kind you'd use around your house or in your garden. Cost around $20 if I recall. I only use the sprayer for servicing my home and hobby farm A/C.

I use the sprayer to also spray the HD CalClean on the outdoor A/C condenser to clean the crud off the fins and tubing. Once dry I then spray on the CalShield to protect the fins. That's all I use the sprayer for, I have a separate one for spritzing herbicides and pesticides

My sprayer has different adapters, I think one could use a very small tube and shove it up the drain. That would take a *long* time to apply the product though.

What a doo-fus. Make sure you bonk him on the head with the can.

I'm really pissed off that when I downloaded my FJ shop manual, it managed to overwrite almost all of my Prius manual. I don't recall any warnings about overwriting files, or I wasn't paying attention. This calls for heavy drinking ....

Anyhoo I recall there was essentially *no* clearance between the case rear wall (Passenger compartment side) and e-coil. Make a mistake, you drill right into the e-coil and have a *very* expensive repair. Or maybe that was the heater core, can't recall now

The HVAC case is like most out there, made from some sort of injection molded material, maybe nylon. A 1/2 inch bit meant for counter-sinking wood material works perfectly, and 1/2 is a common plug size to cover the hole afterwards. Most electrical panel knockouts are 1/2 inch, you can get the plugs at the electrical aisle of Home Depot or another place

Ok, maybe another option, and I'm thinking of going this route for my FJ. Rather than drill a couple of holes in the HVAC case, taking the chance of hitting the e-coil or heater core and screaming Wth, I'm going to try this

The blower motor on both the Prius and FJ is *very* easy to remove. No need to take apart the dash or other things. Unplug a power connector, take off 3 bolts, and it drops out. With the blower motor out of the way, and the cabin air filter and glovebox out, I'm hoping there will be enough clearance to just spray from inside

I'm going to try this route out in another month or so, and will borrow the fiber optic inspection scope from work to snoop around inside the case

I should probably capture a few pictures with the scope while I have it. I've made the mistake of just looking at the monitor, and not documenting what I'm seeing