Interior stinks! And i know it aint me!

[JOSER_SPEED6]

So I got in my car a couple days ago and it smelled like something died in there. I drove it for about and hour with the AC on, I parked it for 5 hours and when I got back in it, it smelled horrible. I thought something crawled in to it and died. So I looked everywhere under the seats glove box...I mean everywhere, couldn't find anything. So I got in it and drove back home and I turned on the ac and thats when I started to smell it even worse. So at this point I think its something in the AC. I bought a new Cabin filter and will be installing that and cleaning the interior out and fabreezeing the s*** out of it. Has anyone else had this problem. I have about 65K on it. BTW I live in So Cal for anyone on the East Coast that might think I'm insane for driving with the AC on in the winter. It was 78 the other day. Thanks (uhm)

 

[jonridinhi]

Do you have the air on re-circ or drawing fresh air when it stinks? If it is only at the fresh air setting, check the ducting where it draws (usually right under the back of your hood on most cars, 6 guys help me out) If it is all the time.....start l;ooking into the ducting.

 

[JOSER_SPEED6]

Do you have the air on re-circ or drawing fresh air when it stinks? If it is only at the fresh air setting, check the ducting where it draws (usually right under the back of your hood on most cars, 6 guys help me out) If it is all the time.....start l;ooking into the ducting.

I usually have it on re-circ, but I'll check it out anyways.

 

[markspd6]

Most likely water damage.. If you bought this car used?? I'd say its water or coffee.. Those are two things that will stink forever when spilled..

 

[Knox Joe]

Could be a dead rodent in your cabin filter, we just had a mouse in our MS6 a few weeks ago. Luckily it was alive and we got it with some peanut butter and a mouse trap. They like to get in there when it gets chillly.

 

[NCZ13]

change your cabin filter, and spray a deodorizer into the cabin air intakes.

 

[JOSER_SPEED6]

Most likely water damage.. If you bought this car used?? I'd say its water or coffee.. Those are two things that will stink forever when spilled..

I doubt its water damage I've had my car for over 2 years.

 

[JOSER_SPEED6]

change your cabin filter, and spray a deodorizer into the cabin air intakes.

Yeah I think I'm going to try that first. I have the new filter, just need to get some deoderizer.

 

[NCZ13]

if youve never changed your cabin filter youll be surprised by how much s*** gets on it. I work in parts for a hyundai dealer and i have seen some nasty looking filters.

 

[JOSER_SPEED6]

I finally got around to changing the cabin filter and it still stinks and I know for sure its the AC. I did some research and I am told that sometimes mold start to grow in the AC Evaporator and that causes the bad smell. But if I run my AC on fresh air it doesn't smell hardly and I fabreezed the hell out of the vents and the interior as well as vacummed and cleaned it really good. So it smells alot better and I wont be running the AC Recirc until I can figure out to fix it. Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

[jonridinhi]

bleach

 

[AIRWOLF]

Has the problem been fixed yet?

 

[speed6lukasz]

to make the long story short its probably bacteria....i had the same problem in my gti... i changed the cabin air filter and it still smelled. Ur suppose to use a product to kill all the germs and bacteria that could build up in ur vents.....after i used the product it smelled great. before i did this i didint even want my a/c to blow into my face or even on me cause it smelled so bad......i work for a car part store so ill ask whats the product name and ill let u know.....

 

[Mistersix]

anyone know where the at the air enters the car from the outside?

 

[BoostedSpd6]

there is a piece of pipe its really small about 1/2 in diameter and around 4 inches long right behind the manifold.. could that be it??

 

[Mistersix]

there is a piece of pipe its really small about 1/2 in diameter and around 4 inches long right behind the manifold.. could that be it??

hah, i was wondering what that was too.

could that be it really!? seems a little small for an fresh air intake...thingy.

 

[bova80]

thats not it, that is an inspection tube, serves no point now. the air enters in the cowl on the passenger side

 

[MEMIN]

any updates?

 

[JOSER_SPEED6]

any updates?

Sorry it took me so loong to update. The smell did go away after changing the cabin filter and deoderizing the car and vents with Lysol. It took a few times but after about a week all the smell disappeared. BTW the cabin filter was nasty! If you've never changed your I suggest you change it out, $45 at the dealer and its inside the glove box, takes like 2 mins to swap out. Hope this helps

 

[batou079]

its an easy DIY, supposed to do it like every 30k miles or somethin.

anyway, grats about that smell; that would driven me nuts!