A/C Smells...

Living in Arizona, for those of you who know, sucks without AZ during the summer. For the last three weeks or so my AC starts to smell when I first turn it on. So, here is normally how it plays out.

1. Wake up at 6:30AM, take shower and get out to car at 7AM
2. By this time, it has already warmed up (the weather). Start car and turn AC on and roll down the windows so that the smell escapes before my eyes and nose start burning
3. Roll windows up after 3 to 5 minutes and AC is fine

I am not sure what is going on. If anyone knows, I would appreciate the insight. I am not sure what the smell is but I think its AntiFreeze or what not. Thanks!

First off, I hope you know the smell of anti freeze well enough to know whether or not that's what it is. That could indicate a pretty serious problem. That being said this is probably the more common problem of mold and mildew growing on the evaporator of your a/c system. There are products made that can be injected into the system directly on the evaporator to clean it of this growth. One such product is called Frigi-Clean, but there are others on the market. This is a VERY common problem in cars.

What worked for me was to run the heat - full blast (with the windows down [gasp]) for like 20 minutes. I was then more careful to use recirc only until the car was cool and then 'circ' to keep the evaporator 'dry'. The outside air dries the humidity that condenses and grows mold.