That's my fault all... I forgot which forum I was in ( )... please continue to assist "cheaperthanbeemer" with his topic.... below is his question and the link to the topic....

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I just bought my '97 3.0 last weekend from a dealer and I'm very pleased with the car except for the stinky air coming from the vents. I didn't notice it when buying the car. It's sort of subtle, but after a while it's kinda gross. At first I thought it was because the previous owner was a smoker. But the interior dont stink and I can't figure how fresh air coming in would stink. I'm wondering if it's left over from when they steam cleaned the engine? It's almost got a perfumey smell too. The smell reminds me of my grandma. This isn't a good thing. My question, other than WTF?!, has anyone bought a smoker's car and had this same problem? If so, how'd you get rid of it. Any thoughts would be appreciated. It's starting to kill the 'new car buzz'...
http://www.acura-cl.com/cgi-bin/ulti...&f=10&t=000817

 

LOL I was like, Uhhhh aren't we IN the First Gen forum?

I got all confused and had to go from the start page back in just to make sure it wasnt some weird glitch in the matrix.

TL fever is making you kinda dizzy, isn't it juniorbean?

 

Yeah, I'm going nuts... the guy is supposed to come buy my car tonight, and my new car should be here in about a week!! And on top of that... I can't keep track of which forum I'm in... Car Talk or First Gen!!

 

Well just turn your heat on or turn the system entirely off for the last little bit of your trip so that either the dry warm air or the heat from the heater kill all the mildew so it doesn't get a chance to start stinking

 

The odor is most probably due to fungi growing in the moisture rich enviroment of the evaporator enclosure.

Make sure the drain tube is not clogged as this will leave a relatively large amount of stagnant water in the bottom of the enclosure.

One way to remove the odor would be to have an A/C mechanic remove the evaporator and clean it and the enclosure. That means evacuating and recharging the system and it would be a labor intensive job ($$$$$) but it will solve the problem. If you do this consider replacing the evaporator also because it will probably eventually fail with very tiny pinhole leaks.

I once solved a minor odor problem by emptying an aerosol can of disinfectant into the interior air intake while the system was in the recirc mode. This is really a half-ass fix that may not work but it is cheap. BTW, I would make sure that whatever you use does not contain chlorides as chlorides might attack the aluminum evaporator coils.

Hope this helps.

 

This guy knows his smells!