I've only had the car for 4 months (10,000 miles) now, and I'm already getting a mildew smell from the A/C.

THIS BITES!

Is there anything I can do to eliminate the smell? Anything I can do procedurally to prevent mildew buildup?

Up until now, I generally have had my A/C on Auto (@ 77 Degrees) all the time, though nowdays I'm just leaving my A/C off most of the time. That kinda sucks, since it is around 108 Degrees outside, but it's not too bad in the TL with my window tinting.

 

Try BG Products. They make a product called Fridge-a-Fresh that you can use periodically and as a do it yourself for just that purpose. They also have a product called Fridge-a-Clean that has to be done in the shop depending on how bad it is. Have you checked the drain in your A/C system to see if it's plugged up somehow? It seems kind of early to be having that problem. Anyway to find BG products in your area check here:

http://www.bgfindashop.com/

 

THis is what I saw on one of those auto tv shows.

You can put the vent on or whatever and spray lysol or something that will disenfect/kill germs down the vents, usually by the winshield under the hood. This should kill any growing mold spores.
Now to prevent the problem, they said to actually shut off the ac before getting to your destination and leave the vent on in order to dry any chances of water inside the system. I never really tried it but that is what they said and it makes sense.

 

I had a terrible problem with the mildew smell in a Ford van and it was one of the main reason's for getting rid of it - other than I hated the vehicle.

I would complain to your dealer and see what they suggest. I think there must be something wrong with your vehicle. Are you parking on an incline?

 

Turn the A/C off a few minutes before exiting the car to dry out the condensation in the evaporator. It may be too late for you now, but if you starting doing this from day one you should never have the problem. Info per Acura Service Mgr when I owned a '90 Integra. I have apllied it to every car I have owned since. Appears to work.

 

This happened to someone I know with an 8-9 month old 3series. She took it to the dealer three times, the third time it smelled like they poured cheap perfume all over. Now instead of mildew it was Oder'de'cheaphooker. Then they could not get rid of the pefume stench. They ended up buying her car back and sold her a brand new (I believe the new model year) 3-series for a $1,000 difference.
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Wynn's Air Duct Cleaner, $14.95. This is the product most dealerships use according to my friend who's worked in several, so its decent stuff. I used it on my volkswagen, so your car will differ but essentially perform the following to eliminate stale odours in your air ducts and that musty smell when you turn your A/C on.


1) Open the hood and all the windows, lift your rain tray and expose the cabin filter entrance, usually located on the passenger side near the ECU. Look for standing water and a clogged drainage hole, you may have leaves and autumn/winter debris sitting there blocking the hole and allowing stagnant water to sit there and evaporate into your cars air ducts.

2) Turn on the A/C and blast it, make sure air is being sucked in through the cabin filter, meaning its on 'fresh air' and not 'cabin re-circulate'.

3) Spray the product into the cabin filter for 15 seconds and then let it run for 2 minutes with the windows down.

4) After that you crank the heat and repeat, spray for 15 seconds and let sit for 2 minutes.

5) Replace the rain tray and whatever you removed to get to the cabin filter. The smell of the product should be strong in the car, let it air out some more (they are noxious chemicals).

After doing this you should not notice anymore stale odours, not coming from your air ducts anyways.

Good Luck

 

What SCA1 said works very well. The dealer might be able to install software that does this after you've turned the vehicle off, I know several GM and Toyota vehicles that do this. The other thing that you can do is avoid using recirc mode as much as possible.

 

wow.. this sounds like one problem I'm not having.. cool..

I leave my climate control on auto all the time minus that I keep it on recirc 100% of the time. Georgia is full of too damn many stinky cars and trucks due to everyone paying off the emission folks. I'd croak if I left it on fresh air.

 

Lysol works wonders. Spray it in the air return/intake on recycle and crank it on high. Takes a bit though. Choose your scent carefully

 

Thanks for the useful info, guys!

My dealership basically did nothing on this. They said that they sprayed something into the car, but I sure couldn't detect any difference when I picked the car up.

I wonder ... am I going to have to rip apart the car much to do some of these?

Like, how do I find where the A/C drain plug is at, or the rain tray? I probably need to pick up a repair manual soon, but I didn't expect quite this soon!