My 05 tl has 7000 miles purchased a year ago. i have been very happy with it but last thursday on got into the car and their was this strong mildew odor in the car. I drove the car and in a few hour the odor was gone. After leaving the car sit I return to the car and the odor return. Now every morning the odor is their.`I dont want to purchase odor eater for my car. Help

 

Was this the first time using AC this season? I have had this on almost every recent car I have owned and even my home AC that repalced a few years ago. I was told that the coils in the dash have the fins so tightly packed in newer AC units that it is easy for moist dust to get trapped and spawn mildew. I even tried on this TL never bringing in outside air, whiched helped a little, but still get the smell for a bit. I have read about some stuff that can be injectde into the coil cavity to clean it, but my guess is if it is not that bad don't bother as it will come back again. I think this is a bigger problme in the humid climates

 

this is a big problem for the first gen... since we don't have an internal cabin filter, alot of the outside air that comes in and mixes with the A/C is 'unclean'... i don't know how long your cabin filter is supposed to last, but i would look into a carbon filter...

but if you do have mildew buildup on the coils inside the dash... what i do at the start of every season is turn the car on, run the A/C on high and spray a can of lysol into the outside base of the windshield where the air gets sucked into the cabin... this will allow the lysol to get circulated into your system...

a quick fix, if you are driving on the road and don't have lysol handy... if you have your a/c on and it just has a mildew odor, turn the heat all the way to high for about 10 secs, then bring back the a/c.. it shouldn't smell anymore...

hope that helps u out...

 

First check the drain for the A/C. It is on the passenger side firewall. If it is plugged, water will stay inside and mold will grow.

Next check the drains for the sunroof. If they are leaking you might find wet carpet and mold.

 

Two of the biggest pains in the ass you have to deal with while owning a car...

 

There is a proper spray for this .. its algae building up in the a/c ducts / coils .

There is aproper spray for this and most dealers have it .. household sprays are really only a temp mask for the problem.


Klima-Cleaner is one of them that works exceptionally well.

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