Terrible AC smell. Help pls

[munizfire]

Holy Moly! The old school way of doing this would be take out the cabin filter and put the door back on to seal the system. Then turn the a/c on as cold as it goes, set the vents so air is flowing through every vent. Then go outside the car and spray Lysol or similar through the air vents at the base of the windshield. On the Mustang those vents are under the back edge of the hood so you'd have to open the hood to spray into them. Then let the car sit overnight with the Lysol in the system for as long as possible. That has always worked for me, but the car does smell like a hospital for a few days. Good luck.

I also wanted to be able to properly clean the vent ducts as they were dusty, but also wanted ‘better reach’.

I tried what you said (sans removing the filter, lol I’m not smort) a couple of months ago, with poor results.

Am I wrong by thinking the outside air inlet is behind the battery box?

Sponsored

 

[PoCoBob]

Am I wrong by thinking the outside air inlet is behind the battery box?

I think that is correct. I just apply through the screens that are on top of the battery cover so I would assume the inlet would be behind there somewhere.

The other thing that has worked for me in the past is to just crank the heat on full blast for the last 10 or 15 minutes from home and try to dry out any mold and mildew in the vents. Do that a few times and it does seem to help. But you do roast yourself doing that during the summer months.

 

[munizfire]

I think that is correct. I just apply through the screens that are on top of the battery cover so I would assume the inlet would be behind there somewhere.

The other thing that has worked for me in the past is to just crank the heat on full blast for the last 10 or 15 minutes from home and try to dry out and mold and mildew in the vents. Do that a few times and it does seem to help. But you do roast yourself doing that during the summer months.

that’s actually a pretty good idea, but I will not do that in the summer here in AZ, lol. At least not while driving, maybe let it run for a while while I melt outside the car hahah

 

[StangTime]

that’s actually a pretty good idea, but I will not do that in the summer here in AZ, lol. At least not while driving, maybe let it run for a while while I melt outside the car hahah

What I do is roll down the windows and blast the fan on max for the last 3 to 5 minutes of my drive. No heat needed. The fan will pull plenty of hot air through the system from outside in time to dry the system.

If you really want to get directly into the system, the air intake is behind the battery box. But I think you might have trouble running the fan in this state. Better off working around it. With the fan on max, you should be able to get a good dose of aerosol spray into the air intake. Spray into the cavity just to the right of the battery box. There's a fairly large opening there.

 

[luca1290]

you see, in my mind, if I’m already going through the hassle of getting all the way in, where I can visually inspect the Evaporator, might as well just replace it, knowing it’s a common failure in these cars. But thanks, if it comes down to that, I’ll also check the blower motor.

The evaporator should just be right beside the filter. Inspecting it is fairly easy but replacing it is another business. For that you need to tear down the whole dash.

Sponsored