Musty AC?

[Gyre]

Now that it's hot and humid out, I've noticed something with the AC. The first blast of air that comes out smells all musty and humid. I'm afraid the AC is leaving some condensation in the system somewhere when I turn off the car. Anybody else notice this? I hadn't noticed this in any other reasonably new car I've driven ... though I have seen the same thing in some nasty taxis!

 

[adragonfly]

I haven't noticed this with my P5, but it used to happen to my other car. If you run the regular fan for a bit after each time you use the AC, it should dry out the vents enough to prevent mold from building up in there. At least it worked for me.

 

[HurricaneP5]

The only time mine smells bad is if I switch from "outside air" to "recirculation"....for some reason when it recirculates it smells bad...

 

[20ESGUY]

The musty smell comes from build up of condensation inside the evaporator housing in the dash. It gets especailly bad if you always use the recir. mode. There are a couple of ways to take care of it, one is to run in the fresh air mode for awhile and not use the recir., two you can use a product like Ozium and spray around the bottom of the passengers side foot well with the recir. mode and the a/c on full blast, or three you can have the whole evap box removed at the dealer and have them clean the inside of the box and spray some deoderizer in it. The Ozium works pretty well, i've used that method on my protege and my old jeep. What happens is that when the evaporator core gets cool it promotes condensation inside the box that it's contained in and then promotes mold/mildew grow...which is where the smell comes from.

 

[WhiteZoomZoom]

I don't use AC..........so I can't really tell you............
Why mess with the AC when you can just roll down the windows.........Besides.....with the gas prices now..........AC ?? forget it.........
But its still good to turn it up once in a while to let to run..........

 

[HurricaneP5]

Why use AC??? You've obviously never lived down south where about this time of year the temperature is in the mid 90's and the humidity is around 90 and the heat index is over 100! You bake! I don't use the AC much but some days unless you want to arrive with your shirt stuck to your back you gotta!