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Smelly air conditioning/fan and heater

Geezer 911

Well-known member
Joined
14 Aug 2017
Messages
115
Evening all

Last week I noticed my air con and heater was blowing out a foul odour out of the vents. I called up design 911 for some advice and they recommended purchasing an A\C treatment called Viro One Shot. It got delivered yesterday and followed the instructions ( turn off aircon and have fan on recirculation) which I did. After the treatment It worked straightaway and there was no foul odour coming from the fan anymore. Brilliant. I also brought new cabin filter and swapped it in too.

This evening I was driving home fromwork and turned on the aircon and the. smelly odour is back grrrrr. Has anyone experienced this? I was going to purchase some more One Shot and repeat the process keeping the aircon on this time. Before I do this does anyone have any other suggestions to solve this issue?

Cheers
.
 
With the aircon treatments i use you have the a/c off , fan speed 3 and on recirc mode .

All you are trying to accomplish is the vapour being drawn through the matrix .

One thing i would check though .. have a look at your pollen filter .. its a common place for mouse nests .. mouse pee is NOT a pleasent smell .. take it from someone that actually wore a mask working inside a car once with this issue !!!!

Although in that case it was damp carpets due to the little buggers :lol:
 
Cheers Iain

Where is the pollen filter located on a gen 2? I changed the filter next to screen wash fluid in front passenger side bonnet?

Has there ever been a scenario where you have had to do a 2nd aircon treatment?
 
Got to be Pollen filter, had the same issue on our Volvo :nooo:

:thumb:
 
had this on a couple of BMW's .. techs told me on my 7 series to run the aircon at full hot for a while ( i did 10 mins ) , then full cold for the same. The smell is supposed to be from bacteria build up. Running at teh extremes is meant to kill the bacteria and the smell ... seemed to work
 
When you pull the filter out spray some of the deodoriser inside the housing and ducts to kill off any bacteria before you put the filter in and complete the recirculation process. You can spray without latching the container if your careful
 
Geezer 911 said:
Cheers Iain

Where is the pollen filter located on a gen 2? I changed the filter next to screen wash fluid in front passenger side bonnet?

Has there ever been a scenario where you have had to do a 2nd aircon treatment?

You have already changed the pollen filter so its not that im afraid .

Ive never had to do a treatment twice but just to confirm you have the engine running windows closed , a/c off fan speed 3 and it must be on recirculation mode... leave for 20 mins.

The vapour will continually be drawn through the matrix and in theory kill the nasty bugs on it.

So if we say that has actually worked then what else ..hmm ..

Only 2 things i can think of .. do you have any mates that like to play practical jokes .. if so look under the seats for fish wrapped in newspaper .

Or do you have any mice where you park the car .. dead mice in a car will also smell and yes i have seen it .

Check under the seats anyways , i often see old fruit or even an old bottle of milk .. now that DID stink .
 
Can't help with the AC smell, I left it to the OPC to sort out but the worst thing to spill in your car is milk. I know someone who spilt a pint of milk in the front passenger footwell of his car, smelt putrid and stank for a very, very long time as it soaks through the carpet into the sound proofing where it sits festering.
 
I thought these aerosol products were used with the A/C switched on?
 
Maybe some of them work in different ways, i bought some from Hafords last weekend, let it off with the AC on full and left for 10 mins then left the doors open for a few mins more! Worked a treat, it's a pretty pungent odour for a day or two but that's now gone and the interior is really fresh now!
 
Instructions will be on the can .. the one we use is a/c off but some may be with it on .

I forgot in my last post but the one we use you set the temp to 21 but again i expect each type will have different instructions .

As Rob says though .. its hard to drive the car for a while afterwards without your eyes streaming lol .. very pungent smell .
 
Last few days I have given serious thought to dropping 110k for a brand new 911 (I even specced one up online), as I am so fed up with the bad smelling aircon/fan/heater.

I have tried everything possible to resolve but it just seems to get worse..
 
Perhaps if possible and before you sell it you might want to drop by my place in Brighton one weekend so i could just have a look .. you could book it in at were i work as thats closer .. but they charge im afraid.

Cant promise anything but if a Porsche Mechanic says sell it then at least you have a solid answer :D
 
Very generous offer - thankyou.

I have tried pushing a Wurth disinfectant product through the system with access through a pipe near the diagnostic port - most of it went on the carpet, and no idea where the rest ended up!

And have used dozens of Wurth "bombs". However, I have worked out the "recirc" button does not close the flap under the pollen filter, so is not working. I am not sure if it is just faulty, or whether messing with the wiring on the PCM 3 upgrade, has forced this fault.

What more can really be done? It is bacteria breeding inside the network of pipes, isn't it? Nothing can really get deep enough inside to kill that (and permanently)?
 
DucatiRob said:
Maybe some of them work in different ways, i bought some from Hafords last weekend, let it off with the AC on full and left for 10 mins then left the doors open for a few mins more! Worked a treat, it's a pretty pungent odour for a day or two but that's now gone and the interior is really fresh now!

I did the same with the Halfords one. It smells like cheap male deodorant and is really strong for the first few days but then settles down. I used the process posted by DeMort :thumb: :thumbs:
 

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