the smell is from moisture being trapped in the system and growing mold.

you gotta clean it out to get rid of the smell.

 

I can take a picture later but it's under the hood below the wipers. Looks like screening material. The duct is under that so when you spray, do it near the center of the screen with your fan on hi.

 

240sxer how do you clean it out? any idea?

CDW91 i believe you are talking about the screen that screens out all the leaves and other stuff right? so i just spray it in there and turn the ac on hi?

 

Toyota's are notorious for having funky smelling ACs. It's actually a design flaw that doesn't allow moisture to fully evacuate the system. So all my ACs wind up smelling like a dirty mop. (My Celica, 4Runner and my Soarer. Ironically the older 80s Supras are OK).

Because this moisture cannot leave the system, it sits and remains stagnant and creates the perfect condition for mold and mildew to grow. Ozium has been mentioned here but the heavy duty stuff is Fridgifresh. I've seen it at most auto supply stores.

AFTER you clean out your AC system and kill all the funk causing organisms, to prevent this from happening in the future, before you shut off your car, turn the AC off and turn on the heat. Running the heat for a few seconds WILL evaporate some of the moisture. It's a little uncomfortable on a hot summers day, but it beats breathing in all the mold spores because Toyota can't properly design an AC system.

 

A simple but very uncomfortable treatment for this smell from the AC system is to turn on the heat. Turn temp to HOT and blast the heat. the longer you do this, the more likely you'll get rid of the smell.

 

I just recharged my AC, it smells goooood.
-hass

 

Have you heard of product called " DWD2 " ????

 

i just got struck by this humid smell!!

 

Oh man I just took the two wing nuts off of the cover and pulled it off to put a filter in and let me tell you guys if your car ever sat for some time in outside(aka deployment or such) have a vacuum handy.

 

my recirculating air smells fine guys but for some reason its the outside air that smells.... it smells like old people.... any ideas? i really dont like the smell of old people in my car...

 

My car smells like dank *** leather ahahaha!!! Especially when its raining out....smells like new I guess.

 

theres this spray we use at my job, you spray it into the opening where it sucks in outside air. its supposed to kill the smell along with changing the cabin filter.
we also have a machine that emits a fog inside the car.
i had to do that to a used car after changing the cabin filter didnt help, customer was complaning about urine smell. wtf??? i think he was drunk and peed inside the car.

 

dudes where is the cabin filter on a 92?

 

I went thru this long ago. The problem is in the chamber for the AC heat exchanger where all the condensation occurs. That is also right before the filter door in my 93 SC4 but mine won't take a filter. To get to this you must remove the passenger side underside dash covers. On the bottom of the climate controll unit you will see access panel about 2 inches by 5 inches held in place by a couple wing nuts. This is where the cabin air filter goes on later models(I think). If you open that rubber gasketed door you will be looking up at the AC coils that generate all the condensate. It is in this chamber that all the water gets generated. Coming off this chamber is the hose that empties all the water that you see coming out from under the car with the AC on. The problem is that the drain dose is not at the absolute bottom and will let a 1/16 of an inch of water sit and mildew and mold thrives in there. It stinks!

THE FIX:
Open up the bottom access panel as described. Squirt a LOT of Lysol mold and mildew stuff up in there. Close it up and you are good for awhile. I am told that Chevy has a spray for this purpose that is superior to anything....don't know but it is available at their parts counter. If you disolve "BORAX" (not Borateem detergent) in water and spray it in there I know that stuff will kill the odors and mildew for a long time but I have not done it. I know that the stuff will de operize the smelliest shoes imaginable by simply adding the powder every few days for a month.....so go figure.

MAYBE:
The drain for the AC is up under a cross frame member in my SC. The condensate actually dumps on top of that member and runs down and drips off the thing. That works fine but I would think that the little hose would be 6 inches longer and dump straifgt to the ground. Small thing...but! If that hoes were accessable, and you spliced a piece on, you could insert a smaller hose and snake it up into the AC unit exactly where the smell problem is and inject you mold killer up in there without opening up the dash every couple or six months. I haven't done this but I will. Hobby shops have the thin neoprene tubing on a roll that will fit n the nozzel of an aerosol can like the stock spray nozzel.

Rave reviews on that GM stuff. No perfume will last for long and coffee works but you are treating the air after it has absorbed the mildew odor.

IF you have exhaust or fuel smells in you AC when using outside air intake you have a problem that will KILL you......"exhaust leak under the hood". This is lethal lethal, LEATHAL. Exhaust manifold gaskets are the prime suspect but your friendly MUFFLER SHOP should be able to pinpoint the leak and fix it as well. Don't let this one ride any longer. On a long drive you will get lethargic if you are gettuing a lot and might pass out without realizing it, have a headache and most probably be as PISSY as a New Yorker...for the same reason as they have.

HTH,

John

 

I had this problem on my accord. Like someone mentioned above, I fixed it by turning the ac as hot as possible and letting it run for 20 minutes or so. After that it smelled 10x better.