Elantra MD (2010-15) :: Funky Smell From Vents When Driving With AC Off
May 6, 2013
I've been having this funky smell from vents lately. It doesn't exactly smell foul or corpse-like, but rather more of an old unwashed sock....
The smell seems to come out after a bit of driving with the AC off. When I turn it on, it goes away after a little while.
This has been happening everyday, and I'm thinking that it's condensation, or maybe I just need to change my filter... Is there a way to get rid of this smell without changing anything?
I've read that I can spray Lysol at the bottom of the dash board (where the driver's and passengers feet are) with the AC on at the coldest setting with the recirculate button on. Doing that will flush out the vents and kill whatever is in there.
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If I turn off my AC while driving but leave the fans running, I get a distinct sour/stale smell from the vents.
This also occurs when I turn on the AC. What might be causing this?
Is there a pan or something that needs to be cleaned? There is a fresh Cabin filter installed.
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I noticed a bit of funky smell coming from the vents when I first turn on the AC and after turning off the AC. So I am trying to locate the air conditioner evaporator drain hose and make sure it's not plugged.
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I purchased my car second hand. I don't know if the previous owner was a big, sweaty dude who didn't take showers but....after driving in my car for certain periods, I get a funky body odor from the seat.
I sprayed vinegar/water onto the seat, let it stay and wiped up. I wonder if there's bacteria forming on the seat heat/cooling source?
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I have a 2011 Sonata and have issues where my A/C won't cool properly and gives off a funky smell when I'm at a stop. Then it continues cooling when I drive at speeds.
I am going to the dealership for a steering clicking noise as well and was wondering is it worth telling them this problem too or should I go to an independent shop? My car is at 99,000 miles and I know A/C isn't part of powertrain.
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My 2000 vr6 gti been starting too act up. After about an hour or so of driving the ride gets rough , loses power and it makes this knocking noise . Although when I punch the clutch in the knocking goes away . Besides the knocking going away the rides still pretty rough though . Once it starts this it starts too backfire way louder than it usually does and it throws out this funky smell kind of like burning oil /syrup smell lol .
I really wanna fix the car . When the car does drive good it's no complaints at all . I do know that I have a misfire in cylinder 3 & 4 though and I do have all the codes scanned from the obd2. I've heared of this being the throw out bearing but I'm not completely sure. There's a video to actually hear it. [URL] ....
Obd2 Codes :
P1473
P1432
P0300
P0301
P0306
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My car has wet carpet, particularly in the passenger footwell and I have also noticed on the driver's side as well. My car did have a funky smell quite a few weeks ago, but after a couple of weeks of good strong sunlight and heat that smell went away. At the time I thought maybe some water had spilled and it just needed to dry up.
Yesterday we had a bucket full of rain. Quite heavy and strong. I didn't notice anything yesterday when I got to my car as it was still raining. However this morning I found that the smell was back (that wet carpet / mouldy smell) and I had a few minutes before the next train arrived. I checked quickly and found that the passenger side (in Australia it's the left side of the car facing forwards) carpet had a small wet patch.
Anyway got home after work and proceeded to find out what might be causing the problem. I dismantled part of the passenger side and lifted up the carpet and found that all underneath (the padding / noise proofing) was soaked wet.
I removed the plug that normally sits there and the amount of excess water from that plug to the garage floor was more than I was expecting
** Drain Plug **
I asked my wife to point a hose at the sunroof to see if I could spot where the water was coming from. I noticed that just underneath a big electrical bank sitting just above the carpet, water was basically running out of this hole.
** Close up of the hole where water is pretty much running straight through, basically someone turned a tap on and it just leaks straight into the carpet **
As you can see the closeness to the wiring is dangerously close.
I tried to see if the sunroof holes were blocked and they looked okay. I took some whipper snipper string and tried to feed it down the sunroof holes, but alas did not see where this would come out. I tried searching under the car, but couldn't find the spot where the water would normally drain out. The string went in and I fed it through, but eventually I hit a block somewhere but I don't know if this is a problem or just the string couldn't twist to get where it needed to.
I need to find out why there is water spilling into my cabin at the footwell. This has started to ruin my carpet and getting into the car with that smell surely isn't good for my or my family's health. Where this is meant to be draining out underneath the car? How do I fix this leak without spending a fortune?
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I have a strange (musky) smell coming from my air vents when i turn on the air. I was told by the dealer that this could be mold growing inside the vents because I use the AC a lot. Is there any cure for this besides going to the dealer? they told me that they can partial get rid of this by spraying a chemical into the vent but they cannot guarantee that it will work.
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I have a 2013 and after it sits for a day especially when it's warm the AC vents put out a moldy smell when starting. I've heard all the ideas of Turing off AC before shouting down engine but that shouldn't required for a Lexus of all cars. The dealer ran a refresh we thru the systems that worked for a few days but that was it. I've never had this problem with my 2004 RX. I also replaced the cabin filter with a charcoal based one. Seems a $45,000 vehicle shouldn't have this type of problem
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When starting the RX, I smell something I would describe as "burning insulation". It happens only first 10-20 seconds after the air comes out from the vents, and then the smell disappears. The smell is stronger after prolonged parking. It is the strongest in the morning and less noticeable after I start the RX 2-3 more times ( I usually make 6-8 short trips during the day). The smell was very strong when I started the RX first time after it was parked for one week (while we went on vacation).
There are no warning lights, and the vehicle runs just fine. I pulled out the carbon cabin filter (changed about 3 mo ago) - it did not smell and was very clean still. I am hesitant to go to the dealer-afraid they will rip apart the dash, which they probably will not be able to put back together without having rattles and noises after.
The smell comes from the inside - there is no smell under the hood after I start the RX.
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Every time I get in and start up my GX it omits a moldy / musty smell out of the vents, it stinks! It goes away in a matter of seconds but it seems at every start up I get that smell again, it's kind of embarrassing.
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My 2010 Dodge Caliber has been leaking anti-freeze very slowly. I notice it when I start the car up and for the first minute I can actually smell the antifreeze coming through the vents when I have the air on. If I park the car and go in to the grocery store for a few minutes and start it up again the smell doesn't re-occur. I imagine I have a leak somewhere that is dripping onto the engine and when the car starts up from cold it burns it which is sending that smell through my vents.
I was told a while ago it could be the heater core, however I would assume that if it was the heater core I would have had a fog up on my window or a constant smell, not one that dissipates after a minute.
I had this problem last year except I was losing a lot of antifreeze (about a whole reservoir in 3 - 4 days. The problem was found to be a broken clamp on one of the hoses. This time however I cannot find any broken clamps or a source of the leak for that matter. I did notice that when I shut the car off the one time, and checked under the hood of the car I seen one air bubble spring up from the reservoir tank. I cannot see any signs of a leak from under the hood. However under the car I can see it is dripping from the frame, but not where it is coming from.
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I have a Corolla XLi 2010 (1.6) which from the moment I bought the car it had this problem with the AC (I bought it used and was informed about the issue so I got it with a good price).
The AC sometimes starts and sometimes it doesn't I thought it was just lacking of freon gas but wasn't that, and except this problem the second one is that sometimes it smells like mold coming from the AC. May be are related or maybe not, but I really want to resolve these issues asap.
I'm adding some more info, when the AC isn't working I don't hear the AC sound, and of course when it's working I hear the classic AC sound, and another "thingy" is that when I push the car around 120km/h the AC keeps working more , and also some times if isn't working and I hit the turbo increasing the RPM and making the car scream like a sport car , suddenly the AC starts (but I don't do thsi all the time) and it's just my impression of daily-use.
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I was driving into work this morning. I initially had my windows down, vent on, blower on 1, fresh air. It started getting warm as I sat in traffic, so I hit the A/C button, then hit the recycled air button. White fog started coming out of the vents for about a minute. After that, it went away. I didn't smell any freon, but it's got me concerned. Do you think there could be an A/C issue? I just got the car last Saturday?
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I noticed this once about a month ago while I will sitting in my car at work after lunch, but haven't noticed it since. Its a weird rubbing type of noise thats hard to describe, but I never heard it again so forgot about it. Today after driving home from school I heard it again and made a video of it. It starts becoming really noticeable at around 15sec in.
Am I just being OCD?
'10 GTI 2dr, ~29k miles.
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2003 elentra. yesterday my friend went to start her car and it wouldn't start. she said it sounded like a baseball card in bike spokes. later that night they tried it again and gave it gas while starting it. it started right up. the car runs fine after they get it started. the check engine light isn't on. and there is increase scent of gas while driving it.
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Experienced a weird sweat smell when first start your car with the AC on? Is there a way to fix this?
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I just noticed a burnt smell in the trunk of my 2013 Elantra Limited with 4,000 miles. You can't smell it inside the car. Called the dealer and was told, "Oh, don't worry, that's the burn-in smell", it will go away in a few weeks".
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In the last week the I've noticed a moldy metallic smell when I turn my ac on. I've tired to come up with what I would liken it to. Almost as it the ac hadn't been turn own in months or it was almost out of freon. It's only a month old so I wonder what it might be.
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I'm going to take my Elantra in to get it checked. My Elantra is a 2013, got it in March. Over the last few weeks, I would say, on 4 days or so there has been a STRONG exhaust smell. No smoke, nothing else but a smell. If I'm pulling into the garage with no idling, just pull in and park, I get out and the smell in the garage is very strong. I have to leave the garage open for at least an hour if not more to air it out. The cab ends up having a light smell inside the next day still.
If I'm parking outside when I get out I can still smell it, but not quite as strong, because I'm not in an enclosed area. I don't think it's an exhaust manifold leak, because I don't hear the popping. My best guess is it would be in the tail pipe area pre-catalytic converter, or in the catalytic converter if it is in fact an exhaust leak.
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Soon after buying my new 2011 Elantra, I smelled that pungent anti-freeze smell when the engine gets hot. When I brought the car in for its first oil change, the Dealership did a pressure test but did not find any problems. During the next oil change (4 months since purchase) I noticed the fluid level below the Low level. The dealership did a second pressure test but nothing unusual. I thought it was odd that the anti-freeze level would be low after just 4 months, but the dealer was not concerned because it was a hot summer. However, he did inform me that I was the second Elantra owner that had the same complaint that same day. The smell continues when I run the engine through rush hour traffic (stop and go). I purchased florescent leak detector fluid with the UV light. It looks great when I shine the light on the coolant reservoir but I have yet to see any florescent leaks even though I still smell the anti-freeze.
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