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.
View 19 RepliesI 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
View 14 RepliesWhen 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.
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.
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.
I've had my Prius v (lowercase v) for about 6 months now and just took it in for its 5000 mi service. There were no problems but shortly after I got it back I started noticing a really bad odor coming from somewhere in the car. Its not a moldy or mildew smell that's coming from the HVAC. I sniffed all the mats and it's not that either. From what I can tell, the smell seems to be coming from the plastics on the dashboard area, but it's really hard to tell for sure. I tried covering it up with febreeze, but the odor is too strong. It's not the smell of a rotting animal either.
Again, not from the seats, floormats, or AC system. Seems to be coming from the dashboard and/or center console area where all the buttons are. I have a baby and a carseat, but I don't feed the baby in the car, and after sniffing the carseat and rear seat area, I can confirm the smell isn't coming from there.
I'm about to take a multi-day cross-country road trip in my Prius v and would love to fix the source of the smell before I go. It's not that noticeable with the windows rolled down, but when you sit in the car for the first time in the morning, the smell is definitely noticeable, and it's not good.
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.
View 14 RepliesMy 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.
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.
Over the last few days, noticed immediately after starting car with AC on , slight mildew smell from the vents. Seems to last a few seconds then clears.
My Gen 3 is just over a year old with 10K miles. Most times my HVAC is set Auto/75/AC on, and use no special procedures to vent the evaporator with non/cooled air prior to shutting off the car.
Over the last few days, noticed immediately after starting car with AC on - slight mildew smell from the vents. Seems to last a few seconds then clears.
My Gen 3 is just over a year old with 10K miles. Live in Central Florida so the air has been on for plenty of those miles. Most times my HVAC is set Auto/75/AC on, and use no special procedures to vent the evaporator with non/cooled air prior to shutting off the car.
My bride reports a musty smell, possibly coming from the A/C vents, in her new v5. I've been away from home for six weeks and have not driven the car since we brought it home from the dealer on Sept 2. In years past we had a series of Ford Tauruses that had this problem. Apparently moisture from condensation builds up somewhere in the system and mold/mildew results. We used to have to spray Lysol into the HVAC air intake to alleviate the problem for a while.
View 19 RepliesAfter 1 year and 9000 miles, I have the dreaded moldy smell through the AC vents. Thought this would be covered by warranty but Toyota says "NO" and will cost me$120. That is unacceptable to have to pay $120/year for a problem that should NOT happen. I have had too many cars in the past to count and have never had this problem. It has to be a design issue (poor drainage??) 2012 PIP.
View 16 RepliesI have had my Prius for a few weeks now and have noticed a very strong smell of petrol when I have the vents open to heat the car (without AC). It seems to only happen when the fan is on and vents open. What could cause this and should I be concerned?
View 19 RepliesI noticed today that my prius with less than 5000 miles has a strange wheel squeek. It almost sounds like a warped rotor but I was really careful breaking it in. I cannot hear it at all with the windows up but with them down I hear it whenever the car is moving even when I am not braking. The strange thing is when I am moving very slowly the squeek is longer. It lasts 2-3 seconds between intervals when I am going like 1mph ot less and gradually the intervals shorten as I go faster. I could still detect it at like 30mph.
View 2 RepliesYesterday morning, my 2010 had a very strange noise happen at startup. I'll preface this by saying that it was very early in the morning and I wasn't quite 100% awake, so the exact chain of events are a little foggy to me.
It was about 65 degrees when I went to start the vehicle in the morning. I noticed it was pretty humid out and the first humid morning of the year (I live in central PA). When I hit the power button, a very loud noise came from the engine area. It sounded like metal grinding and the motor having difficulty idling. I depressed the brake to attempt to put the vehicle in drive and the yellow "!" indicator light came on with a message on the on board display (i cant remember what it said). I shut the vehicle down and after a few seconds hit the button again..... same thing. This time, the idling and "grinding-like" noise went away and then the car seemed 100% normal. I noticed there was a little bit of blue smoke coming out of the exhaust while it was idling/grinding roughly.
Perhaps not the smartest thing to do, but I left for work and the vehicle has worked 100% fine since the mishap yesterday morning. In total, I have driven about 150 miles since the issue with no problems.
I read a sticky post concerning a service bulletin for engine knocking at start-up but what i heard seemed to be more than knocking and it was well above 40 degrees.
I have a 2010 Prius which I have had for a couple years. I get this strange noise from time to time that happens while braking. It starts, it will do it for a while, and then go away. When it's doing it, It will also happen after I turn my car off when the engine does it's shutdown phase. Occasionally, when my car is not moving and the engine is off, if I push my brakes it will do it too.
The noise comes from the driver side, by the firewall. the noise is a loud rachety sound, and it does not sound healthy or normal. I took my car to the Toyota dealership 3 different times explaining what was going on, but since it is random in when it happens, they have always told me everything looks normal. (of course I am out of my 1 year warranty too I got when I purchased it used.)
Is this noise something I should be worried about? What it is? Last thing I want to do is burn out some component of my car when I can save it now.
Its been really really hot lately here in SoCal and i noticed something weird. When my car is running with the AC ON I notice this vibration/buzzing from the car. I feel it on the brake and accelerator pedals too. It doesn't happen all the time but its pretty often. I can feel it more when im stopped at a red light. Is this normal?
View 5 RepliesI have the IV, with navigation. My most recent sound is from the cd player. If you open up the navigation (like your going to load a cd) it's even louder. It sounds like like a computer hard drive searching and writing data, and goes on for about 10 minutes (or longer, my patience doesn't last too long). Maybe the navigation system is uploading a database or something. No CD's vs. loading a cd do not make a difference, and the audio system is off. Weird. Only way to hear it is on a quiet night, in EV mode. Reminds me of when I used to reformat a hard drive on my old computer. I'll continue to listen for it when I pull up to a stoplight.
View 12 RepliesI have noticed that if I push gas pedal while turning the corner, especially if starting to go uphill, there is significant vibration felt in the gas pedal. It happens every time, as I use the same road each day, for 6 months now. I recently had a rental prius for a weeks, and had the same experience, although not as pronounced as my car.
View 9 RepliesCo-Worker's '03 Jetta TDI
Blower works intermittently. Sometimes all speeds will work. Sometimes only on high. Sometimes on all speeds but at a slower speed than normal. Sometimes it doesn't work on any speed.
Switch doesn't bind, blower motor doesn't make any unusual noises and I don't think it is the blower resistor. He did notice a strange odor coming from the vents the other day and, it appears that the foam on the blend door is starting to disintegrate.