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97 Corolla Ac Smell




Guest Kyshorthair

My wife's 97 Corolla with the 1.6, Auto, and 42,000 miles has a funky smell when you first turn on the A/C. It smells really musky, if that makes sense. Any ideas. BTW, nice site. I just joined today, take it easy on the n00b. default_wink Thanks.

Dai_Shan

Yeah that is very normal in AC systems. (condensation builds up in the cooling system(mold's kinda))

You can prevent it by doing things like...

- turning off the AC well before you get home/work etc.

- use recirculate, less moisture is in the car interior...then outside on hot/muggy days.

- spray lysol by air intake(near windshield wipers if i remember correctly)

- get at cooling coil and clean it out.

- replace cabin air filter

Welcome to the forums! default_biggrin

The "musty" smell is caused by mold which can be a health hazard to people who are sensitive to that sort of thing. I don't know how it could be remedied, short of disAssembling the entire A/C duct system and cleaning everything with a 5% solution of household bleach and water. I don't even know if such a thorough disassembly/cleaning is possible in modern automobiles. There may be products available which can deal with the mold effectively, but I don't know the brand names of any. Unless you are particularly mechanically inclined, and have a comprehensive service manual for your car, you'll most likely be at the mercy of a Toyota dealer's Service Dept. Prepare for some major sticker shock if you go that route.

Guest Kyshorthair

Thanks for the replies. We'll probably just deal with it. It isn't a huge problem. Cool fall weather is right around the corner for us anyway. default_biggrin

Guest Cmartinez95

The same thing happens in my truck (02 Toyota Tacoma Doublecab). A little trick I do whenever that happens is turn off the recirculate, turn off the A/C, crank the temp knob to the hottest setting and turn on the blower for a couple of minutes. It sucks during the summer but after a few minutes of running that way I can turn on the A/C and the smell is gone default_smile Once that starts happening on our 05 S I will do the same thing!

Hope this helps!

I was told that it is best to turn the AC system off of recirculate when you stop the car so that fresh outside air can get in. Toyota will clean it for you if it is troublesome ($50).

Dai_Shan

Martinez, if you start some of hte preventative methods you can hopefully avoid the problem altogehter....mold's not that tuff to prevent...but stoping it once its started...that is tuff!



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