Smelly AIRCON!

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DarrenM

DarrenM

A2OC Donor
Today I rang my local dealer to sort why the air in the car smells when switched off from Aircon to ECON.

Yes Mr Mills, we can inject some deoderant into the system for £18. Marvellous! I said... 'However' they say 'we can only do this when you come in for a full Aircon recharge costing £150!' No, all I want is the deoderant thing please 'No, we cant do it then!'

Need I tell you the language used after the conversation [4]

So I went to the local car accessories shop and bought some over the counter aircon deoderant. It says I must inject it into the 'Internal Air Recirculation Inlet' normally found in the footwell of any car. Well there ain't one on the A2!!.. rang the dealer who did not have a clue. actually rang 3, who did not know! Listers of Stratford upon avon put me through to the workshop (bloody good service if you ask me!) and he said I should remove the bonnet, and spray it directly into the air intake (beyong the overflow valve near the engine compnartment back wall!)

Well, I shall let you all know whether the smell goes, or if I have shot anyone at the local dealer...!

Darren
 
Simple answer is don't turn your aircon off. That's the default = no smell.

I did try running the A4 without it for a while to monitor mpg, but found negligible difference. The only pain is in winter when it switches itself off under 5c and the smell is there.

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I have seen something somewhere about running it on max for 10 minutes then min for ten minutes evry week. Or was it min then max - will try to find it again.

Ian

2002 1.4 Petrol SE, silver with climate control.
Why are NEARLY all the A2s in Lichfield are silver ? ? ?
 
quote:Originally posted by DarrenM


Well, I shall let you all know whether the smell goes, or if I have shot anyone at the local dealer...!

Darren
Click to expand...

Hi Darren,

Sorry to tell you however it wont work. The smell is created from Bacteria growing on the evaporator itself in the HVAC unit. The deoderant will only cover this smell in the short term.
The bacteria starts to grow when the evaporator heats up, i.e. when the A/C system is off, hence leaving the system on (as per Ade's comments) is the best solution to this problem. This bacteria build happens in every car A/C system without fail, however some are worse than others depending on the type of surface treatments used. Toyota, for example, suffer less from this problem (Steve - is this correct in your experience?)

Kaine

aka - A/C System Designer
 
P.S. The Air-recirculation vent is found deep inside the footwell, up against the firewall. (Passenger Side)
 
Whilst working for Renault this problem came up quite frequently.
As the other have suggested, the best bet is to leave it on.
We used to spray a simple anti bacterial spray into the evaporater which killed, or kept at bay, the bacteria and therefore the smell. However they were relatively easy to get to, I haven't had any reason to try on my A2
Cheers
 
I had the same problem - but I ALWAYS leave the A/C on. My local dealer put the anti bacterial solution through for free and never had a problem other than the occasional 'musty smell' which tends to dissipate after a few seconds.[3]

Regards - The Foghorn

2001 TDI SE Atantic Blue, Open Sky, 16" 6 spoke alloys, Satellite cloth & space box system. The "Dogs Twitchers"
 
I've had a look to see whether the solution we used at Renault would work here. The best thing I can advise is to open all the vents and put the car on it's coldest setting (car running naturally), every air vent open and the spray the anti bacterial spray (any decent one from Tesco's should do) into the vent. Don't swamp it in one go. Just a few misty puffs with a small gap in between.
You'll have to experiment to see how much isgoing to cure your smell.
Don't what ever you do have any one in the car when you do it,I can't believe that breathing that in will be all that good for you. Also be prepared to clean your inside windows after as it will doubtless leave some fine residue on you glass.
Good luck.
 
I've just realised that some sprays contain a mild amonia formular in with them, so lay a towel over your dash when you do this and for five minutes after to stop any going on the trim and leaving possible spotting. It's very unlikly, but you don't wantto risk it.
Cheers all.
 
well gang... thanks for the replys.. crikey!... I shall not be speaking to the dealer again!.. I'll ask you lot!..lol

Well spraying is complete... and at the moment, it is working?.. <fingers crossed>

However have noted about leaving the aircon on all the time, I suppose I have been brought up with the knowledge, Aircon = low MPG.. but clearly not...

Again, thanks for all your help..

Darren
 
One tip I have read about is to turn off the aircon a few minutes from the end of your journey (but leave the blower on). This apparently help to dry out the pipes and help prevent the smell. Dont know if it works though!.

Kaine-only having the car for 6 months I haven't noticed any smells yet, and any courtesy car I have is usually a 1 year old Yaris and the aircon doesn't smell on them.

All the SEATs I owned suffered smelly aircon-must be a German trait!.

Steve - 2002 1.4SE petrol, Silver, black/black interior, Then an identical replacement 2003 A2. Now a Toyota Corolla 1.6 T-Spirit
 
Steve,

In my understanding ;)
The majority of German cars are fitted with A/C systems by either Behr or Valeo (European A/C manufacturers). They have a definite problem with smelly aircons, to which they are still struggling to resolve. Toyota (for example) are fitted with DENSO A/C systems who are the world leaders in A/C development, and have a much better technical solution to this problem. DENSO also supply units for some German manufacturers/cars now, and soon many more (e.g. current AUDI A6 & A8, BMW X5). Simply solution is just buy a car with a DENSO aircon.[8D]

Kaine
 
Note : Of course, I may have no idea what I'm talking about (quick disclaimer if any Behr/Valeo employees are on the site)
 
From my many years of involvement in the motor industry, it seems that the "smelly air-cond" problem is almost endemic to either "add-on" systems (dealer installed air-cond) or to factory systems that were not engineered into the vehicle. This is because these systems are lesser engineered than factory systems and often provide suitable conditions for colonization of the evaporator by various micro-organisms.

However, this is not always the case, as example with the A2, since this vehicle was engineered with air-cond in mind. My opionion in cases like with the A2 is that due to space constraints the engineers were forced to design an evaporator housing that does not sufficiently drain or dry out.

The actual smell, as correctly stated in prior posts, is the growth of organisms, both bacteria and fungi on the evaporator, in the evaporator housing and sometimes on the ducts to and from. More often than not it is fungi, which are responsible, as bacteria find it harder to "colonize" the conditions available in the evaporator.

The reason the "smell" seems to go away when you run the air-cond is that the bacteria & fungi "culprits" resposible for the smell stop producing the various waste products (gas & liquid) respondible for the smell. They become close to frozen and thus don't make a stink.

When you turn off the air-cond, they warm up, start excreting and again begin to smell.

Now, you may ask, "how did they there in the first place?" Bacteria and fungi are always present in the air as organisms or spores. They arrive in the evaporator via the air intake. This is one reason why manufactuers (including Audi on the A2) have installed filters on the cabin air intake, to reduce the amount of not only pollens, but also bacteria and fungal spores.

Once they enter the evaporator area, they find a relatively "hospitable" climate for colonization, it being warm, wet, dark and without predators. The rest is obvious.

What to do? I would recommmend that if you have a problem with air-cond smell and you decide to use an anti-bacteria spray, also make certain that it is anti-fungal. Believe it or not, we have had excellent results with various aerosol preparations designed for treating "athletes foot"! Also, these are cheaper and often longer lasting than those available from the manufacturer. They often have a relatively pleasant smell to boot!

Finally, make certain that you change the cabin air filter at the same time to reduce the risk for a repeat, "infection".
 
Leaving the aircon on is no guarantee either, believe me. Ours is two years old and has done 11k miles. Immediately after the last service it came back from the dealers stinking like a festering pond! Complained to dealer who gave me the patronising chat about keeping the aircon switched on, assuming I'd go "ooh, I didn't know that". Told him I knew exactly about the bacteria/fungus problem and that's why the aircon has been switched off all of twenty minutes in its two year life. He didn't like that.

Didn't stop him swearing blind they couldn't possibly have dislodged or have done anything when they were servicing it to make it start smelling - it's just a coincidence, sir.

We've now been waiting four months for the detergent to arrive on special order from Germany. I'm fed up chasing these guys, car having been in for silly little annoying things at least four times this year. I love the car but hate my dealer! Edinburgh Audi, in case you want to avoid them.
 
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