fullmann

so I was driving around for a while yesterday in stop and go traffic,ac on, 100 degree day, and every time I stopped, I get a funky smell in my truck. it almost smells like old gas, I had a honda accord that smelled the same way, only when the ac is on, and only on really hot days.

I dont know if the stop and go traffic was any contributing factor, just that at highway speeds the smell doesnt have a chance to come into the truck.

I turned off the ac and drove for a while and when I stopped, the smell didnt attack me. but as soon as I fired it back up, the smell started again.

is this a matter of me having to clean something, or does r134 smell like that, indicating I may have a leak? any help would be appreciated. thanks.

004runner, 5speed, sport 4x4, 103k miles

BajaRunner

I get the wet, soggy clothes smell after I turn it off, but, I nver smelled a old gas smell

frodin1

Check your drain to make sure it's not plugged.

wsudu

Where is the drain at?

Ringmaster

Passenger side, bottom of firewall. Little rubber hose hanging down.

Were you in traffic at a light? Was the air intake set on recirculate or fresh air?

wsudu

Mine drain seems good. Is there any other reason it could smell? Mine smells really musty. In either recirc or fresh mode. I HATE IT. Thanks!

Ringmaster

Ahhh bingo! The Musty smell.

Mine did that too. I bought some aerosol spray smell killer at Motion auto parts, [ Federated auto parts ]. Spray it into hvac air intake below the windsheild with fan running, ac on.

The fan will pull it into the guts of the system knocking out the mold that grows in there from humid conditions.

It also helps to spray it into all the outlets on the dash, fan off, let it run down into the duct work. Smells a little but smells better than the musty/moldy smell.

frodin1

There have been multiple threads on this. The problem is that the intakes are in different spots for different vehicles. I also heard that Lysol works too.

habanero

Most people blame it on the dog.

Ironmike4x4

I usually tell customers to help prevent this to turn the knob to "outside air" and run just the vent alone or put the temperature to the middle of hot and cold and let it run for awhile to dry out the evaporator core better. But since you already have the problem you can either pay an insane price and have a technician do it or just to to an autoparts store and buy an evaporator deoderizer kit (not sure of the true terms) but you'll need to unclog the drain first because the smell WILL come back if it's clogged. Then proceed to the steps of killing the mold and bacteria with the kit. At my work we charge over $300 for this and even have to add an auxillary fan to prevent future problems.

fullmann

it doesnt smell like the usual mold/musty smell, more like an old gas smell. I'm allergic to mold and dont have any typical alergy symptoms, so im pretty sure thats not it, unless this is some super mold that im not allergic to.

the drain works good, as there is a nice puddle below the drain on my driveway.

it only seems to happen when im driving in really hot weather, in stop and go traffic, for a while (like an hour or two). regular highway driving doesnt make it happen, even when I stop at lights briefly. its like the smell is triggered by slow driving, and once it starts, highway driving only gets me ahead of the smell until I slow down, then it catches up with me.

I may check into some deoderizer/mold killer type stuff, I figure it cant hurt.

anybody have any good recomendations for the proven winner at making the smell go away???

Ironmike4x4

Let me ask you this... are you running the AC on recirculate or outside air? If outside air then you may be picking up the smell from somewhere either outside or in your engine. You are saying stop and go traffic. I'm highly assuming you are running the outside air selection. If you do not have a problem with the drain or mold; again I would dare say you are picking up the outside traffic smell or your own engine (not sure where the intake air for Toyota's AC system is mounted).

fullmann

doesnt seem to matter if its recirc or fresh, but i'll check that next time I drive just to be sure.

ironmike, tell me more of this aux fan to dry out the evaporator core... where to put it and what size?

any other info on deoderizer/cleaner stuffs??

toyotatom93

Run some seafoam thru it.

I have the same, well more moldy smell in my golf's ac system. Letting it dry out by running just the fan seems like the best way to tone it down. I have never tried cleaners or deodourizers but seems like thats the best thing to try.

Caffeine

Has anyone else tried this with success? My 4runner smells like feet when the AC is on.

CyMoN

my truck stunk like cigs when I bought it the PO smoked I opened up the ac coil box and sprayed it down with a commercial cleaner like simple green the one I used was a bath tub cleaner with lots of bleach in it also sprayed down the heater core let it set for 5 min then sprayed it with hot water.
and that took care of all of the smells my truck had.
cascade liquid dish soap works well for built up cig tar
( I used to have clean electric air cleaners in smoking lounges at a few factory's)at first we used pink coil cleaner witch was sulfuric acid and if you did not dilute it enough it would eat up the aluminum plates on the air cleaners.
one night I was watching something on TV about how dish soaps work and cascade has a reverse ionization ingredient in it well the soap did the same thing for less money and was safe to use.

Lysmachia

LOL! Seafoam will cure anything

locked stock 84

Hey, I'm getting the same smell in my subaru, it's kinda funky almost sweet? As soon as I saw your post,
I knew you were talking about the same smell. Haven't found a cure, but I know exactly what you are talking about!

Ironmike4x4

I personally have not yet put the auxillary fan inside the housing. I was just remembering a GM Air Conditioning training class in which that was mentioned. I will ask someone in the shop tomorrow and even look up on GM's Service Information and see what I can find out. Remember that I'm only going by General Motors guidelines, Toyotas may be and usually are different. Thank goodness so!