KBar

I have an 86 4runner, just fired up my a/c since its getting hot down here in mississippi and it smells like wet dog or urine. Is there a cabin filter on the 86? Could I install one? Ideas on getting rid of musty smell?

TrikeKid

There's no cabin filter and no good place to put one. There are a few products on the market that you can spray into the cowl vents that will kill the bacteria that's causing your smell problem. Make sure the water drains on the heater box are clear, if they aren't you're trapping moisture and promoting your bacteria/mold growth.

Toy3sgte

iTrader: (1)

Make sure a mouse didn't crawl into your cowl and die or take a dump

KBar

thanks guys I 'll check when the rain stops

BigWavePaul

iTrader: (1)

The air box will get musty if your recirculate option is on. Some cars call it Max A/C, but on our trucks it's the icon on the control panel that shows an arrow coming into the cab from the outside and an arrow that recirculates in the cab. If you leave the recirculate option on too long, the moisture cannot dry up in the evaporator box and it will grow mold. There is an opening on the box that the recirculate option uses to draw air from inside the cab. Turn the option on and listen around your evaporator box. Pickup some evaporator box cleaner and spray it inside the in-cab opening, or just run your system to draw the outside air in until all of the stinch and mold dries out and dies.

Basically, you need to open your evaporator box up to some outside air and maybe even buy some cleaner to spray into it to clean the junk out that grew inside of it.

There is also a drain tube on the bottom of the airbox. It can get clogged with mold, so check it with something like pipe cleaner to see if your evaporator box drain tube is draining the condensation properly.