Yeah your wife now knows the true meaning of "getting her feet wet" regarding a new Mini.

 

No kidding! We drove almost 200 miles to get the car and only notice the leak when we stopped about 75 miles from home to eat. Those last 75 miles... not so much fun.

 

So I had this issue, started right at 4100 miles...

I took it to the dealer, and it was there for about a week. Apparently it is a known issue with the evaporator and MINI is not sure what the exact issue is. They flew in a MINI engineer and everything to take a look at the car and report his findings.

The solution they seem to have arrived at for the time being was to remove my entire dashboard to get in there, clean and sanitize everything and spray some sort of chemical sealant to try to prevent the issue reoccurring.

I've had the car back for a week and haven't noticed the smell again, but I'll keep you updated if that changes.

Regards,
MidnightF56

 

You basically covered all the issues.. but here is my experience.

I had a 2009 Clubman. I dealt with the musty smell off and on over the year. The dealer found a partially clogged drain line that had some mold growing it. They cleaned/replaced it. Smell went away. Couple years later, same thing. Same fix. However, at that time, a service specialist (or something) was in the dealership. He asked "Do you run recirc on AC?" I said, of course, I'm CA, air quality outside bad! . He said (as been suggested), that I needed to run outside air periodically to eliminate the issue. I did and I never had the issue again.

Interesting note: Just got a 2015 MCS. Manual recirc only stays on for around 10 minutes and kicks back to Auto recirc. Maybe trying to end-run the problem.

 

Well supposedly the Recirc on (A) it intelligently blocks out bad quality air. Meaning it doesnt recirc all the time and that is what i have set up, yet i still am experiencing this problem.


I am gonna try and run my A/C w/o recirc this week and see if it will fix this problem.

 

My experience with Auto recirc in both my 2009 Clubman and so far with 2015 MCS is its a bit slow to "react to bad stuff". I would say it feels about 15 seconds too late. Then the bad smell is already in your cabin, then auto recirc kicks in and keeps the bad stuff in.

Also, running fresh air might not fix the problem if you have the issue already. You may have to address the issue and then the occasional fresh air may keep it from happening in the future.

 

Had the same issue, took it to the dealership. They inspected, they didn't find anything but ordered replacements for the 2 filters. They replaced the filters, and I have any issues since then.

 

Okay...
I bought this from Wal Mart, http://www.meguiars.com/en/automotiv...new-car-scent/

I will use it this afternnon, so we will see if it takes care of this issue i am having....

I didnt turn on my A/C today morning on my way to work. It was just on the FAN setting and i could smell it very faintly when i put my nose up the vent.

To me it smells like sweat or dirty socks lol.
And the smell is MUCH MORE NOTICEABLE during the first minute of starting up.

 

One British F56 owner had a problem with the car suffering from window condensation which was traced to a missing water shield over the heater air intake which meant the pollen filters were getting soaked, holding water that then steamed up the car when started.

I've briefly searched for the forum post but can't find it, so the above is from my leaky memory.

 

Does anyone know where the pollen filter is located?

 

Has anyone just blown plain outside air through it? Turn off the green AC button. Turn the temp wheel to "cold", and run the fan through the duct work for awhile to dry it all out. Also, does anyone know if recirc air goes through the cabin filter, or just outside air?

 

My understanding is all air goes through he filter.

I almost never use the recirculation feature only engage it to cool the car faster. I did have a funny smell for a while, kinda sickly sweet, but it seems to have gone away.

 

If running just the fan to dry it out and the ducts have mold, it's probably better to run hor air instead of cold to dry it better. I did this on my other cars once in a while with the windows all open.

And make sure the air is not directed to the windshield. If you do that, airconditioner automatically runs even though the LED is not lit up.

 

Has anyone found out where are the cabin air filter?

 

Maybe you can find out by looking at these pictures and looking for yours in the car?

HEATER AND AIR CONDITIONING
http://www.etk.cc/bmw/EN/search/sele...Cooper/USA/64/

MICROFILTER/ACTIVATED CARBON CONTAINER
http://www.etk.cc/bmw/EN/search/sele...SA/64/64_2034/

Looks like it should be somewhere under the front passenger dash, like most other cars.

 

I tried looking at those pics... none is very direct towards the question of where it is located.

But i am betting that Micro filter is somewhere BEHIND the engine or under the dash or possibly somehow gain access from the passenger side glove box to change it out.

I looked under the glovebox, did not look like something easy like previous gen.... if it is from there, be ready to remove a lot of stuff to get to it lol


I called my dealer about it, they said they can offer a good will of taking out my dash and cleaning it with chemical.
However i rather not have my dash taken apart, because most of the time removing trim pieces will be the start of rattle and what not, as techs break the tabs while removing and reinstalling.

 

The picture posted in the links above tell a lot. More so the picture of the fresh air grill and its location in the firewall

I'm gonna guess that either they come out the bottom via that little panel and all the way towards the firewall or maybe that hole box is the heater box and its centered and they come out the side with that panel possibly located in the drivers foot well

Not knowing what the dash looks like under there. Those are my guesses.

Sent from my iPad using NAMotoring

 

Bottom line is a pain in the butt to change out....

I know the older gen of VW Beetle have their cabin filter under the dash.
Alot of pieces and bits to remove to get to where it is at.

If that is the case for the F56, it will be even harder and annoying to change out.

 

Looking at the pictures

http://www.etk.cc/bmw/EN/search/sele...SA/64/64_2034/

and

http://www.etk.cc/bmw/EN/search/sele...SA/64/64_2038/

You can see what looks to be the defroster ducts at the top. So looking at the f56 interior, it looks like if you can figure out how to detach the side panel on the right side of the console, the filter is probably located there against the inside firewall.

 

Im take a look at my drain line this weekend when i do my oil change... and see if it is clogged at all.

From the pics it looks like the Filter is right above where the drain line is located on the passenger side... so that might give a better estimate location of where the filter is located.

PS:So there is a cover flap for the cabin filter on the right hand side... So it means it could be accessible from the end of the passenger side dash.

 

Some more pics here: With part numbers for the active carbon and regular ones. Active carbon helps with the smells.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ng-filter.html

 

Found it. Right side of the car (passenger for U.S.). Center console, towards the firewall. Just above the console plate, there is a plastic tab use for the latch. the hatch is plastic, hinges towards firewall, latch towards shifter. You can open the compartment part way without removing the console side and see the filter, but I think you can only remove the filter if the console side is taken off.

It's too cold to do it here, but I can see one screw in the side, either torx or triple square. I'm sure there's more attachments. It's a small panel to remove, just have to figure out the trick.

 

Okay so..... what piece u have to remove to expose the latch?

 

The latch is just above the passenger console side near the firewall, if you have the foot well lights in you Mini, they are attached to the console panel. The door and latch is just above and behind the light. The latch is really just a small plastic tab that is parallel to the firewall. I think I pushed it forward (towards the front of the car) to disengage it. Be Gentle, the tab seems very thin.

The door has crosshatched plastic on it to strengthen it.

 

So u access it by the passenger side footwell?