For the last two days, whenever I start my MCS after sitting for an extended amount of time, a noxious fume comes out of the vents. It smells like morning breath. It goes away after I run the A/C for a while. Any ideas?
Here's some other facts:
I live in the South.
Its parked inside: either overnight in my garage or in the parking garage at work
It's the standard A/C.

 

It could be mold in the vents, thats happened to me with other cars. Or it could just be cuz you live in the south

 

Should I just spray a little lysol or bleach/water in the vents?

 

Hey! I have this too! Not that I'm proud of it or anything, but... Ya, once I start my car up for the day, the a/c smells as if its blowing, well, ah, b.o. into the car for about a minute. This goes away after the consecutive times I start the car the same day. I'm taking it to the dealer next week.

 

I don't know if this is your culprit, but try turning the AC off prior to shutting the car down, then upon start up do not turn it back on until it the car is running. Maybe it will help.

 

Will give it a try and report back. Thanks.
Cooptime. Let me know what the dealer says. Mine dealer is 1 1/2 hours away, I 'll need to take the day off to go there.

 

[bad joke alert!]

How about some MINI-Listerine?

 

Ya, but I just tried the Listerine pocket pack stripes not the mouth wash. I figured they were MINIer. I was shoving them in the bonnet, the air vents... . But seriously, I haven't tried anything to stop it yet.

 

>>I don't know if this is your culprit, but try turning the AC off prior to shutting the car down, then upon start up do not turn it back on until it the car is running. Maybe it will help.

Also, if you turn off the AC and CD player before shutting the car down, it is supposed to extend the life of the battery (not sure if I believe it, but I do it just in case)

 

This is a common occurance with car a/c this time of year now that the humidity is way up and people are using their a/c systems to their fullest.

What's happening is that the water vapor being condensed out of the air by the system is laying stagnant in the evaporator (coil) housing and breeding mold and nasties. This happens after you have parked the car and the cold evaporator coil sits soaked with no airflow over it and the interior (and subsequently the wet coil) gets warm. Depending on what has been trapped along with the condensed water vapor (pollen, mold, dirt, you name it) this becomes a primordial soup that smells like low tide when it begins cooking.

Most cars drain off the water collected by the coil (you see the puddle under the car) but inevitably some will remain. When the hot, humid swampy air gets blown by the a/c fan after sitting for a while, you get that dank air in your face. This smelly residue will disappear eventually when you restart the a/c unit when the condensation of water from the air begins again and washes out the coil.

Not too much can be done depending on your local climate, but it's not a serious problem unless you have allergies. Some have had luck spraying a Lysol-type disinfectant into the air inlet while the system is running. I have found that if you shut off the a/c compressor for a few minutes before you get to your destination (but still leaving the fan running) this helps dry out the system, but it makes for a warm interior. Doing this also prevents the blast of 'steam' that happens on a rainy day and you turn on the defroster only to find it initially fogging up your windshield much worse for the first 30 seconds or so.

As far as saving your battery by shutting everything down, it makes little difference these days with modern cars, which shut everything off anyway once you turn off the key. It does help to not have all these things on when you start the car as to lessen the load on the battery at that crucial time, especially in the winter.

 

got that musky smell too over here in hawaii. even with the gel car freshner around, i can still catch that musky whiff for a minute before fressh air starts circulating. i was beginning to wonder if it was coming from my own farts lingering in the vents.

but humidity and heat does seem to be a factor as the smell is worse during daytime start up.

 

kbseto...remind me not to ride with you on the next MINI Hawaii Cruise!!!!

It very well could be the a/c as Greatbear mentioned. I don't get that musty smell and I hardly ever use my a/c...so there probably is a a correlation between the two.

 

>>got that musky smell too over here in hawaii. even with the gel car freshner around, i can still catch that musky whiff for a minute before fressh air starts circulating. i was beginning to wonder if it was coming from my own farts lingering in the vents.

 

As any Cartalk (the NPR show) fan will know, bad smells from a car's ventilation system is a common plague. Greatbear is exactly spot on as to what the problem is. I have this same problem in my van, but not my MINI. There's really nothing that can be done short of ripping out the guts of the AC system and replacing them with mold/pollen free components. That's impractical since a) you have no idea what's really growing there and it's likely to happen again; b) whatever's growing is likely to die over the winter anyway (assuming you don't live in a year-round tropical climate). Thus, this is just one of those things that happens and hopefully will go away by itself.

Be thankful that there's not really something dead in there (another Cartalk favorite subject). Then you WOULD have to tear apart the dash to get it...and that would be a mucho expensive job not covered by warranty.

 

>>As any Cartalk (the NPR show) fan will know, bad smells from a car's ventilation system is a common plague. Greatbear is exactly spot on as to what the problem is. I have this same problem in my van, but not my MINI. There's really nothing that can be done short of ripping out the guts of the AC system and replacing them with mold/pollen free components. That's impractical since a) you have no idea what's really growing there and it's likely to happen again; b) whatever's growing is likely to die over the winter anyway (assuming you don't live in a year-round tropical climate). Thus, this is just one of those things that happens and hopefully will go away by itself.
>>
>>Be thankful that there's not really something dead in there (another Cartalk favorite subject). Then you WOULD have to tear apart the dash to get it...and that would be a mucho expensive job not covered by warranty.

Yep, GreatBear had very useful info in his post and is exactly right. I sometime 'dry out' the vents before stopping by turning off the AC.

However, in addition to the above given explanation which may be responsible for an occasional light odor that you can eliminate by drying things out, the problem can become more severe if the drain tubes that GreatBear refers to are clogged. This can happen if the referenced primordial soup thickens. In that case, having the dealer open the clogged drainage should help. I don't know where the drain tubes are located in the MINI. SPraying Lysol into the vent intake before any such clogging will probably reduce the incidence of clogging, as will the drying out by means of turning AC off 2 minutes before stopping.
M.

 

I just put an S-Mint in each of the vents when they smell bad..

I thought that was why we got them with the car.. :smile:

 

GreatBear,

Thanks for the excellent response. I learned mucho. Don't know too much about a/c as neither of my MGs have it. And other cars that I drive have had "morning breath" but I never knew why.

 

My wifes Toyota has bad breath as well. She keeps the AC on
recirc too much. It should only be on for a few minutes then
switch to fresh air.

 

Try Ozium spray (in a white/grey/blue bottle), spray some in the intake outside of the car. Most car parts stores sell it...
It kills bacterias and odors, seems to work pretty good, IMHO

 

Of course, you mighta had a mouse crawl up inside the fron cowling and build a small nest and die. That'd smell pretty bad.








Don't laugh, it happened to me. I had to take the entire cowling area apart, which is kinda difficult to get rid of the nest, the crap, the dead mouse, and the dead babies......EW!

 

You will know when the condensate drain becomes blocked. Some may have experienced this before. There will be water dripping from under the dash or unexplained wet carpeting. The system will tend not to work efficiently and the air will seem humid even though it's somewhat cool.

On my '89 Dodge pickup it became chillingly evident that the condensate drain had become blocked during a very long trip down south. I noticed a drop in the performance of the a/c that would be helped somewhat by turning off the compressor for a while then re-engaging it (this is an indication of coil freeze-up, which was my first thought). It became quite obvious it was a flooded coil box when I made a tight right turn onto an exit ramp after a couple hundred miles of nearly straight-line driving and had my feet doused by a torrent of near-freezing water that sloshed out of the coil box and down through the footwell heater outlets. It was NOT a pleasant experience. It scared the crap outta me!

You can find the location of a (functioning) condensate drain by looking under your parked car and under the hood (bonnet) after driving with the a/c running. You will see the water dripping from the drain which is typicaly a rubber or plastic tube pointing down. Periodically poke a pipe cleaner or piece of wire into this to keep it clear, especially if you park under trees or tall bushes. The MINI should not have too much of a problem like this however, since there is an actual air filter in the system. It is helpful for cars not so equipped though.

 

I just took my car in for it's first service. I complained about this problem too. they cleaned and deodorized my HVAC system. They also replaced my filter, which they would have done with oil change anyway. It smells like a new car again!!

 

Great news.

Now, to keep it smelling freah do this when you stop the car.

1) Turn of the AC
2) Turn the fan setting to high
3) Keep it that way for 2-3 minutes while the AC Evaporator
warms up, and dries out a little bit.

I do this for the last 2-3miles of the drive so I can just shut down when
I get there and don''t need to burn gas sitting in a parking lot.

That way, when you shut down the car, you have a better chance of
the evaporator drying out before mold starts to grow.

I have done this on the last two cars I have had, and I don't get the
bad smell.

My wife however does not do this, and her car stinks for a while
just like you described.

 

Okay, according to MINI, the solution for the odor is this...

1. unplug battery for ten minutes.
2. Re-connect battery.
3. Turn ignition switch to 2nd position.
4. Turn on right turn signal while depressing the brake pedal.
5. Lower the passenger window fully then close it.
6. Lastly, press and hold the low tire pressure indicator while you toggle the DSC.

Bingo! Your putrid odor malfunction is reset! Enjoy!

 

I'm in the Atlanta area, and I've got it too... Wife describes it as "car farts". It seems to disappear within just moments of starting the car each day. Hopefully it'll disappear when heater season arrives.