As long as the A/C is on, it's fine. But when I go back to outside air I get this very musty, sour kind og smell out of the vents. If I roll down the windows and put the fan up to full it takes about 5 minutes for the smell to go away.

I suspect that it might be a filter that has gotten funky or maybe there is some residual water in the system that has gone foul. Has anyone else had this problem? I didi a search of the forums, but didn't come up with anything.

Thanks

 

Sounds like there's an issue with mildew somewhere in the A/C ducts. Besides checking the filter, one way to resolve the problem is to spray Lysol anti-bacterial spray into the air re-intake vents while running the A/C system in the re-circulating mode. Do this several times and that should help to eliminate the mildew causing the smell. :smile:

 

where is the air re-intake vent located?

 

>>where is the air re-intake vent located?

In most cars, they're usually located around the footwell region. I believe the MINI should be the same. :smile:

 

I've heard stories from local owners about foul smelling filters (dirty socks if I remember), but that should affect the AC, too, right???

 

I'm having the same problem. I heard the guys on Car talk say something about a product called Frigi Fresh. I stopped by my local Pep boys and they had a similar product (I threw it away and can't remember what it was called). But it was a little spray container with a plastic hose. It sprays a foam-like substance into the recirculating air-vents and into the vents coming from the outside. It's supposed to coat everything and prevent the mold from accumulating.
I tried it out this weekend. After doing some experimenting with a tissue, It appears that the intake vents inside the car are actually up on the dash and not on the floor board. Does that sound right?
On the outside. I couldn't directly find the vents under the intake filters under the windshield so I just sprayed it as close i could to where I felt air going in (I had the A/C on full blast).
It seems to work so far - it will take a couple of weeks to determine if its a long-term fix.
My 4-yr old daughter says the MINI smells like Krispy Kreme donuts now, much better than stinky-feet

 

I'm curious about something, do you all have the automatic air conditioning or the regular A.C.?

 

I have the regular AC and I live in the ever-humid city of New Orleans.

 

These work nicely.

 

danke. :smile:

>>>>where is the air re-intake vent located?
>>
>>In most cars, they're usually located around the footwell region. I believe the MINI should be the same. :smile:
>>

 

>>I'm curious about something, do you all have the automatic air conditioning or the regular A.C.?

BTW, the reason I ask is that I have 2 MINI's and one has auto AC, the other regular. The auto doesn't smell, the regular does.

The auto AC comes with a special micro-filter or something like that. I wonder if that has anything to do with it?

 

I have the auto A/C and it smells. I think that I will try the duct coating stuff and do a good clean out to see if it helps. The smell is really sort of disgusting right now and I want to get it handled before summer.