HVAC smell...

[jamesbilluk]

Hi all,

Sorry another question...

I've started to notice, when first starting up the car, there's a smell of sulphur/egg coming from the vents, this does go away, but seems to come back, could this be coming from th epollen filter, or maybe the catalytic converter into the vents?

James

[Lig]

Hi James,

Never smelt this so cant really help, but yes sulphur usually is the cats, however the pollen filter is a 2 min easy job to replace and costs about a tenner, so worth changing.

Cheers,
Lig.

[jamesbilluk]

Cheers Lig, have purchased a pollen filter, will give that ago, seems very strange when it comes and goes, I thought I was going crazy, but the other half noticed it too. Bit annoying as the car smells very nicely of leather!

[Lig]

Yeah, see how it goes. Its unlikely that the pollen filter will fix it (unless maybe there is no filter in there)??? But if it continues after a few miles, I would take it back for the dealer to check out. Could it be that the dealer has had it for a while and so it hasn't seen much use and after you have started to use it and put on a good few miles it might just clear?????!!!!

I am sure it will have at least 3 months warranty....??

Cheers,
Lig.

[jamesbilluk]

I think the pollen filter sorted it, this is the old one on the left that came out, compared with the new one, no idea when this was last changed! It seems to have made the the system work less hard too,

[wildbore]

Sounds most likely to be bacteria breeding in the A/C ducting. A sour, mouldy smell is quite common at this time of year. They sell "Air Conditioning Bombs" in Halfords that can often solve the problem, but they don't always work.

You can minimise the possibility of this re-occurring by never turning the A/C off, but you can still get it, even then.

[jamesbilluk]

Second day of driving, and the smell seems to have dissipated Have purchased the Autoglym Air conditioner bomb though just to make sure..

[zaina1]

You should contact car service company or you may contact to ac maintenance in Dubai otherwise your ac became damaged.

[WalkeRS6]

If it is persisting... I have an alternative solution.
Buy a tin of Dettol "All in one" spray.
Remove pollen filter.
Run vehicle.
Set fan to max fan & cool with air con on, but no re-circ.
Spray Dettol in short bursts (3-4) into the gap that housed the pollen filter.
Cycle through the air vent options and use a 1-2 bursts of spray for each air vent setting.
Repeat above with re-circ on.
Install new pollen filter.
Run vehicle & get it hot (If it isn't already).. Then let it do its thing for at least 5 mins after, air con on, but - Max heat and doors closed, to dry out the system a bit.
it will take 1-2 days driving for the treatment to work all the time, but the stink should go after that....
I've had good results doing the above with various makes of cars & vans.

[eng33]

Just had the exact same issue on my 2016 Allroad, I also convinced myself if was a leaking cat / exhaust or the HVAC system, and removed the pollen filter but this was clean and odour free. The fix? The washer bottle! Washer fluid had gone stagnant, after draining / flushing out, and refilling with fresh water and concentrate, smell completely gone. Yes, i wouldn't have thought it was this either! Still not really sure how it was possible, but the washer bottle filler is right next to the HVAC intake on C7 A6's, so maybe the cap was leaking slightly.