Paculdo

I was willing to pay $100 for the cabin filter, but they are charging $180 for cleaning up the A/C (whatever).. I was told that this (cleaning) needs to be done (recommended) every year.. not part any warranty since the car is already at 20k miles (they might do it under warranty if the car is less than 10k miles).. any advise where I can get this done? Wifey and kids complain of the sour smell everytime i start the A/C (a few seconds only though, then it goes away)..

Guilty

Well... Open the windows for 30 secs when you start the car... They won't notice the smell.

Paculdo

it still stinks though.. but then it stinks to pay $280 (plus taxes) to get this stink away!!!

Guilty

Exactly!

rory breaker

As I recall, my SA said they do it the first time for free under warranty. Whatever they did, it cleared it up. This was probably 18 months having the car.

Edit - $180 and once a year??? Find a new dealer, what a-holes.

bluejae

efiftyfizzle

What I do is I lower all the windows when I first start the car, turn the A/C to the lowest fan speed setting and let it do that for about 20 seconds or so. Then start turning the fan speed up and raise the windows... problem solved.

AMGangster

Go to Napa and get the filter for roughly 30$ and change it yourself. It is about as easy of a DIY you can get for this car being located up under the dash behind the glove box.

Then get some disinfection spray (Lysol) and go to town in the vents. I actually take a bit of Lysol and spray the new filter to suck it all through the system.

Paculdo

^^ I'll do that today.

Any size/brands for the cabin filter? sorry newbie on all of this so wanting to make sure i buy the correct size/brand/part, etc

Thanks!!!

Paculdo

^^ Hey he's from Houston TX.. might as well pay this guy a visit (to install my coilovers!)

I'll do the Lysol thingy when I get home!


Thanks!!

AMGangster

Just ask for an in-cabin air filter for a 20** C class Benz.

cptdaz

Nice find. Thanks. I will have to do that after I swap out the cabin filter because my car does stink if I turn on the AC. Anyone know where I can find the DIY for cabin filter change?

2012C63AMG

Link above is for ozium air sanitizer, this site just makes it say amazon.com

Turn the car off, put all the windows down, turn the A/C off, turn the vent only setting to high speed, then spray where the air intake is on bottom half of the windshield..

Dont use too much this stuff is strong, fixes the mold issue build up by killing it.

Any disinfectant spray will work but IMO ozium is crazy strong.

Paculdo

+1 on the DIY.. i've read some threads that its a PITA???.. but couldn't find any DIY..

roadtalontsi

its pretty easy to change but i work on benz's for a living. The odor is from the mold/bacteria forming in the evaporator case. Whenever your a/c has been ran, all the water/moisture stays in the dark case which causes this to happen. Unfortunately for you being in houston that is probably one of the worst places for humidity. My dealer - only charges .5hr = 60$ + cost of filter for this service.

Paculdo

^^ thanks (roadtalonsi).. the SA said they need to do a bacterial flush of the evaporator.. it's just ridiculous how much he charged me.. i was so upset i told him i'll just find a mechanic that could just do exactly that.. i mean, as i mentioned i know the filter for $100 is already too much and i even asked for an oil change (which they charge for $130) just so to give 'em (more work.. err money) but i said forget it..

he also said, its not just because its a c63 but pretty much a common thing from even the older mb cars.. i told him this is not my first mb, and i didn't have this problem before. unfortunately, my old SA doesn't work on there anymore so this is pretty much a new guy handling my account :-(

** now thinking about it, i might ask around other dealership and see if they'll give me a better deal.. otherwise, i'll do the lysol/anti-bacterial spray for the temporary fix

thanks again

JonMBZ

$180 is not that much money in the dealership world don't know why you are putting yourself through this much trouble over a little bit of money. I wouldn't spray lysol it needs to be cleaned out. It's like spraying lysol on a dog turd. I also wouldn't put aftermarket trash in my car. You can find the OEM cabin filter for $35 on parts.com or at the parts counter for $50

Paculdo

^^ thanks for the advise.. but i'm one those those people who do think that $280 (with the cabin filter) is too much

roadtalontsi

well it is a somewhat common problem in humid regions. On the older cars there was actually a sheet you had to return to parts with the old cabin filter when you performed this under warranty. the check list was a joke. It said to describe the odor lol.... your choices were like
biological odor - garbage
soil earth mushrooms
wildlife/zoo animals/ urine
onions
other

i seriously thought it was a joke when i was told about it. I used to select other and put foot smell. lol thats what most people describe it as.

If you turn the a/c off and blow some heat out before turning the car off it should help some what.

2012C63AMG

I live in a place that is 10% humidity and it rains about 8inches a year and I still get the smell.. Every mercedes I have ever had has had it.. Again ozium is the way to go cheap and easy and solves it for a month or two.

Doanster

I use 1Z Klima Cleaner and it works quite well. The long tube that's included allows the foam to actually reach the evaporator/condenser via the center vent.
There have been mulitple threads/debates on this over in the regular C-Class forum. The true solution is to never allow moisture to remain in the system. Simple solution would be to turn off the A/C a mile or two before reaching your destination, which would allow the fan to dry the system out. Obviously, this isn't feasible in hot climates.
I've always contended that MB should just implement the "after blow" feature that Volvo (and perhaps other manufacturers) has. The car senses that the A/C has been run, so 15mins after the car is parked, it turns the fan on full blast to dry out the system. After 8yrs of owning my Volvo, I've never had A/C odor problems.

AMGangster

I bought the NAPA air filter for $30 and it is exactly the same quality as the MB OEM filter, absolutely no difference.

If you can remove 3 (maybe 4) screws from under the glove box then you can complete this DIY. I'm pretty sure the NAPA filter even came with instructions on how to replace it.

kechy

So to recap, in addition to changing the in-cabin filter, there seems to be 2 options that have worked for people?

1. Spray ozium/lysol into the intake vent at the exterior base of the windshield with fan on high as per the above youtube video, and/or

2. Spray the foamy klima-cleaner into the interior center vent as per the manufacturer's instructions.

The stink in my car is so bad I guess I'll try both, unless anyone has had a bad experience with either method.

linjy2

Thanks for the idea... I'm going to have to try the spray or foam whatever. Mine smells too.

_timothy

mine does this too

i like to put my face right against the AC vent and hyperventilate when the car first starts