Axxis22

So every time I start the car, the A/C smells bad. Like some kind of humid smell. What settings you guys leave it on.. Auto and AC? or just AC?

What am I doing wrong, the car is only 2 months old

skahung

I had the same problem with my new car also. After using the AC, leave the fan on 1 so that it'll blow all the moisture out.

richardsayzz

same here ...it goes away after a while...and I heard that you should turn on your A/C every week to prevent mold buildup...is that true

skahung

is true....you'll be growing Wild Mushrooms in your vent

do a search, it was mention here before

richardsayzz

like the ones in super mario bros. ?

Saprissa

that's right....
this same topic seems to creep up every summer when the temps get hot in Cali !

ctC230K

yeah now i remember the first few times i used the AC in my car it smelled awful but now it's just fine

pookie

i had the same problem. i took it to the dealer and they sprayed something that would kill off the mold. after that, i have not had the problem since. btw, every mercedes my family got had this problem. i don't know why.

Axxis22

ahh ok, sounds good. So its just at 1st.. Should I just wait it out, or can I do anything?

skahung

just use your AC/Fan more...the smell will go away

Axxis22

thanks

CitronC230K_03

i sold the mushrooms i grew in my vents.

bought COMAND with it.

Saprissa

that's entrepreneurship !

i've actually never had the funny A/C smell in any of my MB's.
- I wonder why the new ones are so prone to that ?
- are they using some new sort of refrigerant ???
- will i grow a third arm in 20 years ?

see what these posts lead me to: EXTREME PARANOIA !

damn it people and your fungus filled A/C vents !

CitronC230K_03

im sure 20/20 or dateline will have some special on it in 15 years.

"mercedes owners and their third arm"...............tune in Thrusday at 10pm.

skahung

:p

psk145

mine doesnt do that.....BUT it smells like mold everytime I wash the car. After its dry, I get in and it just smells nasty. I have to turn ON the AC to clear out the smell. I dont think its coming from the AC since it already sticks before I turn the car on

Tishers

Are you running your air conditioning on recirculation or outside air?

I have had this problem in cars, off and on for several years. It seems that as long as I keep the moisture content in my car down there isn't enough moisture in the system to grow molds and fungus in the ductwork.

I don't drive with my windows down so there isn't a constant stream of damp summer air that is condensing out when it hits the coils. Also I normally run my car on recirculated air so there is not so many exchanges with the damp, hot outside air.

I live in the south and summer starts in April and runs to November. Humidity is always 80-100% and the air is filled with all sorts of living things (fungi, molds).

When it's 90 degrees outside with a humidity of 90% and you bring that air into your car and chill it to 70 degrees the dew point will be reached and there will be condensation in the air conditioning unit, ducts and car.

I think there are some commercially available mold killer-inhibitors but you need to be careful not to poison yourself or ruin the finish in your car. A quick google search turned up the following; (I don't advocate anything)

http://www.dwd2.com/docs/DWD2_Products.htm

You should keep your indoor humidity to less than 45% to decrease the chances for fungi to take a grip.

What I hadn't considered until this posting is the possibility of using ozone to kill off (sterilize) your ducting. In one of the applications that I work with we use ozone generators to sterilize municipal water systems. There are some of those plug in ozone generators but I do not know of their efficacy.

For the ozone systems we do there is a conversion efficiency of around 10% (21% O2 in the atmosphere, 10% efficient is around 2% O3 (ozone)).

The downside of ozone is that in quantities effective enough to clean out your ducts would also bleach out the interior of your car, corrode metals and make you quickly get the heck out of your car. (it's like suffocating, been there done that, got exposed to 2% ozone, never again)

Look at the commercial cleaners I guess.

(I digress alot, sorry)

str8clownr

i havnet had that problem and im from miami too...

pookie

this is a potential route but if your warranty has not expired, don't buy anything. just go to the dealer and the tech will spray that fungicide (or whatever the hell it is) for you. if anything happens, it will fall under the liability of the dealership. it takes 5 min to fix.

dgwee

I find the opposite to be true...
If I switch off the AC and leave the fan on, the smell appears.
If I leave the AC on all the time there is no smell. Where I live the humidity is 90% all year round.
Go try both methods and see which one works for you.

tyro

No. Like the the psychadelic one's in the 1970's.
Some of us are still alive

tyro

One of the smartest members on this board.
Thank God for women!

Saprissa

Chong

mleskovar

Same here. I have the charcoal air filter and leave it always on as well.

shorthair

Unfortuntely this is a very common problem a mentioned in many places on the forums. It happens a bit a W211, (they put out a TSR for that) and quite often in the C class. I drove a 2005 W203 with 3k miles about two weeks ago and it reeked!

If you complain and they try Ozium, you will get Ozium smelling mold for a few weeks. The next best thing is for them to use the disenfecting foam, DWD2 cleaner (part number 200-009-50-83). That will actually work for a while but it doesn't fix the underlying problem of moisture collection.

If you have a "REST" button, push that religiously every time you shut the car off. It helps to get rid of the moisture.

I had my car in 5 times for this recurring smell. Last week they said that they will do a one time evaporator replacement. (MB will authorize in cases of repeated issues.) I was going to do the one time replacement last year, but wanted to give the DWD2 cleaner one more chance as they have to take apart the whole dashboard to do this and I am afraid I will have squeaks and rattles in the dash when they are done. It bugs the heck out of me knowing I am inhaling all those mold spores so I am going to do it.

Note: They said it was good timing that I asked for it now, as they have a newly redesigned evaporator for this that is coming from Germany. Should be here soon.

Can anyone verify that they truly have new part to address this problem?