Sour smell when starting A/C - stealership charges $180 + $100 for cabin filter
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Joined: Nov 2007
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From: Lone Star State
06 CTT-S
Sour smell when starting A/C - stealership charges $180 + $100 for cabin filter
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)..
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From: NA
Yes
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.
Edit - $180 and once a year??? Find a new dealer, what a-holes.
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Joined: Jun 2012
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From: Maryland
W212 E63 AMG S Model
What I do is I lower all the windows when I first start the car, turn the A/C to the lowest fan speed setting and let it do that for about 20 seconds or so. Then start turning the fan speed up and raise the windows... problem solved.
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2010 C63
Go to Napa and get the filter for roughly 30$ 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.
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.
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Thread Starter
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Joined: Nov 2007
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From: Lone Star State
06 CTT-S
I'll do the Lysol thingy when I get home!
Thanks!!
Last edited by Paculdo; Nov 1, 2012 at 05:18 PM.
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home the point
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2012 C63 AMG
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.
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From: Lone Star State
06 CTT-S
+1 on the DIY.. i've read some threads that its a PITA???.. but couldn't find any DIY..
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From: Texas
10 C six trizzle
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.
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From: Lone Star State
06 CTT-S
^^ 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
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
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From: California
06 C55, 09 E350
$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
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From: Texas
10 C six trizzle
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.
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.
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2012 C63 AMG
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.
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C300 Sport 6MT
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.
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.
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2010 C63
$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
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.
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From: IL
04 G500, 09 C63
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.
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.
