Oxygen

I noticed a foul smell in the car about 3 days ago but brushed it off.

The next day it smelled horrible, so I ripped the car apart and there was nothing anywhere. There is a smell of rotting flesh..

I took apart all of the filters (outside air and charcoal) and nothing smells bad. I finally traced it down to only the rear vents on the center console. I have rear A/C so it has a separate blower for the rear.

Question - where does the rear blower pull the air from? How could anything have gotten in there and died?

mrbenzes

Im pretty sure that is a self contained unit and pulls air from under the car at the tunnel...I havent torn into mine...maybe something crawled under there and was killed by the driveshaft...can you smell it outside the car? Also could be a mouse got in there and died.
Mike

Oxygen

Mike,

Thanks for the reply... I was looking at this document: http://www.mercedestechstore.com/pdf...2010-30-02.pdf

It's not too detailed about the airflow for the rear unit. I can't really smell anything outside the car but I have not jacked it up yet to check underneath.

mrbenzes

What a great document...I saved that dude for the archive....You might make sure the smell is blowing out of the unit and not under or in the seats...I bet a mouse got somewhere and died..that smell will last for several months unless you can find the little bugger...I have them die in may garage occasionally and the smell almost never goes away without removing the body.

Oxygen

Trust me, I did SO much sniffing around that I know exactly where the smell is coming from.

The smell comes ONLY if the rear blower is switched on, regardless of temperature and even happens in REST mode.

If you put your nose to the rear vent with it off, you can notice it slightly but if you turn it on it's pretty much vomit inducing.

I guess I have to come home and tear that thing to pieces.

Oxygen

Looking at this picture, I believe there is no fresh air inlet to the rear, looks like the blower pulls it's air from inside the center console:

mrbenzes

I agree from the pic, there may be a place under the seat that a mouse could have entered the system....you may have to take the seat out to gain acces to those vents. Tho older 126 cars had those too, the perfect hiding place for small critters. They should come apart readily with screws once you get the seat out of the way.
Mike

Oxygen

I remember last time I tried taking the seats out in my S600... there was like a million wires and hoses connected to the bottom of it like a cyborg. Not the easiest to take out. I think I should be able to pull the center console out without taking the driver's seat out, this would expose the whole blower assembly.