A/C Repair

[DVS143]

The A/C is broken
When i turn the fan on this smell follows immediately
What do i do??

[evil_demon_01]

Is it broken, or does it just smell?
If its broken - whats not working?
What does the smell, smell like?

[drkshdw107]

yes...need some more info on this...same as above...what isn't working...is the air cool...cold...or hot?

[DVS143]

The fan works and blows out cold air.
When i press the ac button nothin happens.
The smell is like maybe a moldy smell??

[ON_N20]

So it blows out cold air, but the A/C button doesnt do anything? Is the air coming out of the vents cold due to the ambient air temperature being cold, or does the ventilation system actually cool the air at all? Are you sure that the A/C does not work at all?

The moldy smell is most likely from mold and mildew forming on the evaporator within your ventilation unit. The evaporator gets cold during A/C use, which attracts moisture (like how a cold can of soda starts to get wet on the outside on a hot humid day) and can cause mold and mildew, especially if the water drain underneath the evaporator is clogged up. They sell "fogger" kits for A/C systems that you can run though the ventilation that will clean and freshen things up. The only other option would be to take apart the ventilation system to physically clean or replace the evaporator.

Also another smell, would be a "sweet" odor, which is coolant. You would smell that if your heater core had a leak, allowing coolant to evaporate into your ventilation.

You (or someone else) will need to distinguish between these smells to make an accurate diagnosis of your problem with the smells. Good luck!

[DVS143]

How do i get to the AC stuff and maybe clean it out??

[ON_N20]

How do i get to the AC stuff and maybe clean it out??

Well if by "getting to the A/C stuff", you mean getting to the evaporator which is probably the source of your smells, its quite an involved process. The entire dashboard will have to be removed (including all the smaller components like your radio, switches, gauge cluster, etc). Once the dashboard is out of the way you can see the whole HVAC (heating, ventilation, A/C) unit on the passenger side of the car. It can be removed, but its kind of a big pain in the ass. If your planning on actually removing (or replacing) the evaporator, you will also need someone to recover and recharge your A/C refrigerant- don't just vent it to the atmosphere its against the law, bad for the enviornment, and refrigerant is expensive.

I would try the A/C fogger idea first since its simpler and cheaper. If that doesn't work, then you can tear into the dash, if you feel up to it. Good luck!

[Puertorican CB7]

The entire dashboard will have to be removed (including all the smaller components like your radio, switches, gauge cluster, etc).

^^ Thats actually not true, I replaced my evaporator recently and I just had to take out the glove box completely and the evaporator sits right behind it.


Just two hoses go to it, so its pretty simple to disconnect, keep in mind that if u still have gas in the lines it could be dangerous so bleed the ac system first..

Good Luck..

[excoupemt5]

take you're car to a shop, and ask them to blow out your a/c drain. Any shop that does A/C work will know what you're talking about. all they have to do is raise the car on a lift and back flush the drain with air, it'll free whatever's clogging it, and allow it to drain. my shop does it for free, b/c it takes about 30 seconds to do...