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I have a Toyota Scion Xb, one of the first ones that look like toasters. It has been a great little car, but recently the AC started to not cool as well as it always had, then a funky mildewy smell cropped up. My husband has done the do-it-yourself route for adding coolant, but the smell remains. We have tried all the easy stuff like airing it out and running the heater full blast to try to dry the system out with no success. There are no leaks or wet spots in the interior either.
I have pretty bad mold allergies, plus who wants to drive a stinky car to work, so I am looking for reasonable solution. Thanks for all knowledgeable replies.
Carol
Carol
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb
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Go to one of the parts stores and purchase a new cabin micro-filter. A little pricey but it does need to be changed from time to time.
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Once you know the local price, check on Amazon.... they have lots of stuff like that.
Royall
Hale O Na Mea Pa`ani
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From your description, I would say some refrigerant has leaked out. When enough leaks out the pressure sensor in the system tells the a/c clutch not to engage. The a/c coil then warms up. Mine is doing that now. Works for a while then quits. When it quits I get a funky musty smell. Also the air stops coming out cold. That's the big giveaway. If the a/c is getting cold the tube leaving the coil and heading back to the compressor will be cold and wet and there will be condensate dripping out beneath the car. Is your a/c cold or not? If not, no amount of filtering will make a difference.
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check the ac relay - lives in the fuse box.
failure prone part - pricey locally - can be had on the internet
very often a give away is no little yellow light in the ac switch...
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Mark,
It was really cold for years, then it wasn't very cold, but not blowing warm, and after a while it got a smell. My husband added refrigerant and it got colder for awhile, but the smell didn't go away. He added more refrigerant and it is now cold, but the smell is still there. I really hate that smell!
Carol
Carol
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb
Posts: 3,188
Threads: 216
Joined: Sep 2007
check the ac relay - lives in the fuse box.
failure prone part - pricey locally - can be had on the internet
very often a give away is no little yellow light in the ac switch...
Posts: 50
Threads: 5
Joined: Oct 2008
quote:
Originally posted by MarkP
From your description, I would say some refrigerant has leaked out. When enough leaks out the pressure sensor in the system tells the a/c clutch not to engage. The a/c coil then warms up. Mine is doing that now. Works for a while then quits. When it quits I get a funky musty smell. Also the air stops coming out cold. That's the big giveaway. If the a/c is getting cold the tube leaving the coil and heading back to the compressor will be cold and wet and there will be condensate dripping out beneath the car. Is your a/c cold or not? If not, no amount of filtering will make a difference.
X2 Good diagnosis MarkP, and one that I encountered before. Still a good idea to change filters periodically in moist and dusty environments.
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How dare you !!! First you hoard all the jobs and money, now you want to hoard all the cold air !!!
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sorry, I couldn't help it.
