Strange Smell From Aircon

[nokia]

hi motoring folks,

i sent my 2 yr old Vigo for servicing at the Toyota dealer. After the servicing, there was a strange smell, whenever i switch on the aircon, and the smell will disappear after a few minutes. I went back to the dealer, and the thai mechanic said the reason for the smell was because the bonnet was too hot. I dont understand, as i get the smell even after a cold start, parked all night in the garage. Any experts out there? Could there be a dead rat somewhere in the bonnet?

[Lickey]

Perhaps they were a bit careless changing the fuel filter, and dropped fuel all over the bulkhead insulation, this will soak in with the acumalated road dirt ect, A detergent wash should take this away, but if using a jet-wash, keep it away from electrical stuff, hope this helps.

[Tony Clifton]

Take it back.

What does it smell like?

[LivinLOS]

Funny smells in the heating / ventilation can be caused from a gone heater matrix (heat exchanger thingamabob) and is especially noticeable if your using proper coolant instead of water.

I had an old audi that had this smell that I could never get rid of.

[bazmlb]

I dont think the vigo has a heater so thats unlikely, what is more likely is mould from a blocked drain tube in the evaporator box, quick way to get rid of that smell is a spary that has disinfectant in it like Glen 20, sprayed in the inlet to the system usually under the dash on the passenger side.

Is the smell there on both recirc and fresh?

[stingray]

What kind of smell? Sometimes animals like mouses go into the air system and die. It can be a smelling liquid for example from a cat, tat came from your windscrean and dripped down to your vents and go to the AC Box. In this case it ie very hard to get the bad smell out.

[nokia]

It's a strange, unpleasant smell, unlike the fresh air that you expect when you switch on the air-cond. Tried switching to fresh air from recirc but the smell's there for the first few minutes, and it's gone after that. Leave the truck for a couple of hours, start the engine, & air-cond, and the smell's back for a few minutes.

The toyota mechanic asked if the smell was intermittent when driving, but since it's not, so he thought it's no problem. Will probably wait for the next servicing before check/topup aircon gas etc. Maybe they were careless in the last servicing like what Lickey said.

[LivinLOS]

I know someone said the vigo has no heater so that does knock my suggestion out but thats exactly the kind of symptom I had with my audi heat exchanger smell..

Slightly sweet chemically smell from the coolant cooking off.. Worst at startup and initial use.