# Bad a/c smell



## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

Does your Cruze stay on the coldest setting on the dial a lot?

If so, move it up a notch once it gets cold for you. That coldest setting means the car is put into automatic reciruclate, and the next notch up draws in fresh air. This allows mold and crap to grow on the evaporator core. 

About a minute before you're home, cut off the AC and run the fan at 4 to dry out the evaporator core. 

FWIW, I have seen this as a common complaint on Camry forums too. It does the same thing - auto recirculate on the coldest setting.


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## Starks8 (Jul 20, 2011)

Hopefully Chevy will make it so that the re-circulate button actually lights up when on the coldest setting on the upcoming Cruzes, but I wouldn't hold my breath.


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

For years, been switching off my AC compressor about four-five minutes before parking it overnight with the blower at maximum to dry out the evaporator. So far, I have not died from heat exhaustion. A soaking wet evaporator goes to the bathroom on your clean garage floor. Being soaking wet on a warm night, perfect condition for growing mold.

Some GM vehicles actually installed a timer to run the blower motor after the vehicle was switched off to dry out that evaporator. Cruze does not have this feature, so you have to do it yourself.


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## Jim Frye (Mar 16, 2011)

It is a common occurance with cars. It's a build up of mildew inside the AC expansion unit and in the duct work. You can go to an auto parts store and buy a can of AC duct spray for about $3. Follow the directions on the can and it should eliminate the locker room smell. You spray the stuff into the cabin air intake (same place the Cruze sucks in the AF fumes) with the system running. I had it happen in my P5 this year and the spray can resolved it.


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## venom_365 (Jul 10, 2011)

That spray sounds like a good idea, my car seriously smells like my hockey bag, not good, haha, thank u all for the input 


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## Mick (Dec 31, 2011)

Good info. I eliminated the smell by running the AC at highest setting for a while with the windows down. Not sitting in the car of course. But it's good to know how to avoid.


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## coinneach (Apr 10, 2012)

There's a TSB to clear out the locker room feet smell. It takes a while to completely go away after that.


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## Chevy Customer Care (Oct 29, 2011)

venom_365 said:


> Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed an almost sweaty smell coming from the a/c right after u turn it on?? Just starting happening to me since last week
> 
> 
> Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App





venom_365
I would recommend that you have your dealer look into this for you. Please keep me posted and if you have any questions please feel free to contact me anytime.
Thank you,
Stacy Chevrolet Customer Service


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## venom_365 (Jul 10, 2011)

I was able to find a spray at advanced auto parts, and I ended up spaying the cabin filters and outside fresh air vent, plus the inside vents, and no lie, no more smell, just left the windows open to vent the spray smell and its all good 


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## msmith2177 (Mar 14, 2016)

Which is the best spray to use? Name and where found?


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## sedanman (Dec 10, 2010)

msmith2177 said:


> Which is the best spray to use? Name and where found?


Lysol works good and is cheap. Ozium will also work and is only a little bit more expensive.

1. Roll down all of your windows.
2. Turn on A/C on coldest setting, make sure recirculation is off very important! Fan speed medium to high, like 3, 4 or 5
3. Spray Lysol disinfecting spray for 30 to 45 seconds right into the air intake which is located between the windshield and the hood of the car.
4. Turn on the heater.
5. Spray more Lysol into the air intake.

You can find Lysol at most supermarkets and stores that sell cleaning products. Ozium you can find on Amazon.com and Walmart stores.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzYlp9dm7AI


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Here we go again, saw a puddle of water under my kid's vehicle, repeated this again, run your blower motor at least three minutes after switch off the AC compressor. Forgot dad.

Well don't come to me when you get a bad mold odor in your car, or worse yet when your evaporated is eaten away. 

Do you really have to use your AC in town? You won't die, sooner or later you have to get out of that thing and walk. Never use my AC in town, I am still alive.

Ha, what about buying a lawn mower, a rake, or even with a chainsaw with AC. Had to do a lot of lawn and tree trimming without 
AC. When I walk into the door, question whether I should clean myself up or just toss myself in the trashcan. Wife says I should take a shower, have to cool down first, if that water hits me now, will crack like a piece of glass.

Ha, after that 25 mile forced march, just taking off that 65 pound pack and sitting under a shade tree was heaven. Rarely use the AC after a long day at the airport, also heaven feeling the breeze when driving two hundred miles home and in the shade. But sure have to use it when the wife and grandkids are aboard.


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## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

sedanman said:


> Lysol works good and is cheap. Ozium will also work and is only a little bit more expensive.
> 
> 1. Roll down all of your windows.
> 2. Turn on A/C on coldest setting, make sure recirculation is off very important! Fan speed medium to high, like 3, 4 or 5
> ...


For #2 in your list, if you turn it on the coldest setting, it will be on recirc. Refer to post #2 in this thread.


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## sedanman (Dec 10, 2010)

diesel said:


> For #2 in your list, if you turn it on the coldest setting, it will be on recirc. Refer to post #2 in this thread.


Mine doesn't work like that. I have a separate recirc button. 2011 Chevy Cruze LT without the automatic climate control. I can turn the heat knob all the way down and choose to have recirc on or off via the recirc button. Recirc does not come on by itself on the lowest heat setting.


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

Starks8 said:


> Hopefully Chevy will make it so that the re-circulate button actually lights up when on the coldest setting on the upcoming Cruzes, but I wouldn't hold my breath.



Fix is spending $50 and having the dealer activate afterblow feature. The fan comes on and dries out the evap core to prevent future intances of this happening. Future as in if the core is already smelling this won't fix it. 



NickD said:


> Do you really have to use your AC in town? You won't die, sooner or later you have to get out of that thing and walk. Never use my AC in town, I am still alive.


I have bad allergies, I won't die but it's a bit uncomfortable to drive and have eye itch. 



sedanman said:


> Mine doesn't work like that. I have a separate recirc button. 2011 Chevy Cruze LT without the automatic climate control. I can turn the heat knob all the way down and choose to have recirc on or off via the recirc button. Recirc does not come on by itself on the lowest heat setting.


Blue dot = Max A/C = silent Recirc just like floor only in these cars somehow turns on silent A/C. Old cars if you put max A/C or window defrost only on it lit up the AC and or recirc buttons. New cars even with a screen to show the recirc and a/c it's gonna still show off. Recirc isn't 100% recirc because you still need fresh air drawn in to eventually cleanse the air. 

On the Subaru forums they use diluted bleach in a spray bottle but the above products could possibly work. There was also another one floating around the auto parts store but it suggests you spray it into the air vents instead of the cowl for some odd reason.


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## spaycace (Feb 9, 2012)

Merc6 said:


> Fix is spending $50 and having the dealer activate afterblow feature. The fan comes on and dries out the evap core to prevent future intances of this happening. Future as in if the cire is already smelling this won't fix it. .


This worked pretty well on my 2012 Eco ... but I'm not even sure how familiar some GM techs are with the procedure to make it happen. The dealership used "frigi-fresh" back then and performed it under warranty for me. They use a different product now, but I had the same problem on my Cadillac (again taken care of under warranty) and I have a sneaking suspicion the same will be true of the Camaro soon enough ... 



Merc6 said:


> Blue dot = Max A/C = silent Recirc just like floor only in these cars somehow turns on silent A/C. Old cars if you put max A/C or window defrost only on it lit up the AC and or recirc buttons. New cars even with a screen to show the recirc and a/c it's gonna still show off. Recirc isn't 100% recirc because you still need fresh air drawn in to eventually cleanse the air.


In my current vehicles, when I turn on Defrost or mixed Feet/Defrost, the A/C "cycles" on and off, but does not automatically go into re-circulate mode.



Merc6 said:


> There was also another one floating around the auto parts store but it suggests you spray it into the air vents instead of the cowl for some odd reason.


That's so you'll hopefully keep purchasing their product if/when the smell comes back. I actually used a hospital-grade disinfectant spray solution on my Volt to get rid of an awful smell. Sprayed directly into the fresh-air intake under the windshield, it worked like a champ! No more gymbag/parmesan cheese/body odor smells coming from the vents. 

I was seriously thinking about the Seinfeld episode when Jerry let a friend borrow his car, and no matter what he did, couldn't get rid of some awful smell ... to the point that not even a homeless person would take the car! LOL


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Doubt if I would use bleach on aluminum, may end up with a bunch of corrosion unless you could flush it out with lots of water. Wouldn't hurt brass, they don't use that anymore. Here's one product for this purpose, never tried it, never had to and going back over 59 years. Something I picked up mold loves to grow in dark moist regions.










Walmart sells it. Over the years, do not recall reading in any owners manual about running the blower with the compressor off to dry out the evaporator. Is it in the Cruze manual? Never read that section. But if it isn't, sue GM for not telling you in this sue crazy society we live in like not informing us that a hot cup of coffee is hot or pulling an item out of a 450*F oven is also hot. Common sense doesn't seem to exist anymore. 

With early GM vehicles with automatic climate control, was no way to run the blower with the compressor off, so I had to add a power switch in series with the compressor clutch solenoid to switch the darn thing off. In later years, they added that "Economy" that was their round about way of saying the compressor is off, also had switch to put the blower motor at maximum speed.

Took GM long enough to add an AC switch, Japanese cars were doing this way back in the 80's, but still being idiots by switching the compressor on in the defrost mode in particular in the 30-65*F range. Stupid, refrigeration pressures are so low, plus as is the moisture in the air at these temperatures, so all they are doing in this colder weather is wearing out the compressor with women's facial cream PAG oil in it and wrecking the stiff neoprene compressor seal. Like if we don't have enough problems, adding even more. So refused to use defrost in these temperature ranges, never died by opening the driver's window to keep the windshield clear. 

Adding that switch is out of the question with EMI interfering with the rest of the electronics. But access to the firmware code would be the correct way. 

Blower motor draws 20 amps, quite a load on a battery by running it with the engine off, especially if you are leaving it at an airport for a week or two. Do be done right, you have to do it yourself.


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

NickD said:


> Doubt if I would use bleach on aluminum, may end up with a bunch of corrosion unless you could flush it out with lots of water. Wouldn't hurt brass, they don't use that anymore. Here's one product for this purpose, never tried it, never had to and going back over 59 years. Something I picked up mold loves to grow in dark moist regions.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Afterblow doesn't last that long, only car I know of doing that was Prius with an upper trim level and solar panel(s). here is what I was able to find for afterblow. At times I forgot its even active and the fan will be running when I walk by it.

I will try and see if that stuff exist, need to clean mine eventually. 



> Afterblow Enable Procedure
> The afterblow mode can be enabled using the scan tool. The afterblow mode allows the blower motor to operate after the engine has been turned off. This operation of the blower motor dries the evaporator core, which reduces the amount of microbial growth which can create undesirable odors.
> 
> Use the following procedure in order to enable the afterblow mode:
> ...


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

Searches lead me back to these post of a Lordstown "At the time" interior assembler. I didn't get to reach out to him when we went this year 



chevycruzeassembler said:


> The drain is on passenger side. If ur sittin in front passenger seat look at the plastic closeout piece by ur left foot. Remove and you will see hose





chevycruzeassembler said:


> View attachment 82610
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Interesting, have to learn if this is in my Cruze shop manual, does have one minor disadvantage, your Cruze will go to the bathroom all over your garage floor.

Could have included this routine as part of the radio configuration, but then your dealer wouldn't make an extra money. Guess four minutes isn't too bad, at 20 amps, would only discharge the battery about 1.3 AH. Cruze sure has space for a much larger battery.

Thought about buying a GM Tech II scanner with the ABS module, last time I checked, $5,600.00 is a bit too much, could also subscribe to get the firmware due to a California supreme court law, but $1,500.00 per year per vehicle also was a bit too much. What is difficult is trying to find a dealer you are willing to get into bed with.

Did find one that would charge 20 bucks for a scan, and 80 bucks for a complete reflash. You may think that car is yours since you paid a small fortune for it, but it is not. Blame the EPA for this.


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## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

The one thing I can say for sure is the bad smell went away in mine once I stopped turning to the coldest setting, and using one notch up from there. That evidence strongly suggests that the coldest setting keeps it in recirc mode and allows for mold/mildew growth leading to the smell.


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## sedanman (Dec 10, 2010)

They should put ultraviolet LED lights shining on the evap core. UV kills most germs, though I'm not sure how effective it would be against those particular ones.


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## Rivergoer (Mar 30, 2017)

*Ozium*



sedanman said:


> Lysol works good and is cheap. Ozium will also work and is only a little bit more expensive.
> 
> 1. Roll down all of your windows.
> 2. Turn on A/C on coldest setting, make sure recirculation is off very important! Fan speed medium to high, like 3, 4 or 5
> ...


Has anyone used Ozium? There are two kinds...the spray or the vented canister...which is best?

Trying to rid my Cruze of an awful stale “New Car” fragrance lingering from a recent car wash.


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