# Nauseating Smell in AC



## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

Mold?

The lowest temperature setting on these cars means that the car is running in recirculate mode 100% of the time regardless of whether or not the recirc button is pressed. 

Have the dealership clean the evaporator core and ask that they enable the after blow function on the HVAC system. This will run the fan in fresh air mode once the car is shut off for a few minutes to clear excess moisture off the evaporator core.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

I agree - mold. Does it smell somewhat like dirty socks?


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## revjpeterson (Oct 2, 2013)

Knowing the age and mileage of your Cruze might also help in isolating the cause of your problem.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

If it sat on a dealer lot for a while during wet weather mold is very likely. Mine came prefilled with mold. :uhh:


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## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

My guess is that you're missing your HVAC filter or that it has been compromised in some way. They go a long way to preventing the growth of mold in the evaporator.


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

Tomko said:


> My guess is that you're missing your HVAC filter or that it has been compromised in some way. They go a long way to preventing the growth of mold in the evaporator.


Not really. I have to clean our other cars every spring for the same issue; haven't had to do the Cruze yet. 

They mold up if recirculate is used a lot - or exclusively like it is in my car (AC is pretty weak if turned to fresh air). 

I try to turn off the compressor and blast the fan shortly before shutting my car down. My last car had an afterblow feature and it did help quite a bit.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

Afterblow all the way.


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

He was a 2013... too lazy to check but I believe a LS


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## Jim Frye (Mar 16, 2011)

Our '03 Mazda gets this stench about twice a year. It's mold build up in the AC evaporator and there is no cabin air filter. I keep a large can of Lysol spray in the garage and give the cabin air intake about half a can with the AC on full bore. I actually soak the system with so much that it drains out of the drain tube. Yes, the car smells like Lysol for a day, but the mold smell goes away. If the car smells like mold, do you have to treat the cabin filter separately? The new car has one but it's not developed the gym shoe smell after two years yet.


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

Jim Frye said:


> Our '03 Mazda gets this stench about twice a year. It's mold build up in the AC evaporator and there is no cabin air filter. I keep a large can of Lysol spray in the garage and give the cabin air intake about half a can with the AC on full bore. I actually soak the system with so much that it drains out of the drain tube. Yes, the car smells like Lysol for a day, but the mold smell goes away. If the car smells like mold, do you have to treat the cabin filter separately? The new car has one but it's not developed the gym shoe smell after two years yet.


What 03 was that? Miata protege 3/5 MPV Mazda6?


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

The cabin air filter in the Cruze is replaceable. It's behind the glovebox.


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

They have a foaming spray I spray up the evaporator drain tube from underneath the car that will kill it and other junk growing on the evaporator core that can rot it out over the years . 

The tricky part is finding the drain tube.


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

First and last time I took my car to an AC shop was in 1965, was only making seven bucks an hour, this guy charges 35 bucks an hour. Could do anything else on a car except didn't know anything about AC. After fooling around for it for three hours, couldn't find the problem but still charged me 105 bucks. 

Time to learn about AC, purchased gauges, a vacuum pump, and read books, also purchased an electronic leak detector. Purchased a 30 pound container of R-12, was something like 13 bucks.

Learned the evaporator should be in the temperature range of 32-39*F and besides cooling the air, also condenses moisture, and as such leaves the evaporator soaking wet. And perfectly natural with the heat of summer and a wet evaporator to build up mold.

To prevent this, switch off the AC compressor about five minutes before getting there with the blower at maximum, made perfect sense. With a vehicle with automatic climate control and no way to do this, added a switch below the dash to break the compressor solenoid circuit. So can honestly say for the last 50 years, never had mold problems.

Later vehicles had a vent or an economy switch that switch off the compressor so didn't have to add that switch, also a blower override so I could switch that to maximum. Also solved the problem so my vehicles would not go to the bathroom all over my garage floors.

Cruze has an AC switch that can be switched off, but tees me off it still comes on with defrost if the ambient is about around 33*F. Stupid, not much moisture in the air and the compressor oil is and the seal is stiff, a perfect opportunity to develop leaks.

On a car like the O4 Cavalier, could cut that wire to the compressor in the the mode switch, can't do that with the Cruze, a firmware modification with no source code to work with, so don't switch to defrost, just crack the drivers side window. Below 33*F, no problem, ambient sensors keeps the compressor from coming on, as well as the high side thermistor. Pressures drop to nothing at these lower temperatures.

Surprised the manual doesn't tell people this, its like they want you to have not only compressor problems, $$$$$, but mold problems as well. Least on my Toyota's, Nissans, and Honda's, when that AC switch was off, would stay off. Also designed by American Engineers, but the Japanese would listen, not like the idiot marketing people we have in this country. 

But those Japanese jobs were only good for a couple of years, just long enough to have our brains picked. We also developed the hypereutectic piston that added about 15 cents to the cost. Making it possible for a 200K mile engine, our idiots wouldn't hear of it, Japanese ate this up.

Also invented AC and refrigeration, video recording, and digital photography, but in this country with greedy marketing, if you couldn't turn over a project in five minutes, weren't interested. Least the Japanese took that extra five minutes and now they own our communications industry. But also a racist people, if you happened to be white, will always stay at the bottom.

Don't event try to get a patent in Japan, impossible, but our patent office is wide open to them. For every automotive patent the US has, the Japanese have at least ten!


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## Mo Cruze (Aug 29, 2014)

jblackburn said:


> Mold?
> 
> The lowest temperature setting on these cars means that the car is running in recirculate mode 100% of the time regardless of whether or not the recirc button is pressed.
> 
> Have the dealership clean the evaporator core and ask that they enable the after blow function on the HVAC system. This will run the fan in fresh air mode once the car is shut off for a few minutes to clear excess moisture off the evaporator core.


Its a 2013 2lt with 15,000 miles...I guess it does smell moldy not so much like dirty socks. It wierd. All i know is it drives me nuts! So your saying i should stop keeping my AC all the way cold??? im bringing my car in soon for my bluetooth issue so i just tell them also my AC has a nasty moldy smell and i was told the evaporator core needs to be cleaned and to enable the after blow function on the HVAC system???? ANd they will do this for free??


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## Mo Cruze (Aug 29, 2014)

jblackburn said:


> They have a foaming spray I spray up the evaporator drain tube from underneath the car that will kill it and other junk growing on the evaporator core that can rot it out over the years .
> 
> The tricky part is finding the drain tube.


i dont know what or where the evaporator is lol so you get moldy smell too and have to maintain it youself?


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

Mo Cruze said:


> i dont know what or where the evaporator is lol so you get moldy smell too and have to maintain it youself?


A heat exchanger that the car blows air over to make it cold. 

Not on the Cruze, but it would be the same procedure to clean the Cruzes. 

They tried to charge us to clean that cars instead of covering it under warranty - seems like obermd had better luck with his dealer.


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## Jim Frye (Mar 16, 2011)

Merc6 said:


> What 03 was that? Miata protege 3/5 MPV Mazda6?


Silver Protege5.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

Mo Cruze said:


> Its a 2013 2lt with 15,000 miles...I guess it does smell moldy not so much like dirty socks. It wierd. All i know is it drives me nuts! So your saying i should stop keeping my AC all the way cold??? im bringing my car in soon for my bluetooth issue so i just tell them also my AC has a nasty moldy smell and i was told the evaporator core needs to be cleaned and to enable the after blow function on the HVAC system???? ANd they will do this for free??


Since you're under the B2B warranty they should do it for free. GM has a mold/mildew removal kit. Also have them turn on the HVAC Afterblow. Afterblow acts like hair dryer and runs the cabin blower on high for a few minutes after you turn off the car and walk away.


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## Mo Cruze (Aug 29, 2014)

So the HVAC afterblow is off unless you ask them to turn it on? whats the reasoning behind that? ill see what they say...


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

Mo Cruze said:


> So the HVAC afterblow is off unless you ask them to turn it on? whats the reasoning behind that? ill see what they say...


Probably so people don't freak out about the fan running after the car's shut off.


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## Green (May 14, 2014)

jblackburn said:


> Probably so people don't freak out about the fan running after the car's shut off.


The next owner of vehicle does freak out because they think somethings wrong, have seen it posted elsewhere more then once.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

Afterblow can kill your battery if you do primarily short distance driving (< 15 minutes at a time). This is the reason it's not on by default.


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## revjpeterson (Oct 2, 2013)

jblackburn said:


> They have a foaming spray I spray up the evaporator drain tube from underneath the car that will kill it and other junk growing on the evaporator core that can rot it out over the years .
> 
> The tricky part is finding the drain tube.


Sounds like an opportunity for someone to break out a camera and do a DIY thread.


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## Mo Cruze (Aug 29, 2014)

revjpeterson said:


> Sounds like an opportunity for someone to break out a camera and do a DIY thread.


 read my mind....

Yea i dont know about the Hvac thing if its gonna be messing with my batttery..Be better off learning how to clean it myself! is it easy???? DIY thread please!!!


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

I've had HVAC after blow turned on for over a year and a half and I'm still on my factory battery. It's not that after blow messes with the battery - it's just one more drain while the engine is turned off. The blower motor on high draws a significant amount of power.


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## Sunline Fan (Jul 29, 2012)

obermd said:


> Afterblow all the way.


That's what he said?


Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App


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## Mo Cruze (Aug 29, 2014)

obermd said:


> I've had HVAC after blow turned on for over a year and a half and I'm still on my factory battery. It's not that after blow messes with the battery - it's just one more drain while the engine is turned off. The blower motor on high draws a significant amount of power.


You had the smell too or you just had them turn it on as a preventative measure?


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

Mo Cruze said:


> You had the smell too or you just had them turn it on as a preventative measure?


I've had mold/mildew and the HVAC box lubricant odors. Basically I've had every cabin and engine odor the Cruze can make. Fortunately Ed Bozarth Park Meadows (Lone Tree, CO) has a world class service department and they not only don't push back on repairs (unless GM warranty system forces them to do so) they listen to the customer.

In order:
Cooling system pressure test - both the system and the cap held rated pressure for several hours. Note you cannot test the cap/reservior seal other than by driving the car. I also had the GM coolant dye put in the system to help track leaks.

Mold/Mildew when using the A/C. System cleaned with the GM kit and Afterblow turned on. Note you get a metallic odor for a couple of weeks after this service and when that went away I replaced the cabin air filter. This is when I found out about the potential battery drain for those cars not being driven at least 15 minutes at a time. Also, I've only heard my blower motor running a couple of times. It uses the engine heat to warm the air being used to dry the system out so it works like a hair dryer.

HVAC box replaced - I haven't had any cabin sourced odors since. They did overfill the cooling system after this and I had to go back to have coolant removed. Tank was full almost to the base of the neck. The car was trailing a cloud of coolant but none of it entered the cabin.

Water pump failure - I drove into the service bay for an oil change and the service adviser (now the service manager at Ed Bozarth Aurora) walks over to my car and said he could smell the coolant the moment I drove in. It took a tech longer to get his flashlight out and turn it on than it took to find the leak under the water pump weep hole.

Went in to have my coolant refilled and they put the bloody hose from PI-0740 on. I refused to accept the car back until the hose was removed and the tank pressure relief vent cover was dug out of the trash and restored. The hose does absolutely nothing to solve the problem.

Started loosing coolant about an inch a week with no detectable leak. Tank vent was coated with coolant dye however so I bought a new pressure cap and put a slightly larger o-ring on it. Until the weather turned cold I had zero coolant drop. With the colder weather I've had about a quarter inch drop in the tank and whifs of coolant in the car so I know it's coming out the tank/cap seal. O-rings don't seal in the cold (remember the Challenger explosion - it was an o-ring failure due to cold temperatures) so I'm not surprised. The original o-ring (on my first cap) is visibly crushed so it's very obvious where the leak was located.


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Like I mentioned, been switch off the AC compressor and switching the blower to maximum for the last 50 years. Typically about a mile driving through town before the vehicle is parked at night. And never had mold problems. Don't do this for stopping even for a couple of hours or so, but definitely for overnight parking.

Took awhile to train my wife to do this, not only mold, but the evaporator will rot out.

Wasn't aware that you could program the Cruze for a after the fact blow out, how do you do this?

I see the evaporator in the Cruze is buried deeper than that treasure at Oak Island, one job I would like to avoid.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

After blow is a BCM option.


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

Jim Frye said:


> Silver Protege5.


I was gonna say my 03 Mazda 6 had it, but then again it was a 1st year production(problem model). I can't tell you if there was a change for the 2003.5 model P3/5 but I still beleve you. Funny thing is my 98 Buick did have a filter but you had to tear the wiper cowl out from the outside to get to it. My 05 Subaru 1st year production(problem model) came with the tray only. it wasn't untill 06 they gave them a tray with a filter inside.


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Ha, how about switching on your AC for a two mile drive to the golf course or Disneyworld for that matter. Rarely ever switch on the AC in town, not only for this reason, but provides severe loading on the engine components with over heating. With FWD, switches on the condenser cooling fans when the alternator is least capable of producing power to power them.

Drastically increases the load on that belt drive train.

Heat is relative anyway, in the military with a forced 25 mile march in 95*F weather, was heaven just to sit under a shaded tree for a few moments just to get away from that hot sun. Was really heaven to take off that 65 pound backpack. But now I see Ranges and Seals are carrying a 165 pound backpack, ha, to them, 65 pounds would be nothing. 

Ha, my associates down south would remote start their vehicles to switch on the AC and run from one AC place to another. Coming from the north, didn't do that, was finally an opportunity to get rid of the blue from my flesh from this darn cold. 

Another thing that really eased up is our dress code, was extremely uncomfortable wearing a three piece suit with that tight noose around your neck. But was a requirement. 

Driving in the winter is a different scenario. Keep the temps as low as possible, inside of the vehicle becomes so dry, sinuses start plugging up. Ha, rode with people that liked 90*F temperatures, and then they had to get out, really quite a shock.


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## Mo Cruze (Aug 29, 2014)

jblackburn said:


> They have a foaming spray I spray up the evaporator drain tube from underneath the car that will kill it and other junk growing on the evaporator core that can rot it out over the years .
> 
> The tricky part is finding the drain tube.


Can you help describe or point out the evaporator drain tube? Maybe a picture?
Hey i went to dealer yesterday. Told about AC smell. Guy told me he could have them check it out but he 99% sure its the condensation buildup/mold. And they will just do a service that it not under warranty and will charge me. Then he gave me a tip. Said get unscented lysol and spray it all the air vent from inside the car until you see some fog coming out of them and then to run the heat for 15-20 minutes and it may do the trick. He said hed done it himself before. He said with the service they basically do the same thing except the use a foam and also spray somewhere else besides the vents i forgot what he said probably what jblack said..


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