I have a 2010 4 door Accord, 6 cyl. There is a nasty mildew smell coming from the AC. I changed the cabin filter and nothing changed. What could be causing this. When my wife went to he dealer they told her they would clorox the AC system and it would smell a lot like Fabreeze for $150.00. That didn't give me a good feeling. Especially since they could not give us a reason for the problem and where it is coming from. Does anyone have a better answer or solution?

 

Welcome and thanks for joining HAF.

I'm going to move this to general tech to get more answers.

You can do the "cleaning" yourself, products are available to do this. Then for the cabin filter, not sure on the 2010's but there are sometimes two types available. A particulate and a carbon,,,,the carbon helps reduce odors.

 

Make sure cowling area (underneath wipers) is draining well (water run in the cowling drains immediately to ground). A blocked cowling drain could cause musty smells to be pulled into cabin.

good luck

 

A/C operation generates water as the air is cooled. Unless it's blown dry this moisture stays,
letting mold grow (in the evaporator, think that's name); same problem all cars.

To fix:
get large/family size spray can of Lysol
open car windows,
turn on A/C and select 'flow-through [not recirculate] ventilation'
turn fan on high
spray entire can of Lysol at inlet vents at base of windshield wipers (both sides if there are 2),
will take several minutes,
when can is used up the treatment is done.

[That's all the dealer is going to do. I got these directions from a dealer, BTW.
I now do this myself. Scent goes away pretty quickly; you can chose the flavor.]



I repeat annually.



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