Horrid smell from HVAC

[Mounce]

TB developed a terrible smell in the HVAC yesterday. From what I can tell it's mostly coming from the passenger side vent.

Any ideas for what to expect or how to dig into it? I'm figuring I'll pull the blower motor and a dead rat will fall out. Sound about right?

 

[MAY03LT]

That would be the first thing that I would do. If you do find a corpse, and take a pic, put spoiler tags on it. Your inbox will thank you LOL.

 

[SnowBlazer]

Yea. Since you started a thread, pictures of findings are a must.

 

[Mounce]

No fruits of my labor...

Got the motor out, had about a handful of leaves in the squirrel cage and nothing else. Didn't even bother taking a pic of the leaves.

Odd thing is, with the motor out I never smelled anything, leaves didn't smell, motor didn't smell, and after getting the motor back in I no longer smelled anything. The engine wasn't running during my reevaluation but that shouldn't affect it.

R134a doesn't smell like a dead animal mixed with a$$ does it? Would be a nightmare if the AC core (pretty sure that's not it's proper name) was leaking.

Good news is the blower motor spun smoothly. A little resistance but no grinding like a bad bearing.

 

[djthumper]

Did you do the cabin air filter mod while you were in there? Add a cabin air filter and you are GTG.

 

[Mounce]

Nope, thought about it though. Idk if our guy is still making them or not though and would that even remove a smell? I figure that would just filter out dust/dirt.

 

[Tiggerr]

134 does smell pretty bad. I would think the evaporator would be a PITA to change. Most are.

 

[Mounce]

If the smell persists for a while I'll hook up my AC gauges and take some readings. If it's low, I'll top it off and check again after a few weeks to see if it's still leaking.

 

[Tiggerr]

I'd look in the cowl area too. Under the plastic piece. Whatever you call that thing under the wipers. My Acura used to be bad about getting leaves and trash in there where you draw air in. Made my AC stink like a compost pile.

 

[Mounce]

I looked at it from the outside but didn't take it off. Heard the wiper arms are near impossible to remove.

Appeared to be some leaves in there but didn't pay much attention to them thinking I had a dead animal hiding out somewhere.

 

[MAY03LT]

R134a doesn't smell like a dead animal mixed with a$$ does it? Would be a nightmare if the AC core (pretty sure that's not it's proper name) was leaking.

No it's more of a chemical smell then decomp.

If you do decide to pull the wipers off, I found that it's better to use no tools then any of those pullers.

I don't know if anyone remembers this but I posted this on the other site and people were upset with seeing this despite the warning in the title.

The following pic/text is EXTREMELY gross viewer discretion is advised.

Spoiler

This guy decomposed and the acids or whatever happens during decomposing weakened the plastic cage. After extraction, the blower was tested. The cage came apart at speed, and when it grenaded. a piece of it put a hole the size of a nickel in the HVAC box. If you look at the two black screws and go up, that little thing is a maggot.

 

[Mounce]

Is that why you told me to spoiler tag it? People are too soft if seeing a mouse that committed suicide via HVAC fan bothers them.

Anyways, LOL little guy reminds me of clothes in a washing machine.

 

[Matt]

If you do decide to pull the wipers off, I found that it's better to use no tools then any of those pullers.[/spoiler]

This^^^...just hit the top of the wiper post a few times and the arms should just pop off.

 

[MAY03LT]

Is that why you told me to spoiler tag it? People are too soft if seeing a mouse that committed suicide via HVAC fan bothers them.

Yah. I get where they're coming from though, it's not something that peeps want to see while eating their breakfast sandwich LOL

 

[Mounce]

Thanks for the input everyone. I'll take her for a drive today and see if I smell anything. If I do, I'll try to take the cowl off and clean out the ducting.

Yah. I get where they're coming from though, it's not something that peeps want to see while eating their breakfast sandwich LOL

I still think people are too soft. That pic isn't bad at all. Oh well lol.

 

[Mounce]

Drove it today, still smells. Guess I'll have to pull the wiper cowl and clean the leaves out.

Maybe when I washed it the other day the soap started breaking down the leaves in there?

 

[Tiggerr]

Drove it today, still smells. Guess I'll have to pull the wiper cowl and clean the leaves out.

Maybe when I washed it the other day the soap started breaking down the leaves in there?

Could be. Or there's a critter still in there somewhere. lol.

 

[Mounce]

It's just weird that you can only smell it from inside.. And I had drove it twice that day already and didn't notice a smell then got in leaving a restaurant and was slapped in the face by that smell.

 

[Tiggerr]

That's is odd, maybe it only does it on recirculate?
Or just on fresh air draw? Maybe that'll narrow it down?

 

[Mounce]

I never use recirculate so unless it comes on automatically and doesn't illuminate the light then it's only from fresh air.

Smell wasn't as bad today as it was Thursday though.

 

[Tiggerr]

I never use recirculate so unless it comes on automatically and doesn't illuminate the light then it's only from fresh air.
Smell wasn't as bad today as it was Thursday though.

My Rainier does that when its in auto mode. I have the dual zone climate control though.
Doesn't light up the light, but you can usually hear the difference.

 

[Mounce]

Still stinks. Smell starts as soon as the fan comes on and goes away in about a minute. Without the air on there is no smell, no external smell from outside. Confused lol. Gonna try to pull the wiper cowl tomorrow if time and motivation is available. Lol

 

[MAY03LT]

You gots the auto or manual hvac?

 

[Mounce]

Manual

 

[Trkdrvremt]

Anyone know if this stuff works? Or is it just snake oil?
http://m.autozone.com/autozone-mobile/en/accessories/Fluids-And-Chemicals/Odor-Eliminator/_/N-26bt

 

[Mounce]

Took wiper cowl off. Found nothing.

Hammer method worked well on wiper arms.

Third try at properly aligning the arm to get it back on:



Missing a retainer pin because it flew away. Heard it hit the ground in the distance, didn't even bother looking for it because it sounded like it went in the woods.

 

[DAlastDON]

Spray lots of lysol down the intakes outside.

 

[Mounce]

Was gonna hit it from the blower mounting hole with dome orange scented Lysol only to find out we didn't have any anymore lol. Planning on getting some though.

 

[Mooseman]

Just pulled this from GM-SI. Has some useful info on how to remove the odors using a deodorizer.

View attachment 68109

 

[Mounce]

Thanks, now where can I get this aerosol kit?

But for real, that describes my issue to the T. Hot and relatively humid climate here, smells upon start up.

I'm guessing it must be microbial growth on the evaporator because I've completed my checks for debris and found nothing to be suspected. Could've stemmed from my plugged drain a month or so ago when it was flooding the floor.

Anybody got an exploded diagram of the system? I couldn't get my bearings straight peering through the blower hole.

 

[Mooseman]

You mean like this?
http://gmtnation.com/forums/topic/2156-hvac-actuators-and-dash-removal/?p=161590

Actually, I think you're looking more for something like this:

 

[Mark20]

Have you checked the condensate drain line? Hade the one way valve at the firewall in the engine bay on a Dodge get plugged up with stuff from a tree I parked under. Backed up the condensate and that started smelling. I've never looked for the drain in the Voy but its probably lower right of the firewall.

 

[Mounce]

It plugged up a month or two ago and flooded the floor. Cleared blockage and it's been fine since then and seems to be draining fine.

 

[Mark20]

I wonder if you've got some crud now sitting in the bottom of the cooling box and that's giving you the odor. I have now idea how to get in there to take a look though.

 

[Mounce]

Idk, all I've done so far is took the fan out, felt around inside and found nothing, removed the leaves it was chewing on, and took the wiper cowl off to see if I could see anything in the inlet.


Honestly I won't be able to do anything else for at least a week because we're about to drive it to Kentucky and stay a week or so.