stanky AC?
 

My AC started to smell really bad anyone know how i could fix this? its an 04 with 45K milles if that helps. It just started to like a few days ago. any help would be cool:dunno:

I use one of these every year in both cars (X3 and Prius)

http://www.fasteronline.co.uk/comma-...er-p-2706.html

But obviously we are in the UK so you'd need to find the same product in the US.

Works like a charm - you start the car, run the AC on max and then set this thing off in the back of the car behind one of the front seats - it sort of creates a fog in the car which the AC then condenses onto the condenser coil, it cleans and sanitises the coil killing the bugs, and leaves a nice fresh smell in the car.

You can tell it's working as you will get a huge puddle of condensate under the car which is the run-off from the 'fog'.

One treatment per year and I no longer ever get that nasty stale smell :thumbup:

Thanx bro! ill def. do that.:D

What it is is that the evaporator inside the car under the dash gets a layer of milder/bacteria that causes the smell due to the constant moisture it pulls from the air via condensation. (hense the pooling water dripping from the vehicle when ac is on) What the cleaners do is pretty much make a bug fogger bomb out of lysol, which works great. I usually set it off in the front passengers foot well where the inside air intake is.

The only other thing that affects smell in the ac is if you have dead rotting leaves building up at your ac microfilter under the hood at the cowl.

I brought my vehicle to the dealer for same reason. I was told that it needed a new interior cabin filter and the filter was replaced. The description relating to the reason for the smell that was given to me by the dealer is the same as above. The smell remained. Never have noticed this issue with my 330XI. The only time its noticable is when I start the car. It goes away after about 5 minutes. What specifically are you using to get rid of the smell?

There are a few cleaner kits available, the one we use is made by winzer. Ask the dealer what they have.

To remove odors from the vent system, on previous vehicles, I've simply run the A/C, popped the hood and sprayed Lysol into the air intake at the base of the windshield. (make sure the vent system isn't on recirculation) On the X3 I'd remove the intake filter first.

A search of the net turned up a couple products that you spray into the vents.

Same basic concept as the products available, as they have a spray can to spray through the intakes under the hood as well, but then they have the bug bomb style fogger that goes in the car with ac on full max w/recirc. to really give it a good cleaner dousing.