How to rid your air con of smells.

[nebrog23]

Last summer I had a terrible smell in the air con and tried the sprays you use down the vents. These helped a little but it was suggested the best way is to spray the foam up the air con drain tubes straight on to the evaporator.

Unfortunately the drain tubes have a couple of sharp bends and the rubber pipe has several ribs in it making it difficult to insert the tube up to the evaporator.
An alternative is to remove the drain from inside the car and spray any treatment straight on to the evaporator.

1. Remove the cover above the pedals ( 2 screws and 2 plastic clips)and the footwell vent cover.
2. Remove the foot rest ( two 8mm bolts under the small plastic covers)
3. Remove centre console side panel
4. Fold back the carpet at the back nearest the heater/centre console.

You will be presented with this ( you can see the hose slid into the bottom of the evaporator housing)


5. Slide the hose off



6. Use your product of choice( I used Einszett Air conditioning cleaner from ebay)

Another picture



7.Replace the hose (I used a little silicon spray to help slide the pipe back on) and reassemble

The passenger side is exactly the same to do. I did this to ensure an even spread of foam. I then ran the air conditioning for 10minutes.

I actually replaced my drain tubes altogether as both had the end caps missing and one was split. They are still available new for a few quid.

Whilst doing the passenger side I noticed the evaporator housing can be accessed by removing a cover if you have a really persistent smell but I left this in place.

Hope this is helpful with summer approaching.