1998 BMW 540i odor from ac vents

,

I have an odor coming from ac vents. It smells more bacterial than fungal like the car sat for a long time without being cleaned. It is a bit irritating to the throat after a while, too. Should I have the mechanic detail the evaporative system or is there an easier solution?

Thanks.

BMW actually has a bulletin about this. SI (service imformation) 64 04 03 and the fix is a little different from what we have been telling people on other makes.

If you went to the Dealer to get this done they would use the Wynn Ultra Sonic Airo Clean (p/n 211-30208) and they would introduce the chemical into the air intake above the passenger side footwell.

You may just try introducing a anti-bacterial agent without the use of this “geewiz” machine manually (at the same place) GM has a really good smelling and effective product (from GM parts department)this product is expensive.

Others may tell you to use Lysol,you can choose.

I could try Lysol, but I’ll need a diagram to identify the air intake. Could I have dual air intakes, passenger and driver?

The bulletin specificaly made reference to introducing the chemical at the air intake at the passenger side. I don’t believe there is a drivers side intake in any case. What is odd is that we usually tell people to introduce the chemical at the air intake at the outside base of the windshield. The intake mentioned must be the intake for recirculation.