I have a 2004 Dodge Dakota I bought used. Every time I turn the heater / defroster on I smell a mold odor. I am very alergic to mold and develope a nasty sinus headache and runny nose very quickly.
Question: is their a filter I can change at the air intake point & ( where is it )
Could I mist a bleach water mix at the intake area? Hoping that the bleach gets sucked up and kills the mold where ever it
is. I am desperate. I thought I heard some where on a show ( maybe yours ) a caller having this same problem but I only caught the tail end of the conversation.
please help, its too cold now to go with out heat. Thank you.
Turn the car on and roll down all the windows. Turn the heater on at half heat, set it to foot-defrost, and turn the blower on high. Dump an entire can of Lysol into the intake vents (below the driver side wiper on the outside).
Do a vehicle history check on car fax and other sites. Sounds like it had water damage in the past.
Eh, maybe. More likely that the previous owner spent years shutting the car off after having run the air conditioner, without letting the system run on vent for a minute or two first. The cold air vents then condense moisture on themselves, and then they warm up. Warm, wet, and dark is mold’s favorite growth environment.
Tom and Ray have many times suggested having the ac drip hose blown out, as moisture not released by a clogged drip tube could be a source of the problem.
Shadowfax, I have a question. My dealer also told me to let the A/C run on VENT before shutdown BUT… I live in Florida and most of the year the weather is hot and humid. If I let the outside air in through the A/C system then I am bringing warm moist air to condense on the evaporator coils and foster mold. I believe that recirculating the interior air dries out the air and limits the amount of moisture to foster mold. Any coment from Click and Clack or others?