2005 Explorer has bad smell after a rain

[wfpiii]

This is my girlfriends 2005 explorer. She has showed me after a rainy day how the interior has a strong bad smell. I've combed over the inside and see no sign of wet carpet, nor do we hear water sloshing around when moving. I can't find a particular area in the vehicle where it smells worse either. She doesn't have a sun roof and it doesn't smell after she runs it thru a carwash, and it hasn't ever been wrecked.The smell is almost is instant, we've been thru a couple months of no rain until this past week, so it's not like she had standing water before hand. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Warren

 

[1AJeremyD]

Has the smell always been there or only in the past few weeks? What does it smell like? moldy or like rotten food?

 

[1st explorer]

check a/c drain hose is not plugged,orthe windsheild cowl drain hole are not plugged.test buy pouring water in the cowl and watch to see if it exits underneith the vehicle

 

[Henders]

A few other areas stated that they found water under the third row seats. I guess the leak came in through the tailgate and migrated to the low spot. You might want to also look at replacing the cabin air filter.

 

[wfpiii]

The Explorer started smelling during the summer, but only after it rained, within a day or so afterwards, the smell would go away. We've had a dry spell here for the past couple months, but as soon as the rain returned a few days ago, the smell did too! I'll have to check the water test in the cowl and check the cabin air filter too. Thanks for the info!

 

[wfpiii]

I've tried looking online as to where a cabin air filter is on a 2005 explorer and on more than one occasion, I've seen where it says it doesn't have one.

 

[1AJeremyD]

I'm almost 100% positive that the explorers did not come with any cabin filter in them

 

[wfpiii]

Yeah I can't find any info on the cabin air filter on them so I tried yesterday running water thru the cowl on both sides and the water did drain out from under the vehicle underneath behind the front tires, on both sides, so it must not be clogged. I checked under the panels where the third row seat would be and there is no evidence of water in either one of the sub floor. My only other thing to try is maybe spray half of the SUV down with water and see when the smell comes back. My thought is maybe I can pinpoint an area as to where the water creates the smell and come close to finding a leak

 

[jmarlin]

Hi all. Just joined the forum because my '06 just hit 100k and I'm starting to get in to some more serious repairs. I noticed this post and I have the same problem. I think mine is caused by mold in the evaporator core that gets worse in damp weather. I was wondering if anybody knows of a way to clean or deodorize the evaporator core without taking it apart.

 

[1st explorer]

there are a/c evap sprays,usally spray into the cowl behind the hood with fresh air vent turned on.i would also check the a/c drain to make sure water is draining while the a/c is runnong

 

[jweb1369]

my 99 sport has this problem when it rains due to leaking drivers side cargo window. If I don't take the carpet out to dry it smells pretty foul.

 

[98lincoln]

If you haven't already done so, pull the rugs/underpad and see which ones are wet/damp on the bottom side. If it is what I think it is, the top of rugs will be dry. Front passenger is a good place to start. Leaking cowl is a suspect as are leaking windshield gaskets. If so, the water would travel down the inside of the firewall and under the carpet. It lays there and starts to decay the under pad. As long as it is not the wind shield, a fix can be done by yourself. But you need to find the source and go from there.

It's probably not very complicated, at least I hope not.

Good luck!

 

[C-2-4]

smells like puke?

I know this is an old post, but thought i'd go ahead and comment.
I've had this smelly puke smell a couple different times, in different vehicles.
The first was in my 92 ranger. I checked everything. Then i realized the smell was worse when driving in the rain and road spray getting my windshield all dirty. I would spray the washer fluid on it and that smell would practically gag me. I remember the fluid was the RainX kind. After i drained the tank and filled it with a different brand,,,,,,,,,,,, the smell was gone. (how come i could smell the stink inside......when the fluid was sprayed outside....i don't know)
The second time was in a Big GMC work truck.
It had rubber floor mats instead of carpet and it had gotten all dirty and more than one spilled drink. I decided to clean it up by rinsing it out with the water hose. Bad idea. The water soaked into the pad underneath the (carpet/mat) and then i guess began to mildew. I had to take out the seat, and that whole floor mat out and let it dry to get rid of the smell.
Now, i just bought a used 2010 ex and it was fine for the first few weeks, but that same pukey smell started happening and is beginning to get stronger.