ROBinGa
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- February 16, 2014
- Messages
- 348
- Reaction score
- 32
- City, State
- Ga
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2003 Explorer XLT 4x4 4.6
I've read several threads that helped me with how I solved my smelly AC in 03 Explorer. Here is what was happening. I got in wife's Explorer and the smell hit me right away. It smelled like musty earthy dirt odor. I though moisture and mold. I searched all floor carpets and none were wet. I then went to look in the rear cargo area where some say water collects and that's when I found it - she had been carrying a bag of potting soil around for a couple weeks. I lifted the bag and it smelled just like the odor of course. But now it's in the vents when fan starts to blow. I thought just removing the bag of soil would take care of smell but did not. So my theory is mold spores in that potting soil permeated in the interior air into ducts and vents and mold has started to grow in HVAC box.
I went and got Lysol spray and it has cleared up the musty smell. But here are some things I wanted to share. First of all you will be using a fair amount of Lysol spray so choose a fragrance you can live with for awhile. I sprayed several choices in the aisle at grocery store and actually chose the original Lysol with red cap which isn't a perfumed version. They had citrus, vanilla, spring rain, etc.... I didn't think I wanted to cause a different smell problem so didn't go that route. The next thing is the Lysol spray nozzle makes a wide mist which isn't good for directing it into vents or the air intakes by windshield cowl or behind glove box. So what I did was scavenged a plastic tube from a bottle of brake clean I hadn't used yet and also the spray button nozzle from that. Popped the Lysol one off and used this one from brake clean can. That enabled me to direct the Lysol down and into the tight spaces I wanted it.
I suggest first spray some in the fresh outside air intake. Open your windows. Turn on key to allow accessories without cranking engine and select the fresh air on AC controls or in other words not recirculating. Turn fan on high and you then can hear and maybe even feel the intake air at base of windshield and black cowl vents from outside. I could feel it on mine sucking air. Stick your Lysol tube in the grill of the cowling and spray a good dose for 10-15 seconds. Move a few inches to the side and spray again. If you go inside vehicle you should now detect smell of the Lysol. I wouldn't think you could spray too much in here but I didn't do more than a couple sprays.
Then I turned key off and waited about 10 mins while I cleaned out the contents of glove box and emptied it out. Next operation was to lower the glove box by pressing the interior sides of glovebox at top to release it so it hinges down completely open. Now you will need to crank your engine, select the Max AC setting to recirculate cabin air because you want to spray Lysol directly into your HVAC box intake. It is located at top of the black round blower assembly which is the largest hunk of stuff behind your glove box opening. At the top of this plastic box you will see a grid looking plastic frame that is the intake. With engine running, Max AC and fan on high, you can feel the airflow sucking air at the top of this assembly. If you use Lysol nozzle that comes on can you can see the fine mist being sucked up and into this opening. That actually gave me the idea to use the tube instead of fine mist. So with your tube installed on Lysol, stick that tube into the obvious opening of the intake and spray away while engine, Max AC and fan are on high. Spray it well because this is where I think the smell is from mold growing on interior surfaces of the AC box and evaporator coils, etc..
Then after I did that to extent I felt was enough to really get in there, I turned off engine and fan. I inserted the tube into the front of the vent openings so it could spray into ducts and gave each a good 5 second blast.
Then I just let it sit for a couple hours and came back. Of course now I smelled Lysol mostly but the moldy dirt smell was not noticeable. I did crank the Explorer and let the AC run on fresh air setting and watched for AC line to drip which it eventually did very freely. I let some of that water drip on my hand and it had a slight smell of Lysol to it. So I think the interior of my HVAC box and vent ducts had a good dose of Lysol to kill mold and bacteria and has taken care of the musty, moldy, earthy smell. Hope this helps someone
I went and got Lysol spray and it has cleared up the musty smell. But here are some things I wanted to share. First of all you will be using a fair amount of Lysol spray so choose a fragrance you can live with for awhile. I sprayed several choices in the aisle at grocery store and actually chose the original Lysol with red cap which isn't a perfumed version. They had citrus, vanilla, spring rain, etc.... I didn't think I wanted to cause a different smell problem so didn't go that route. The next thing is the Lysol spray nozzle makes a wide mist which isn't good for directing it into vents or the air intakes by windshield cowl or behind glove box. So what I did was scavenged a plastic tube from a bottle of brake clean I hadn't used yet and also the spray button nozzle from that. Popped the Lysol one off and used this one from brake clean can. That enabled me to direct the Lysol down and into the tight spaces I wanted it.
I suggest first spray some in the fresh outside air intake. Open your windows. Turn on key to allow accessories without cranking engine and select the fresh air on AC controls or in other words not recirculating. Turn fan on high and you then can hear and maybe even feel the intake air at base of windshield and black cowl vents from outside. I could feel it on mine sucking air. Stick your Lysol tube in the grill of the cowling and spray a good dose for 10-15 seconds. Move a few inches to the side and spray again. If you go inside vehicle you should now detect smell of the Lysol. I wouldn't think you could spray too much in here but I didn't do more than a couple sprays.
Then I turned key off and waited about 10 mins while I cleaned out the contents of glove box and emptied it out. Next operation was to lower the glove box by pressing the interior sides of glovebox at top to release it so it hinges down completely open. Now you will need to crank your engine, select the Max AC setting to recirculate cabin air because you want to spray Lysol directly into your HVAC box intake. It is located at top of the black round blower assembly which is the largest hunk of stuff behind your glove box opening. At the top of this plastic box you will see a grid looking plastic frame that is the intake. With engine running, Max AC and fan on high, you can feel the airflow sucking air at the top of this assembly. If you use Lysol nozzle that comes on can you can see the fine mist being sucked up and into this opening. That actually gave me the idea to use the tube instead of fine mist. So with your tube installed on Lysol, stick that tube into the obvious opening of the intake and spray away while engine, Max AC and fan are on high. Spray it well because this is where I think the smell is from mold growing on interior surfaces of the AC box and evaporator coils, etc..
Then after I did that to extent I felt was enough to really get in there, I turned off engine and fan. I inserted the tube into the front of the vent openings so it could spray into ducts and gave each a good 5 second blast.
Then I just let it sit for a couple hours and came back. Of course now I smelled Lysol mostly but the moldy dirt smell was not noticeable. I did crank the Explorer and let the AC run on fresh air setting and watched for AC line to drip which it eventually did very freely. I let some of that water drip on my hand and it had a slight smell of Lysol to it. So I think the interior of my HVAC box and vent ducts had a good dose of Lysol to kill mold and bacteria and has taken care of the musty, moldy, earthy smell. Hope this helps someone
