bad smelling AC

[Spinifex]

Absolutely - the filter is a consumable and needs to be replaced every 6~9 months

I understand the premise of the consumable filter, but I have to disagree on the time-frame.

These items are listed for replacement every 2 years, in the servicing schedule (I cannot for the life of me find where I've seen that, but I'm certain someone managed to find the complete servicing schedule for current model vehicles and posted it somewhere recently. Despite that, just about every other car on the planet requires in-cabin pollen filters to be replaced every 2 years.

My old Subaru Liberty had a pollen filter - I owned that car for 8+ years, and I think it got changed about twice in it's entire service history - ALL serviced at my specific service agent, who was Subaru trained, but independent. And the Liberty NEVER had any bad smells from the AC.

My Mazda6 that I traded for the Octy - also had the pollen filter replaced twice, in the 4 years I owned it.

Based on your premise of replacing every 6 to 9 months, that's MORE than the 15000k / annual service required, which can't possibly be correct.

This is one of the dealership's gravy trains (gouging, rort, highway robbery, choose the term you prefer)

Agreed - it's how they make their money, because they don't make any money on the cars themselves

The carbon filters are cheap (I bought 5 from UK for $14 each and minimal postage)
Glen 20 is a simple and somewhat effective approach but the AutoGlym Air/Con sanitizer is much more effective ($25~$27)
Car Care Products / Autoglym / Interior / Air Freshener / Air-Con Sanitizer

I'll keep this in mind for next time it happens - as it cost me close to $200 for them to fix it at my service.
Around $80 for the genuine filter, and about $120 for the deodoriser bomb..... plus about 30km range of fuel consumption, while they ran the bomb with the AC going.
I know I got totally jipped with the pricing for this, but I didn't have time to argue about it and I didn't want the smell in my almost-brand-new car anymore, so I reluctantly agreed to them doing it.

Those factors are irrelevant - It's just the amount of time spent filtering air.
All that road film/grim that lands on the car is also going through the filter.
The aircon system creates humidity which goes through the filter.
Using recirculation mode a increases this problem.
These can lead to mildew which is one of the causes of the smell.
But recirculation is a good idea when getting into the car to warm or cool the interior quickly and while in rush hour traffic to minimise exhaust fumes in the car

I disagree they aren't relevant. While I agree with your explanation of how it all works - I rarely have the re-circ selected, as I leave the AUTO function to work that out for itself.
The ONLY time I ever select re-circ myself, is when sitting in traffic behind a particularly smelly car and I'm getting gassed! That's only if the Octy's "simply clever" automatic air-quality sensor doesn't kick in quickly enough to set the re-circ automatically itself.

I know the cause of the dirty-socks smell is the mould/mildew that grows on the condenser core - and the "trick" they tell you to prevent this, is to always turn off the AC about 5 minutes before turning off the car but leave the ventilation fan running.... so the fan can "dry out" any remaining moisture from the condenser core, which will prevent the buildup of the mould/bacteria that causes the smell.

In my situation - I have the ventilation fan running PERMANENTLY in my cars - always have done - even when I have the windows open. I NEVER turn the fan off. So there is NO reason for any mould to be growing in my pollen filter or in my AC system, to the point that I get the filthy smell.

Therefore, the pollen filter seems to be the root-cause of the smelly issue in my car.

I reiterate - my car is ONLY 7 months old now... and at the 5 month old mark, the smell started filling the cabin. The "cause" as diagnosed by Skoda service, was a dirty pollen filter, which was replaced. I asked for the original pollen filter to be given to me for inspection, which they did.... and it looks meh, doesn't look CAKED in filth, but looks a little dirty.

My argument is - where is all this filth coming from? In any other car I've had, the pollen filters get inspected and deemed NOT needing replacing except for at the 2-year intervals specified by the manufacturer. I've NEVER had to replace one earlier than the specified interval, and I'm driving the same roads/conditions as I've been driving my previous 2-3 cars.

I maintain - the intake position for cabin ventilation is obviously badly designed or positioned, so that it sucks in EVERY particle of external muck it can find, instead of having some baffles or other system to reduce the majority of large particulates that make their way into the cabin.

After all, it's a POLLEN filter, not a generic AIR filter.... it's designed to filter out TINY TINY TINY particles that may enter the cabin, from the ventilation system.

[raraku]

Agreed - but 6 months? Really?

Yeah I agree - every other car I've had, it's been a 2-3 year service item. Never had a new car where the AC has had a foul smell like this after only 12 months!

[Mickymills]

hi everybody,

has anybody else experienced an issue with their octavia where the AC has a bad smell coming from it? I've got a 2016 MK3 Octavia and it's been pretty good up until about 2-3 weeks ago (just after its 1st service actually) and the AC now isn't smelling fantastic

In previous cars I've done the trick of putting some Glen20 through the system which appears to kill any bad bacteria which is in the system, thinking about doing the same in the Octavia

No 2 ways about it.... change the pollen filter. I sent a can of glen 20 in, and it made little difference.
Buy the pollen filter, and a new deodoriser. (California scents, 'boston new car' is my favourite).


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[DETROITCANDY]

I've got the same ethos as Spinifex when it comes to cabin air circulation, although I've never seen the auto recirc function work as expected before I've hit the button. I'm not sure how bad the air needs to be before it kicks in.
MY RS just had its first service two weeks ago and I requested that the pollen filter be changed ahead of schedule because of a bad smell sometimes after recirc has been used. Car is parked outside and sees plenty of muck. Genuine filter only cost additional $40 at the 15K service which I think was reasonable but didn't know there was a deodorizer 'bomb' that should be used in conjunction with repair. Where do people buy these from?

[ope126]

I have used the Auto Glym Air-Con Cleaner exclusively for the last 10yrs or so in all my vehicles; Air-Con Cleaner

Liqui Moly also does one (as with many other brands); http://www.liqui-moly.com.au/worksho...-conditioning/

[Umai Naa!!]

You don't have to use a bomb, but I'd recommend it if there's a smell.

[phillip1978]

Have used the bomb....made no difference. I even confirmed the drain pipe for the core was clear and still get the smell if the a/c is shut down prior to allowing the core to dry. Basically a crap design. Have never seen this issue in other brand cars.

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[brad]

I understand the premise of the consumable filter, but I have to disagree on the time-frame.

These items are listed for replacement every 2 years, in the servicing schedule (I cannot for the life of me find where I've seen that, but I'm certain someone managed to find the complete servicing schedule for current model vehicles and posted it somewhere recently. Despite that, just about every other car on the planet requires in-cabin pollen filters to be replaced every 2 years.

.

I can understand your angst but the 2 year period is world wide. The pollen count in Australia is magnitudes more than Europe . I used to buy european airport equipment & it had to have cooling and air intake systems radically modified to suit our dust and pollen loads.

I change my pollen filter every 12 months. (car is a 2007 Octavia). I just buy a cheap unit off eBay. They are <$20 (you can get them for $14 delivered)

You can protest all you want about how long the filter should last or disagree with what others think but at the end of the day, you are the one with the stinky AC just because you won't change a $20 filter.

[Spinifex]

You can protest all you want about how long the filter should last or disagree with what others think but at the end of the day, you are the one with the stinky AC just because you won't change a $20 filter.

Not sure if your comment is directed at me, or someone else......

If it's to me, then maybe I should repeat the issue: the car is 6 months old. Not "I've owned it for 6 months, but it's 100 years old already"...... it's 6 months old.

I'm not protesting about it..... I'm saying that for a car that is 6 months old, the filter should NOT need replacing at it's first-ever service. I'm not messing with non-genuine parts, while the car has a 5 year manufacturer warranty. And the genuine filter cost $80 (yes that's probably a jip, but that's what they charged me)

My argument is this: the design of the air-intake to the cabin is obviously vastly different to almost every other car, whereas the majority of exterior "muck" doesn't get sucked into the cabin, to be filtered by the pollen filter - hence needing replacing every time I lift my cheek to fart.

I simply asked if other people had experienced similar issues, or if perhaps there WAS actually a particular "problem" with my car, that I could bring up as a warranty issue at my next service, if my car is the only one on the planet that needs a pollen filter replaced every 6 months.

[brad]

Not sure if your comment is directed at me, or someone else......

yes, directed at you.

Suggest you price the genuine part and ask the dealer why they are charging so much. It's nowhere near $80.

Or buy Mann as it's the OEM.