FireManVette1987

Hello all. I’m at my wits end with this cars odor problem. I bought this 2002 C5 with the problem, shame on me. I have spent hours and hours and many hours of frustration trying to solve this problem, and not only has it not been solved, the problem has worsened. I will go through a list of what I have done.

1. Sprayed multiple cans of foam cleaner up the drain line (with most of them probably never reaching
the core to clean it because the access is so long and hard to get to). I did remove that little rubber boot piece as much of a pain as that was. so no fix there

2. I took out the actual fan unit from behind the glove box to make sure there was no nest or dead animal in there. Clean. No fix there

3. Cleaned all 4 drain udders that were clogged underneath the windshield wipers with leaves and crap. Was good to do but didn’t fix anything.

4. Sprayed endless amounts of Lysol and Febreze in the vents (This was before I realized that doesn’t do anything at all but mask the smell)

5. Looked behind the fuse relay center and the silver box next to it, but this is where I’m stuck. Attempting to get behind there I don’t know where to go next.

I have no idea how to access the evaporator so I can spray the crud off of it to hopefully mitigate this god awful smell that comes and goes when I use my AC. I have never had issues with wet carpet on the passenger side and my drain works just fine (there is always water that comes out after I use the AC). I recently replaced the actuator with success so now I have cold air on both sides again. The smell is the worst when only the fan is running without AC and when the is on recirculate. I don’t want to take this to the stealer ship to have them do everything I just did for hours and hours and bill me $700-1200 to STILL have the odor. Im absolutely done with this. Nobody wants a stinky car and as much work as I have put in fixing various stuff it just frustrates me to no end to not be able to use the AC without plugging my nose.

Any ideas anyone? Thanks for reading my long whining post just really upset about this.

jcgunn

There was an episode of Motorweek this year where they used several products to clean out the A/C. Try searching the web for that video clip.

Smoken1

Ozium, Spray it in the fresh air duct...This is a tech's best friend for that problem

CactusCat

Have you seen this?

CactusCat

From re-reading your original post, I think your spraying your disinfectants in the wrong place. The smell is coming from a place you can't get to by spraying into the vents. You need to spray into the fresh air intake.

FireManVette1987

Thanks for the replies guys but yes I have already tried that with disinfectant sprays, spraying the vent underneath the wipers (fresh air intake) as shown in the video, all it did was mask the odor for a few days. I think my final step is gonna be to take the dash off, if I don’t find anything obvious it’s going to the shop to hopefully get a nice legit flush of the system maybe clearing all the crap out of there

jim993

Here is one from Auto Restorer: Auto Shocker. See below:

Vetteman Jack

Here's a couple of files that may have some useful information for you:

Sam Handwich

We had a similar problem in our 2002 Chrysler Town and Country. Good grief!!
I was replacing the cabin air filter every year or two, but it just never got any better. One day the system stopped blowing cold air, and after some thinking I realized that the coil was freezing over. I reasoned that there must be so much crap on the fins that the condensation would not drain off.
So I got a big can of foam coil cleaner at Lowe's. And after even more thinking I figured out how to take out the cabin air filter and just soak and drench that coil with the foam. It was comparatively simple, but I had never seen this approach on any YouTube videos.

While you are planning your next move you might look up some posts by Bill Curlee where he has photos showing different parts of the AC system. I have not done this job on my C5, but if you have to pull the dash - well, God bless you and good luck.

BTW - the coil still freezes over after about an hour of driving, but it smells fresh and clean. We just switch of the compressor for 5 or 6 minutes until the air starts to flow again.

jackthelad

Somewhere, there was posted an "official" GM methodology for getting the smell out. I think you had to drill a hole into the unit somewhere and spray a special product in. I got rid of "my" smell using a product from Advance Auto that you sprayed into the air intake grill with the AC on. Can't recall the name - it was years ago, but some time with Google search will probably get you a solution. I do recall I had to repeat the process a number of times before it was really fixed.

FireManVette1987

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Lost the water pump on my c5 and I’m in the middle of swapping it out/draining radiator/changing out AC Belt tensioner and belt so C5 odor is being put on hold for a bit.

runner140*

Thanks, I tried it and worked really well.