Funny smell from car's air conditioner

[P.I. Squirrel]

I'll take bets this is your problem. As soon as I read the part about the smell, I figured this was your problem. My Ford truck did this same thing last year, and it was the heater core. And ours did the anitfreeze dumping into the passenger floor, too. Ugh... DH fixed it and I can't remember what it cost, and he's asleep or I would ask. Have your DH check this out.

I would normally agree with the heater core being the cause, but on a 2 year old car? I've seen it on 10 year old cars, but not 2.

There's only one way to be sure though, so I hope you're comfortable taking your dash apart.

 

[Momof2]

Check the cabin filter! We pulled a nest with 6 dead baby mice out of ours. Fortunately the odor disappeared immediately after.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I would normally agree with the heater core being the cause, but on a 2 year old car? I've seen it on 10 year old cars, but not 2.

There's only one way to be sure though, so I hope you're comfortable taking your dash apart.

Yea, probably not the heater core so I am retracting that.

I asked my dh who works on alot of cars and when I said "vinegar smell" he said immediately that it is mold.

 

[Jessd]

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2224740


I'm not saying that's it, but I'd at least take a peak under the hood.

Ewwww! Do you think plastic really makes a smell like that?

I had DH check, doesn't look like Mickey and his friends have made a nest anywhere. I will definitely look into the mold thing though.

You guys are the best!

 

[TheBigBadWolf]

I would normally agree with the heater core being the cause, but on a 2 year old car? I've seen it on 10 year old cars, but not 2.

There's only one way to be sure though, so I hope you're comfortable taking your dash apart.

Our Ford truck was five years old when the heater core went out, so maybe it's a Ford thing? I just remember the smell was horrid, and then later the antifreeze started leaking into the passenger floor. I asked DH about it but he just vaguely remembers it, but said it probably cost less than $100 to fix. I hope your problem is more simple than this so you don't have to take your dash apart. Surely if it's a dead mouse you would recognize that smell, or the smell of mouse urine? Ugh. Since you say it smells like vinegar I don't think it's going to be a dead animal because they smell even worse. That antifreeze smell gags me bad enough!