Musty smell from vent...2 months old

New A/C evap coils have relatively tiny air passages compared to a dinosaur like that. Different materials as well.

 

Nope, for condenser AND/OR evaporator. I just bought one.

 

That's really not the right stuff for a car evaporator as it's just foamy soap. I know it says it on the can but it's not.
It has no anti-microbial agents which is useful to kill mold. E-Coil cleaner always is a clear green liquid. It's specific and for an auto will have the rubber hose attachment. Never seen e coil cleaner that wasn't green.

Your stuff works great on ac condensers though. Both car and home. Use it all the time. My HD stopped carrying it just recently. You can use it on the e coil I guess but there's better stuff than that.

 

My Prius 2010 Gen.3 has a nasty tangy urine scent when my a/c is on. I am taking it to the dealership in a few days and see what seems to be the problem.

 

I will try is this trick to prevent this smell. Thanks for the information.

 

I did report them; however, it is unsettling when people respond in such a way.

 

I just recently had the musty smell problem. Its been driving me crazy. Its just when I get in the car and I do leave the front windows cracked. As soon as I roll down the windows for a minute it goes away. I do leave my AC on a lot but I notice the smell when getting in the care before it started. I've been scouring my car looking for the culprit.

 

Factory settings for the 2010 are for the air conditioning compressor to operate automatically when the AUTO button is pushed and for the AC system to operate in recirculate mode. If you want to be in recirculate mode that's OK, but recognize that it will promote AC odor and mold and you will probably need to periodically have the evaporator cleaned. If you are like me and prefer fresh air mode, it is a pain to have to hit the switches to change from recirculate to fresh air and turn off the compressor when you don't want or need either. On the 2010's, the dealer can change the AUTO and recirculate factory settings for the AC to manual mode which allows you to push the AUTO button and not have the compressor run or recirculate mode automatically. It cost me $54.00 to have the dealer change the settings, but it is well worth it for the loss of aggravation. I have no AC odor and can operate the AC how I want. Below is the page from the 2010 service manual which you may have to show to the service writer since they tend to not know this is possible. Also, I am not sure if this customization is still possible for 2011+.

 

Your experience with a 2010 Prius is contrary to mine. Even if the car is in auto mode, I have to push A/C to get the air conditioner to come on.

 

The compressor in my level IV car came on automatically until the default compressor mode setting was changed which is exactly in accordance with the factory service manual page I posted above. Was there a difference between the level II and level IV AC control units?

 

I took my car to get serviced and the dealerhip wanted $69 to change the filter. I didnt have the money after the front brake replacemnt and oil change. The smell isnt that bad yet.

 

It might be what the document says but that has not been my experience. Leaving it in AUTO will alternate between fresh and recirc depending on outside temperature. Unless you live in a very specific climate that forces it to be in recirc the vast majority of the time, it's not really a problem as AUTO will switch to fresh frequently.

I had the dealer disable this automatic switching between fresh and recirc in our Lexus RX350 and regretted it. My wife is the primary driver of it as it's the family car and she'd not know any better and accidentally leave it in recirc all the time and of course it'd develop the musty smell.

 

You are describing a different case where you leave the AC ON. Your car works like all the others, unless the dealer changed the Air Inlet Mode setting from automatic to manual , when the AC is TURNED ON it will shift from inlet mode to recirculation mode.

Also Southern California is a "very specific climate" with dryer and more moderate temperatures than Northern Virginia where the OP lives. The hot humid summer weather in Northern Virginia and most of the rest of the US will force the AC to be in recirculate mode the vast majority of the time.

Also, you should apologized to your wife for insulting her intelligence online.

 

Hitting AUTO will automatically turn AC on and it'd be outside air or recirc depending on the climate. No automatic switching to recirc. Even turning the AC on (by increasing the fan speed) with AUTO off still has my car in fresh mode. I'm not sure what you mean by automatically switching to recirc, but it's not working for my car. The only time it'd automatically switch to recirc is if I hit the dust and pollen micro filter button, but this is in fact 100% recirc rather than the usual 80% recirc.

 

Does anyone know how to change out the cabin air filter?

 

Remove the lower glove box by opening it. On the right side there's a small black piston for dampening...just squeeze the split tip and gently pry it away from the glove box. Now with a flat-head screwdriver, pry gently on the left side of the glove box against the plastic framing of car until the plastic tab on the back of the glove box can be brought forward to clear the framing (it's flexible enough to do this). Now repeat this process for the right side where the piston is. Roll glove box back until the tabs are completely away from the framing and then pull up on glove box. It will snap off of a plastic hinge below. Carefully set it aside so it does not get scratched. Leave the piston connected to the frame on the right side.

You will now see a rectangular cover with a release tab on the right side. Squeeze left to release it and swing it open from right to left. It should now come off to reveal the cabin filter. Pull it out to inspect it, but when you return it be sure to make sure the airflow arrows are pointing down. Reverse all the above processes to re-install the glove box. Once the glove box is back on its hinge , just rotate it forward and the tabs will snap back into place to lock it. Press on the piston end over the round tab. I have found replacement filters at O'Reilly's for about $15.

 

Thanks I will have to give that a try.

 

It's good to check that filter as you can save allot by changing it yourself, but if you have that musty "gym sock" smell coming from your vents, you probably need to clean (or have cleaned) the evap coils. Kool It worked well for me and you can get it on Amazon.com for about $12 to $15.

 

I don't detect an oder from my vents. Just when I get in the car. I quickly dissipates. I hope this is it. My new floor mats come today. I'm trying everything.

 

Driving in ECO mode will tend to favor recirculating vs fresh air. One way to eliminate the odor is to turn the heat on high for a few minutes after the ICE is fully warmed up. Assuming the Prius hvac systems works on the same principle as other non-hybrid cars, the hot coolant running through the coils should kill any mold/bacteria causing the odor. After driving over 60k miles in my previous and current Prius, I've never had a problem with the odor. I don't use ECO anymore since my mpg's are the same with Normal or Pwr modes.