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Vinegar smell coming from AC Vents

17884 Views 23 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  Lou O.
Hi All,

I have a KIA Sorento 2.4L Petrol 2014 FWD model (I purchased it in 2015 and its in Kuwait) .
The car has done 98000 KM and I changed the AC (Compressor and Evaporator both under warranty) at around 85000KM . Now when I switch on the blower a smell like vinegar is coming on and when the AC is turned on, the smell goes off. When I switch off the AC and if the blower is running the smell is back.

I took it to the service center and the cant find it out. Can anyone show some light into this issue? Is this a bacterial issue or something with the blower? Am sure that nothing has spilt on the dash from my side. No idea whether anything happened while the guys changed the AC.

Kind Regards

Renju
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Yeah, as others have confirmed, this is definitely caused by constantly running your system on recirc because it allows bacterial to grow. Whenever I get in someone else's car and I notice the smell, they always have the recirc permanently turned on. Those same people will also sometimes turn the system off entirely b/c of the smell or set the fan at the lowest setting which also makes it stagnate. For this reason, I never use recirc unless it is really necessary and my cars never get that smell.

Fortunately, it is relatively cool where you are this time of year. I would recommend also running fresh air with the A/C turned OFF entirely at a higher speed (doesn't need to be max speed, but close to it). This will also help speed up getting rid of the smell. Even if you don't bother to use Lysol, if you constantly run fresh air with no A/C, it will eventually get rid of the smell but will just take more time.

One last tip - when you do use A/C, at the end of your trip, I also recommend turning off A/C and just blasting fresh air at full speed through the system for about 30 seconds before you turn your car off. This will also help purge some of the moisture out of the system at the end.
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Yeah, as others have confirmed, this is definitely caused by constantly running your system on recirc because it allows bacterial to grow. Whenever I get in someone else's car and I notice the smell, they always have the recirc permanently turned on. Those same people will also sometimes turn the system off entirely b/c of the smell or set the fan at the lowest setting which also makes it stagnate. For this reason, I never use recirc unless it is really necessary and my cars never get that smell.

Fortunately, it is relatively cool where you are this time of year. I would recommend also running fresh air with the A/C turned OFF entirely at a higher speed (doesn't need to be max speed, but close to it). This will also help speed up getting rid of the smell. Even if you don't bother to use Lysol, if you constantly run fresh air with no A/C, it will eventually get rid of the smell but will just take more time.

One last tip - when you do use A/C, at the end of your trip, I also recommend turning off A/C and just blasting fresh air at full speed through the system for about 30 seconds before you turn your car off. This will also help purge some of the moisture out of the system at the end.
Tiger..

Noted your valuable comments and I have already started to run my AC with recirc OFF.

Another thing to add up is that when i run just the fan with recirc off, the smell will come and it will go when I switch on the AC.

Renju
Hi All,

A very happy new year to you all. Sorry for the delay. As I said was on a vacation and came back now only.

As an update, since I started using the habit of driving with re circulation mode off, the smell never returned..

So I didn't tried the Lysol procedure. Anyways I have brought a pack of Lysol, so that I can try it if the smell returns..

Thanks one and all for your valuable piece of advice..

Meanwhile, i have completed my 100 K Service ( thought it was very costly) and the warranty is over now..

Thanks again.
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Actually I was thinking of your suggestion to do it in your home system.


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Yes, I do it my home system at least once a month during cold and flu season.
But, I live in the South, where the cold air returns are only on a main floor in a wall. Much different than up North where cold air returns were in every bedroom and room and the furnace filter was in the basement right next to the furnace itself. I just drop the access door against my leg, drop the filter against the access door and with the furnace fan running spray 5 second bursts into the cold air return for about 30 seconds. It kills mould, mildew, and any virus / bacteria lurking there.
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