Pcroke

Has anyone encountered smelly air conditioning? Ours smells like stale water every so often, and its pretty horrible.

Q7Q7Q7

Read this:

http://autorepair.about.com/cs/heatingac/a/aa071601a.htm

I have the problem now too. I used to have it on an old VW as well. Basically moisture gets trapped in the condenser (slush/snow), and then when warm weather rolls in, the moisture can't escape and it grows mold (mildew). This in turn blows in the "stinky sock" smell. The article talks about some remedial techniques, but from my experience, they only mask the problem.

So I am concerned about it myself -- I would hate this to be a chronic problem because it was so bad in an old VW I had, I got rid of the car. Even the dealer could not get rid of the odour!!

02AR2.7T

Wow I am not the only one. My wife has been complaining about it since about Sept./Oct. '07 took it to the dealer and of course they couldn't duplicate it..yada yada yada spray some disinfectant in the vents etc. chemical smell will go away in a couple days, okay fine. Well that lasted about 2 weeks and smell returned, now its Dec. and colder so A/C is not in use due to the colder temps...ah but the defroster is now in use and what do you know...yup its back. Just took it in again last week...again could not duplicate..sprayed the disinfectant again and changed the in-cabin pollen filter...(fingers crossed) so far so good, but its only been 6 days.

mksap11

Do you if your dealer checked the plenum chamber or condensation drains for clogging?

Sheik

Mine has justed started doing this also (car is now 9mths old). We have had lots of wet and humid weather but still its shouldn'tmatter. I have first major service due in 1,500kms so I'll raise it with the dealer then.

eyeatl

into the cabin air intake every 1-2 weeks.

eyeatl

into the cabin air intake 1 or 2 times/week.

02AR2.7T

I can't say for sure if the did check those items...I can only assume they did as this is the second time it has been in for it...they are a top notch dealer with really good techs so time will tell.

chickdr

Now the Q7 does as well. The dealer has some special treatment spray, but it is a short term fix. Obviously the system has a design flaw which we will never see a resolution to...

epdemw

i am SO glad to see that I am not the only one and that I am not going nuts. its warmed up a bit here in boston and this morning i got a reminder of the issues we had last spring.