Smelly Aircon with gti mk6

[parso_rex]

Mine stinks badly, like really bad foot odour blah !!! I"m ordering something today

[kam]

i have this same issue in a 2011 golf r, 30,000km's

the smell comes when i first start the fan, its a really wierd mouldy type smell. it eventually goes away after the first few minutes, but can be overpowering at first

so i followed the directions as in this thread:

DIY Getting rid of smell from air conditioning system

1. clean\change passenger footwell filter
2. purchase & use autoglym air con sanitizer
3. leave a\c system running for a while to air out etc

and it didnt fix my problem

so i took my incabin filter out and smelt it - it doesnt smell that bad ?

i then ran the fan system without the filter at all, and the smell is still there, so that logically rules out that the filter is the cause of the smell

is there anything else i can do to get rid of the smell ?

i was thinking of taking it to a car a\c specialist and getting them to do a flush of sorts...

[pologti18t]

Try this... turn the A/C off (but fan running) for a few minutes before you lock the car up for the night.

[master phi]

I did the same as you except I used up two of that auto glym stuff

Only way to "solve" it was to replace a new filter. The car smells different now but it is more neutral than what it was before.

[kam]

Try this... turn the A/C off (but fan running) for a few minutes before you lock the car up for the night.

i believe this is the main cause of the problem, as the previous owner had the a\c on all the time, and did not do the turn off 5min before coming home routine to dry out the system

ive just been leaving the fan on medium speed and as warm as comfortably possible, and the smell is slowly going away

just need to keep driving more to "dry out" the system i guess

ill go ahead and replace the incabin charcoal filter anyway as their < $50 new

[Bassik]

Just to let ppl know I tried 100 things and nothing worked. Finally I bought a new Cabin Filter and BOOM! it was instantly fixed. Smell went away and hasn't come back in days.

[brad]

Post 41 & 42 told you what to do. New filter is only about $18 posted from non-VW sources.

eg
Activated Carbon AIR Filter Fits Volkswagen 1K0819644B 1K0819644 1K0819653A | eBay

[kam]

ended up buying the filter from vw parts for $36 as i couldnt be bothered waiting for it to arrive from an online site

funky a\c smell is all but gone

[brad]

put a few drops of tea tree or eucalyptus oil on the filter. Will help kill anything growing in the system.

[kam]

just an update a few weeks after i did the in cabin cleanse and replaced the filter - the smell is 110% gone

went away fully about a day or two after doing the cleanse