MY13.5 Passat AC smells like a wet dog

[crazyk]

Hi can someone tell me how I can clean out the AC or filters or something to get rid of the wet dog smell when I turn the AC on.

I just recently bought the car and the plenum was full of leaves and stuff and I've cleaned that out but I suspect when I washed it maybe water got inside behind the dash.



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[rjt86]

Pull the cabin filter out and spray this which will be drawn through the ac system: CarPlan Stop Odour - 150mL - Supercheap Auto

[Amalgam]

Hi can someone tell me how I can clean out the AC or filters or something to get rid of the wet dog smell when I turn the AC on.

The cabin air filter is behind the glove box. It is a very easy job to replace it. Literally a 5 min job. Plenty of youtube vids. Just make sure that you line the passenger footwell with a drop sheet as there maybe debris that falls out. I use the Mahle activated charcoal cabin filter that is readily available from ebay or amazon.

YouTube For the US but it is the same for Au cars.

passat cabin filter 2013 | eBay

Good luck

[crazyk]

Thanks guys appreciated. I'm off to find some YouTube clips


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[crazyk]

So I pulled out the filter and it's practically new and doesn't smell or anything and no rubbish fell out.

I'm stumped


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[rjt86]

MY13.5 Passat AC smells like a wet dog

The smell is actually caused by bacteria in the air intake system for the cabin, the ac cleaner stuff gets drawn through the cabin air intake near the wipers and the recirculating system and should kill off the bacteria causing the smell

[crazyk]

Yeah I think I'm going to have to get it. I found the drain pipe in the driver's footwell and it's all clear.

Is it better to get the spray that gets drawn through the system or the foam you spray up the drain pipe?

Can someone till me where the fan intake for recirculate is? I couldn't see it


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[rjt86]

Actually looks like you won't need to spray it up the recirculate duct but I would anyway to cover everything.

Generally it recirculates air from near the foot well area, my guess would be near the cabin filter.

You could probably use glen20, Check out this website, the guy's a bit excited but shows how it's done: https://diy-auto-repair.wonderhowto....system-401378/

[crazyk]

Haha yeah I read about the glen 20


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[rjt86]

Should be right, anything that kills bacteria will work

[Amalgam]

I also found that 'drying out' your a/c (a/c off & fresh air) for a short period of time, say 5 minutes before shutting down, helps prevents the smells from returning.

[crazyk]

UPDATE

So I did the glen 20 disinfect and it seems to have worked. Fingers crossed


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[DV52]

Get yourself a tissue paper - put the car in the garage where there is no breeze/wind- then turn on the fan to max. Place the tissue paper on various parts of the car's exterior (likely places) until you see it being sucked-in by the interior fan.

I did this on my mk7 Golf - found that the inlet vents for the interior fan were on either side of the windshield well (near the wiper blade parking points).

then grab yourself a tin of Glen 20 spray - put a tube inside the sprayer head (I removed the original sprayer head and replaced it with a head from a silicon spray can - it had the tube already affixed,

then turn off the AC and put the fan onto slow - spray about an eighth of the can into each vent (make sure that you don't lose the tube down the inlet vent)- continue with the fan-on for about 10 minutes until the Glen 20 is completely circulated.

Don

[crazyk]

Great tip Don. I didn't think of using a tissue nor the silicones can spray nozzle


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[crazyk]

Great tip Don. I didn't think of using a tissue nor the silicones can spray nozzle


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Since I posted this and having done the glen 20 clean out by taking the pollen filter out I've had no issues with smell.

Great trick


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