Hi guys, 1st post. I have a 2009 fit sport edition. Lately I've noticed a really strong mildew smell coming from my vents. I have tried replacing cabin filter, 1z klima cleaner, ozone, vinegar, ammonia, but the smell is still there.

I am not car savvy at all but I've read I might need to have the evaporator coil removed and manually cleaned. Is this something a Honda shop can do for me?

Thanks.

 

Meguiars makes a product to help eliminate these odors. It sells at Walmart, auto part stores and Amazon for around $5-6. You put it in your car and run it while you have the AC on high. Supposed to clean out the AC system.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Meguiar-s...w-Car/36448452

 

I'm not sure in this day/age whether Lysol still makes their spray with the disinfectant in it. So many products have dummied down to adding Fabreeze and other flowery additives. If Lysol is the same as it was 20 years ago, I always turned the car on, put the fan to high, turn the dial to outside air, and then sprayed a whole can of Lysol into the two outside vent areas to destroy any mildew that has built up. I also would recommend removing the cabin air filter before doing this so the spray can work throughout the fan system better. You probably have done this with the other products you mentioned, but since I'm not familiar with their germ/mildew fighting properties, I thought I'd throw in my two cents. "Odor Eliminating" is not what you need; you need a disinfectant.

 

Thanks. I haven't tried Lysol yet, but I have tried some other spray that I sprayed down the fresh air intake vents which didn't fix this issue either. I think it will need to be manually cleaned, which is just gonna be so expensive since I am not a car DIYer.

 

I know a couple of people who have used the Meguiars and both said it worked great on eliminating a very strong mildew odor from their car's AC. By the way, you would use it on "recirc" mode, not outside air mode on the vehicle, so the product is circulated through the AC unit.

 

?? The idea is to eliminate the cause of the odor, not cover it up. Moisture and mildew from leaves and other junk is coming in from the outer vents. Of course he wants to spray the disinfectant through the outer vents to kill the bacteria coming from the moisture and mildew. While I am a bit "car challenged," how is putting a car on recirculation mode, meaning the air is taken from the inside of the car, going to solve the problem?

 

?? The product is called an "odor eliminator" for a reason. You set it off like a "bug bomb" of sorts in the car and put your AC on recirc mode, so it is pulling the product into the AC system and continually recirculating it throughout the system and car. That way it attacks and eliminates the source of the mildew odor in the entire AC system. Not sure that you can say the mildew is just coming from the outer vents.

It is not some air freshener that is just sprayed in the car to cover up a smell.

 

Best way to clean air vents is with a portable steamer. $20 or so from Target, Amazon etc