Recently started smelling this weird smell come out of the vents. I first got the car about 3 weeks ago and when I turned the fan/AC on it smelled like a pungent dog. I also saw these white hairs come out. I figured they hit a cat or dog or something. I don't really use the fan or AC much, but the smell dissipated.

Yesterday I turned the defrogger on and the worst smell came out of my vents. It was similar, insofar, to the dog smell, but much, much worse. Maybe it's a dead dog smell. It's really strong and tickles the back of my throat. What do I do to fix this?

Edit: Update: I didn't do anything about the smell. I took the air filter out, but there was nothing there. I kept the vents turned off for the past year. No AC and no heat. Good thing we didn't have a tough winter. The smell dissipated and now it's virtually 100% gone and I can use the fan/vents again.

 

my guess is a mouse in the vent system. somewhere before the air cabin filter.

 

Hey there I have a 09 with 50k on it I have ran into a couple of cars with the same issue the best thing that I have found is try to find a dealership around where ever you are and see if they have what's called the bg climate control service bascially they still a small hole in your blower box where your evaporator is and insertes a fomeing spray that cleans it out also do a new cabin filter that's what worked for me

 

Ok, dead mouse sounds about right. Although the white hairs that come out of the vent looked to be too long for a mouse. Anyway, I took the cabin filter out and hoped/prayed for the worst, but there was nothing.

Is there anything else I can do without taking it somewhere?

Edit: To give some more information, the car's fan only works on the highest speed. The smell only came back once I turned the defogger on and it was extremely pungent. I almost want to say it smells almost like oil and dog. Insofar, it reminds me of the smell of my parents house when they would turn the heat on. They used oil and forced hot air. Except this smell is much, much worse. I'm also not using heat right now, obviously, so I don't think it would be the heater core.

 

take the fan out. There could be a rodent in it. That is what happened to my wife's pilot. fan was making an odd noise and it smelled terrible. turned out to be a dead mouse got caught in it and chewed up.

 

How do mice get into the system? This spring my Fit's system smelled like a wet dog.

 

they crawl in through the vent holes but the furthest up they can make it is the cabin air filter which is just after the fan. It is where I have seen a few nests, but they sometimes get killed by the fan. hence the smells.

Ever seen dog or cat food or insulation in the engine air filter box? same thing just different location.

 

I took the air cabin filter out yesterday and felt around the fan without feeling anything gross. I also smelled the inside around there and the air filter itself. It didn't smell nearly as heinous as what's coming out of my vents.

I also parked it in a different spot last night where there wasn't any oil stains on the ground. This morning I noticed a trail of something leaking from the left from of the engine. So I think it might be oil burning.