Hi everyone! Well I have a 2007 Ram 1500 QC with 56K miles and last week I had the blower motor resistor go out. So I replaced it and all worked normal again. When I get home and start parking the a/c puffs out a small cloud of white smoke and this smell comes out (to me it smells like cigerettes).
Today I drove my truck again and again it started to smell but no more smoke, that only happened once. I dont run my a/c on the recirculation position but I did move the **** to that cause I thought I was driving behind someone that was smoking and the smoke was getting sucked in. Its never smelled before and this just started to happen.

So I switch it to the recirculation position and the smell stops but then starts again. Has anyone had this problem and know of a fix for it?
By the way, the its been pretty hot where I live, in the 90's. And the blower motor resistor I replaced said it was for my truck make/model/year but on the box it said blower motor resistor with Auxiliary AC.

Thanks in advanced for any help.

 

Repsol,

I found one TSB on A/C odor. Posting it below in case it could help solve your problem.

NUMBER: 24-006-06
GROUP: Heating & A/C
DATE: August 9, 2006

SUBJECT:
A/C Cooling Coil Odor
OVERVIEW:
This bulletin involves inspecting for leaves and other foreign material, cleaning, and
treating the cooling coil and housing.
MODELS:
1995 - 2003 (AB) Ram Van/Wagon
1995 - 2004 (AN) Dakota
2004 - **2007** (CS) Pacifica
1998 - 2003 (DN) Durango
2002 - **2007** (DR/DH/D1) Ram Pickup
2004 - **2007** (HB) Durango
2001 - 2006 (JR) Sebring Convertible/Sebring Sedan/Stratus Sedan
2002 - **2007** (KJ) Liberty
1993 - 2004 (LH) 300M/Concorde/LHS/New Yorker/Intrepid/Vision
2005 - **2007** (LX) 300/**Charger**/Magnum
2005 - **2007** (ND) Dakota
2002 (PG) PT Cruiser (International Markets)
1995 - 2005 (PL) Neon/SX 2.0
2001 - **2007** (PT) Chrysler PT Cruiser
2001 - **2007** (RG) Chrysler Voyager (International Markets)
2001 - **2007** (RS) Town & Country/Caravan/Voyager
2001 - 2005 (ST) Sebring Coupe/Stratus Coupe
1997 - 2006 (TJ) Wrangler
2002 - 2006 (VA) Sprinter
1999 - 2004 (WJ/WG) Grand Cherokee
2005 - **2007** (WK/WH) Grand Cherokee
2006 - **2007** (XK**/XH)** Commander
SYMPTOM/CONDITION:
Some vehicle operators may experience a musty odor from the A/C system, primarily at
start up in hot and humid climates. This odor may be the result of microbial growth on the
cooling coil. During normal A/C system operation, condensation forms in and around the
A/C cooling coil. When airborne pollutants mix with this condensation, bacteria and fungi
growth begins and odor results.

 

DodgeCare, thanks for your reply. The smell I'm getting is not a fungi/mold smell its more like smoke smell. Also, it started right away and the smell is strong it didnt gradually start smelling.
So today I was looking for any kind of leaks and stuff. I decided to remove the blower motor resistor and look it over. I think the smell is coming from the reisistor, as I was looking at it I noticed that it smells exactly like whats coming out of the vents. I took a closer sniff at it and it is the smell thats coming out of the vents.
So, I'm wondering if its a break in period of the resistor? Seems like the more the resistor heats up the more it starts to smell.
Maybe the smell will go away...?

 

It's sounds like it's heating up too much.

 

Is there a reason why it would over heat?

I did notice that when I was looking for the part online there where two resistors available, one said blower motor resistor and the other said said with auxiliary a/c. When I went to the local auto part store they only had the one with auxiliary a/c so thats the one I bought and installed. Could that be whats causing it to over heat?

 

While it seems that if there were different applications that could be the problem, I cannot answer definitively because I do not know the answer. If you want to PM me your VIN I can get you the correct Mopar part # which may or may not help answer your question. I am out the door now, but if you still want me to look into it send me your VIN and I can get the correct part# to you on Monday morning.

 

Sounds good, I'll send you a PM. Thank you for all your help and time.

-Albert

 

Seriously, do this. Turn on the fan blower and take a can or lysol and spray it outside the truck over the cowl and let it get sucked in. It will kill the mold, fungi, bacteria that can grow in there due to moisture from running the ac. It's a good idea when running the ac to turn off the ac compressor but leave the fan blowing until it is no longer cool just before you get the your destination

 

Yup, tried that already. Also I dont use my a/c much, or my truck for that matter, as I ride my bike most of the time. Whats happening is that when I switch to vent position from recirculation, the smell stop coming out and then start up again after a while. Same if I change the speed settings or I switch from the top window vents to the floor vents and so on.
When I removed the motor blower resistor to inspect it, it smelled exactly as the smell thats coming out of the vents. The smell started right after I replaced the resistor.

 

sounds like, by the process of elimination, that if as soon as you replaced a resistor it started making a burning smell, and the resistor smells exactly like what the air blowing out smells like it's pretty safe to say that it's the resistor. as far as a break-in period, i've never heard of one. you may have gotten the wrong part or a bad resistor. also, you might want to think about what blew the old resistor.... maybe this new one is just strong enough not to blow and the old one wasn't. you may want to test the volts and amps going into the new resistor. my .02