You're not making me feel better, DKCSAR. LOL

 

All I'll say is beat your brains out and drive the service people nuts and it will still stink.Many Many TSB's on the stink subject from many manufactures for the three decades I ran service depts..From spray treatments to heater box/evaporator replacement.None cured a thing.Maybe it was the SAME engineer swapping jobs lol.Turning it on FULL heat the last five minutes of run time helps it but I'd sooner put up with it.I have had engineers in the shop cut a square hole in the heater box and installed a glass window to WATCH the water and drain.Interesting but got nowhere.That was on Nissan's back in the mid to late 80s.

 

To be honest Hounddogg, I started this thread just to see if someone has encountered the problem AND got it corrected. And yes, if I have a problem with my truck I will "beat my brains and drive the service people nuts" to try to get it corrected. When I mentioned the problem to the technician, he did mention there may be a TSB to clean the system to get rid of the smell. I told him I was not as interested in just cleaning the system as I was in correcting the root cause or it would just return. I asked him if it was a drainage problem could he fix it. He said yes and no and we discussed the issue further. If he tells me this week that he cannot fix the problem, we are done. I trust him that much.

I find it humorous that trying to get a problem fixed is considered "driving the service department nuts." Doesn't the dealership get paid by the company for warranty work? If so, you would think they would want us to come a lot, especially in these great economic times.

Sometimes warranties are such a joke. Since this problem is so well known and impossible to fix you would think it would state in the warranty section, "We cover everything except stinky poorly draining A/C systems. They are impossible to fix." If they did, there would be a lot less confusion on whether this problem is a warranty issue or not.

 

Service Manager and techs are not engineers and are liminted.Items like ac stink do pay but can and are very time consuming with accomplishing very little and usually its not repaired.Its not like working on a dead skip or even a wind noise issue or a water leak and so on.Ac stink as I stated has been a topic for many years.I have had engineers from several manufactures come to the shop and stay a few days in a corner trying/looking at the issue.Even Jap engineers that had translators,did not know how to drive a car and was told could fix and get to the bottom of a issue.After many hours,things like adding windows to heater boxes,swapping parts,different sprays,different drains and ways to drain,coating the plastics with chemicals,customer in rental cars etc.left with a SORRY no fix and the smell isn't THAT bad.Was told the mold smores causing it are the SAME ones like on a dirty damp sock.I have had REPS on such issues tell service mangers on problems of that nature that if you(the shop)tries to repair they WON"T pay because there is NO cure so don't even go there etc.There are some things your GP(Doctor) at clinic level just can't get anywhere with and turns to research.Thats why there are TSB's and Rapid Responce info and such.Everthing that has been stated on this thread I have heard,read many times over many years.I find it interesting that THIS issue is still a ISSUE.Bet just about every manufacture has old and new TSB's addressing it.Don't be so hard on the service manager or tech.Think about being in THEIR shoes when you drive in that service drive holding your nose and that look on your face.They'd LOVE to fix it,get paid and go on to another issue.Wonder what MB,Lexus,Acura and so on have on the subject.May try calling one of those or going by one of this dealers and picking their heads about AC smells.I have tried TSBs from one to the other on items looking for a fix on certain issues in the past.Would have thought that THIS issue was put to rest years ago.The only times I can remember smelling it was vehicles sitting in the heat and the intial turning on the ac.I do remember it at times it being pretty darn smelly.I have had cutomers drive me up a wall over certain notes from the radio not being clear or sharp enough or when a back window opened at hiway speeds the BOOM noise that appears in many vehicles and so on and so on.I DON"T miss those kind of issues,dealing with employees(always something daily if not hourly) or the hours(11plus a day on average)of a service dept.Sorry to be so blunt on my first responce to this issue but I do NOT need to be Retail Friendly since I retired from three decades of it.Really amazed that the AC smell thing is still a issue.I got the nickname Hounddog BECAUSE I stayed involved in issues such as this on a quest for THE answer.I could drive engineering UP a wall picking THEIR brains.LOL.Some things seem to never change,like funky ac smells.Go figure.

 

I'm hearing that there is mild dew, mold buildup in the A/C system??? I would be concerned of health issues, breathing the spores. I would tell the service manager, start to feel ill, snizzing, coughing what ever. This becomes a health issue and need to be addressed..
Duane.

 

You can do that.Won't get you anywhere.Heard all of that over the years about funky ac smells.All they'll do is try to placate you until you stop going on about it or you trash the vehicle out and it doesn't matter any more.Also told its plastic smell and told it was the coatings used on the evaporators.I was told same type spores as dirty socks.I been OUT of the business since 2001 and amazed that its STILL a issue.

 

I got my A/C smell to go away by simply turning the fan to high speed for about 30 seconds before I turn the truck off. Within 2 days the smell was gone and has not come back. Maybe this will help a few of you out.

 

I have/had the same issue when I bought my truck.
In my old Chevy I had to run the air in recirculate mode 100% of the time for it to work good, so I was doing the same in the Ram.

After posting here, https://dodgeforum.com/forum/4th-gen...-c-stinks.html, I started running the air in recirculate mode only to cool down the cab and then changing to non-recirculate mode. The air on the Ram has been good enough that I don't switch back to recirculate mode unless I stop and get out of the truck.
I would say the smell it 95% gone now.

I too believe there is a drain issue, but I haven't found a solution.

 

For years and years manufactures only said to use RECIR/Max ac to initially cool the vehicle down then turn to fresh to keep any SMELL down.The controls on these trucks which are also used on some GMs turn to FRESH once the temp setting is clicked up one notch.I'm sure the reason is to keep funky smells down.I very seldom use MAX/RECIR ac after a few minutes.My Gran Marquis is set up the same way.My 05 Dodge 3500 the AC performs really poorly and for that reason ALONE it just about stays on MAX/Recir full time.But thats NOT how it was designed.

 

Hey guys, I had the same thing happen in my truck a few weeks ago. My A/C mysteriously began to stink after I ran it through an automated car wash. I bought my truck back in March and had always hand washed my ride. This was the first time I ran it through a high pressure car wash. Do you think it could be the in cabin A/C air filter getting wet and moldy? The smell lasted a couple of weeks and has since gone away. I never checked the filter, anyone know where it is located and is it hard to change?