Ok guys, Im new here and just created this profile to get some help. Ill be around and checking out various articles and threads by folks too.

So the problem is my A/C is beginning to smell musty/moldy. I bought a can of cleaner/deodorizer that requires spraying directly into the drain tube.... But I cant find it anywhere. Googled for hours and hours to no avail. Even asked my local Midas. I'm an ex-military mechanic and thought I knew enough about cars to get me around. Apparently not. I crawled around for probably an hour under there and couldn't see anything likely. Does anyone know where this thing is? If someone could take a picture or something, Id be incredibly thankful!

Oh, I have run the A/C 3 separate times, on 2 separate trips and come home, left it running and looked for drips after about 10 minutes. Nothing. Looked front to back and didnt find a darn thing. Im assuming 1 of 2 things. First being that they put it somewhere "clever" like above the exhaust so it drips onto it and evaporates rather than hitting the ground or the second, being that my drain is so far blocked that it is just filling up the bottom of my evap unit... Any help is appreciated, thanks in advance!

 

The drain goes through the tunnel in the center of the vehicle. If you look behind the center console from the passenger floor, you will see the tube. I don't believe you can see it from the outside, it drains into a channel.

 

Thanks for the info, sorry for the slow response-work.

So if it gets blocked, like I suspect it is, how do I unblock it? I didnt see a tube leading out the back on the pass or driver side. Could you post a picture or anything? I'd love to get my vans A/C smelling right again! Any other methods of cleaning it?

 

um, there is a Cabin air filter behind the glove box. Maybe you can try remove that filter with the car running, and spray in there with the blower motor running at Max speed. Replace the filter if it is dirty.

Being such a new car, I highly doubt your drain is clog. Also, the drain is located above the exhaust heat shield. You won't see it from under the car. It is located in the center, behind the Cup Holder.

 

Ok, so heres were Im at.... I can see where it exits from inside the car, but obvioulsy cant get at it from underneath. Its an x-rental we bought at 26k in january and have almost 34k on it now. We drive LOTS. It smells musty at start up with A/C, so my assumption is a clogged drain. So can anyone tell me what it might be, if not a clogged drain and how to clean it if it is?

I just replaced the cabin air filter less than 1k ago and all maintenance is up to date. Im a bit OCD about all this stuff, so its a full synth only, hand washed every week, polished about every other month and detailed once per month type car... So you can imagine a musty smell gets to me.

 

Try this product. You just spray in on the Air inlet under the windshield wiper cowl, or under the Cabin Filter with Blower motor on HI.

http://www.infinitipartsusa.com/BG-F...rigi-fresh.htm

Or just use Febreze Fabric Refresher Antimicrobial Air Freshener, available at your local Target or Wal-Mart instead. I have good luck with it.




The Drains are for draining water, it has nothing to do with smell. And if it is indeed clog, your passenger side carpet would be completely wet when you are using A/C

 

Ok, so after messing around and thinking for a while, I came up with this fix. I fully intend to own this van for just about ever. We put 20k a year on our main family vehicle, easy. So I figure if I have to do this every year or so, to make it smell good again, then making access easier should be a priority. I have pics but didnt have enough time to upload. I just drilled a hole into the side of the evap drain, then filled it with the cleaning foam, once it drained, I stuck some black electrical tape over it after. We will see over the coming weeks how well it worked, but so far it seems good.

 

Should be able to find a rubber plug for the hole. Electrical tape usually doesn't hold up and then you get water inside. Hard to get rid of that stink.