Why Do My Car Vents Smell Like Mildew

What in the world could it be.

Why do my car vents smell like mildew.

You can remove the tobacco stench by shampooing the carpets the upholstery and the headliner using an enzyme based cleaning product. Mildew can also often grow inside air conditioning vents. Use long handled products to make it easier to reach deep into your vents. Even a cabin air filter clogged with rotting leaves or leaking trunk can become odiferous.

Smells of mildew in your car may be caused by the growth of bacteria. If there is an odd moldy smell that kicks in as soon as you turn your air conditioning on you don t have to close your nose and bear it. This is especially a problem for those with asthma who may be sensitive to mildew spores. Cigarette smoke is probably the hardest of the smells to remove from your cars ac vents.

The air from your blower motor forces air across this surface and out through the vents in your dash floor and defroster. If you re smelling a musty moldy smell think dirty socks then what you re smelling is mildew growing in the system. You should replace the air filter to eliminate the odor. Probably one of the reasons why there is a distinct smell in your air conditioner when you turn it on is the growth of mold in your air vents.

In fact the smell happens as a result of mold building up inside the vents. This is actually a very common automotive problem and it s generally caused by running your air conditioning system only on recirculate and not blowing the fan for a minute or two after turning off the air conditioning and shutting off the engine. As the car becomes older bacteria mold fungi and micro organisms can start to grow. Most likely it s the smell of mold and or mildew.

Frequent causes for musty smells include mold and or mildew in the vent system carpet or headliner. That smell is mildew and it indicates that there has been. In most cases this happens for a few different reasons. More likely than not you ve built up some mold and mildew thanks to moisture in your ac system.

You can kill the mildew with a homemade solution. The smoke from cigarettes gets into everything within your cars interior. Every time your ac comes on the air leaving your vents stinks with a musty odor. For example it could happen because of leaves dust and debris that builds up inside the air vents.

Either way it s supposed to make you comfortable and that s not possible if there s an unpleasant musty smell coming out of your vents.