Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Stinky Air Conditioner!

... but when I turned the air conditioner on max high, and held a little piece of paper in front of it to check for flow, the paper didn't move much. I suppose if I spray Lysol into it and can smell it coming out of the vents then, by God, I've found it.

Thanks for the tips, guys!

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When doing your testing, you'll want to alternate the A/C setting between MAX and NORMAL. On the MAX setting, the external intakes are closed. If the stink goes away when the A/C is set to MAX, that would point to the air filter as the source of the odor.

What about the ducts that are under the seats? What function do they have? My guess is that when he turns on the A/C that the ducts blow air across that portion of the carpet where the beer had spilled. Changing the cabin filter is a good idea, but I doubt unless the beer magically sprayed up over the seat, to the outside and into the filter that the filter is the culprit for this smell he describes.

The air intake when on MAX is just in front of the glovebox. Open the glovebox and look towards the firewall. You'll see some grates just beyond the top back edge of the bin. I've had some loose papers get sucked out of my glovebox and onto the grates (papers that were lying on top of an already full glovebox).