Stench from HVAC

sakendrick · Nov 5, 2020

Wondering how many others may be struggling with this - we have effectively a brand new car (12 months old now, 2019 XC60 T8 R-Design) that smells like sweaty man's armpit, particularly every time the AC starts. We've already taken it once to service and they seemed to know exactly what the issue was... did some cleaning, and about a month later the stench returned. I live in Southwest FL, a hot/humid environment, but this is unacceptable.

Any suggestions - is this fixable? I'm assuming the answer is keep bringing it back for service.

dealcatcher · Nov 5, 2020

I had the same exact issue in my xc90. Ac smell was addressed 2 times and both times it came back within a month or so. Third time they traced it to an evaporator leak and replaced it. So far so good. I know several other xc90 and xc60 owners with the same recurring issue. It's something pretty common it appears.

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Gary-16-Xc90 · Nov 5, 2020

Until the underlying issue is resolved, verify that your Climate control is NOT manually set to have re-circulation on. Climate should be set to AUTO by pressing and holding AUTO in Climate for 2-3 seconds. Recirculating will then be "Auto" - mostly when heating the cabin which is not as frequent in FL winters [emoji6].

All the best from Minnesota USA,
A fine MY16 XC90 T8

sakendrick · Dec 4, 2020

It's crazy - we are still having this issue after an apparent AC leak fix and the dealer not offering much in the way of help yet. Finding tons of posts on this, so clearly a design flaw (Smells like dirty socks coming from A/C) - I've never had this issue with any other vehicle, especially not after a year of use... and this is my first in what I guess is considered in a luxury class vehicle. Fantastic piece of machinery, but if it smells like armpits... hard to enjoy. Hoping for some resolution.

Thanks for the suggestions by the way, we'll give those a shot. Pretty sure our setting is always in Auto mode... occasionally I do hear the fan come on after parking so not sure if that is already set.

Katin · Dec 4, 2020

Turn A/C OFF a few minutes before you arrive to your destination and switch to fresh air. This allows the moisture on the evaporator to dry up and not become a breeding ground for bacteria growth.

mdiiulio · Dec 14, 2020

sakendrick said:
...and the dealer not offering much in the way of help yet.

Is there not an option for the dealer to turn on Afterblow? I haven't had them do this in my Volvo yet, but my other cars have it enabled after a visit to the dealer. Basically if certain parameters are met at shutoff (A/C setting, outside temp, battery life, etc...) it will wait 10 minutes or so and then blast the HVAC fan for 5-10 minutes to dry condensation off the evaporator and thus prevent bacteria growth.

The alternative method is manually shutting off the A/C and switching the fan to high for the last couple of minutes of each journey. Do that a few times and it should start to clear up, but I suggest the dealership route.

Nerd23 · Dec 17, 2020

Yes I have the same thing on my S90. You will need to buy one of the disinfectant refreshers to kill the odor and bacteria.

I just used the below from Liqui Moly and the results are great. No more nasty smell. It smells great as well like a new car smell.

There are Meguiars products as well. I haven't tried them personally.

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Stench from HVAC

sakendrick

dealcatcher

Gary-16-Xc90

sakendrick

Katin

mdiiulio

Nerd23

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