Hi - after months of investigation I suspect the "stale dishcloth" smell that appears in my car is from the air system. I ran it for a number of journeys (short ones unfortunately) on max heat and the smell greatly reduced by sadly has not disappeared. Local dealer looked at it and found no problem :( but referred it to SkodaUK.:( (company lease car supplied by a dealer in Kent - I am in Gloucestershire)

Meanwhile I still suspect bugs/stale water in the air system - anyone else had experience of this (on any car) and how they fixed it ??

No signs of water ingress anywhere

Had a similar thing on my previous car (Octy Elegance). Dealer dealt with it when in for a service. They call it an "Air Conditioning Anti-Bacterial Clean."

I believe that you can get a bottle of stuff and do it yourself, but I've no idea what's involved. I'm sure I've read something about it on here, though. Must dash, I'm against the clock.

Ray.

Cheap solution, go to Teso and if they have a Comma Bomb on offer get one of those and follow the instructions on the tin, they were doing them for £4 iirc, otherwise get a tin of Dettol antibacterial room spray, turn on the engine and aircon and recycle button, then put the fans on full and spray it in through the window and leave it to run for ten minutes, don't be in the car while doing it and only have the window down an inch.

As already discussed, and use the system regularly, at least once a month, afterwards to prevent a recurrence.

Thanks all - sounds like it couldn't do any harm, whatever the cause turns out to be.

Will look it up and try it.

May leave Dettol spray as a backup solution if can't get hold of the other stuff but many thanks for the suggestion !

Shouldnt really be happening on a such a new car but i have used the sprays in the past with success on my old cars.

I have an aerosol of disinfectant/deodouriser and there are 2 methods it sys for use.

1 through main air inlet - but says remove pollen filter first - would rather not disturb that and assume wiull not work well if I leave filter in situ !

2. Through the air inlet in the cabin - says detected by having on recirc and high fan and feeling in footwells for where strongest suction is.

Problem is, I can't find any suction anywhere there. Anyone know where the cabin recirc inlet vent is ? :confused:

Not sure

Just used this myself, Comma Aircon Cleaner from Halfords Price £11.73 Free Comma Air Con Cleaner When You Buy Measure and Charge Air Con Top-Up

works well, put aircon on full power, cold, with re-circ, put can on floor behind passanger seat, activate it and get out the car with windows/dorrs/boot all closed. after ten mins or so, all done. I then left windows open an inch or so for hour so so car interior could 'breath'.

I used this type , again worked fine removed the mouldy old sock smell i had

CARPLAN Car Air Conditioning Cleaner Air Con on eBay, also Other Car Care, Car Care, Car Accessories, Cars, Parts Vehicles (end time 20-Jun-09 11:12:48 BST)

Thanks all - but couldn't get hold of a bomb type today so got a Wynn's aerosol (manual type) to try.

Guess will use floor vents as entry point and set recirc on, no a/c, max fan, coolest setting and only centre face vents open and hope for best! Says use in long bursts with few seconds pause in between. Will report how well it works later and whether it cures the problem before SUK get back to my dealer with any comments !! Can claims to hold 2 treatments.....we'll see !

It's a number of things, if you smoke in the car it doesn't help, the newness of the plastic, and the route one cause bacteria forming in the vent tubes, don't pay the earth,m any antibac spray works, don't subscribe to the "CAR" bit, I do mine 2 times a year with 99p sprays, always works you can tell the moment you get in afterwards.

Hello to all!

In order to get rid of the aircon bad smell for good, stop the aircon 5 min before you stop the car (before parking). However the fan must work during this 5 minutes. Do this all the time you drive the car with the aircon on.

In this way the aircon duct system will be dry all the time and the bad odor will vanish for ever. No need for chemicals or other methods.

It is a very simple solution and effective in the same time. I do this all the time. I never used a spray in my life. No bad smell in the car from aircon.

Edited 6 June, 200917 yr by vixen

Hello to all!

In order to get rid of the aircon bad smell for good, stop the aircon 5 min before you stop the car (before parking). However the fan must work during this 5 minutes. Do this all the time you drive the car with the aircon on.

In this way the aircon duct system will be dry all the time and the bad odor will vanish for ever. No need for chemicals or other methods.

It is a very simple solution and effective in the same time. I do this all the time. I never used a spray in my life. No bad smell in the car from aircon.

That method is also recommended to help you adjust to the outside temp and avoid a cold.

That method is also recommended to help you adjust to the outside temp and avoid a cold.

you cant get a cold by going from a cold car to a warmer exterior. a cold is a virus and the virus needs to be present for you to catch it !!!

i have always used my aircon most of the time and never had any problems with odours. never needed to faff about with "shut down routines" !!!

i would also look at changing the pollen filter too as this will hold on to bacteria too.

you cant get a cold by going from a cold car to a warmer exterior. a cold is a virus and the virus needs to be present for you to catch it !!!

i have always used my aircon most of the time and never had any problems with odours. never needed to faff about with "shut down routines" !!!

Ok.

I guess the advice warning in the car manuals was an overreact in the end, maybe it wasn't to prevent colds, but it was definately advised for some health reason iirc.

Try opening the window