My 59 plate octy has a funny smell coming from the vents,even with the aircon off.Its doin my lasses head in,she says its like stagnent water.It doesnt bother me too much but any ideas what it could be ???

Have you checked the condition of the pollen/cabin  filter? when was it last replaced? 

Yeah is new mikey and have even ran one of those aircon cleaner things thru it

Probably wet leaves under the scuttle cover where the air is drawn in

Is clear mate as had scuttle off to do suspension

You can get a funny smell from a leaky heater matrix , quite common in citron berlingos, the anti-freeze coolant stuff only needs a little to leak at the joints and it can smell.

 

The leakage doesn't need to large reach the floor or dampen anything,  it  evaporates and only the fumes  get into the air vents.  Some Radweld or similar usually stops it .

Thanks will look into that

When you used the air con cleaner did you remember to put the climate control on recycle? My brother didn't and still had the musty smell. Second attempt and another can this time on recycle and smell went.

Otherwise check for damp carpets under the mats

Definatly did mate and carpets are dry, wonder if i should do the aircon cleaner thing again

Pull out the fan and clean it.  It's not a difficult job.

 

Probably a few leaves in there & covered in horrible stuff.

When you did the cleaner did you also remove the filter while doing it?

 

Have you also tried running the A/C flat out for a while then switching ECON on and turning the heat right up for a while (might have to not be sat in the car for both cold and hot blasts!)

Edited 15 September, 201510 yr by Phil-E

So to drag up an old thread we noticed a horrible smell from the vents when first turning the A/C on. It smelled like stinky feet. It would go after a minute or two.

 

So I first got the car up to temperature, turned the heat to "HI", turned on "Econ", turned on recirc and turned the fans on full. That made the smell pretty much disappear but there was still a slight smell.

 

So bought a can of this from Euro Car Parts:

 

http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/Skoda_Octavia_1.9_2008/p/car-accessories/car-cleaning-accessories/car-interior-cleaners/air-con-cleaner/?NOR2897300&0&cc5_101

 

It says on the can it's enough for 2-3 treatments but I used the whole can in one go!

 

Pulled out the pollen filter and sprayed it into there towards to the heater matrix etc. Smell gone!

Interesting thread, as my car smells horribly recently, but mainly after the aircon has been turned off. It's smell free with it on, but 20s or after turning it off it's aweful. The first time I noticed it I actually thought I had stepped in dog muck.

I thought for these bacteria killing aerosols, you had to have recirculation off and the windows open as the vapours were harmful?

Yeah when I did the treatment it says to have the ignition on but the fans off and open all the vents and spray it in the vents and intake (I sprayed directly where the pollen filter is).

 

Then leave it for a while then run it as normal. So I didn't use recirc while using it.

 

There are others that require you to put the A/C on full with recirc on and set it off in the car and quickly close the door... they're a bit more potent I think!

 

We used to use a system back when I was a valeter that basically used a device like a disco fog machine that you sat on the back seat and had a remote outside the car. You would take the pollen filter out and run the A/C on near max with recirc enabled then fill the car with the smog. They did different scents too if you were feeling fruity!

 

Ours has been fine but since the weather picked up it suddenly started smelling so must have been the lack of use and damper weather that caused it.

 

I would first try my suggestion of running it on max temp for a bit (obviously not sat in the car as it gets a bit toasty!)

Yeah when I did the treatment it says to have the ignition on but the fans off and open all the vents and spray it in the vents and intake (I sprayed directly where the pollen filter is).

 

Then leave it for a while then run it as normal. So I didn't use recirc while using it.

 

There are others that require you to put the A/C on full with recirc on and set it off in the car and quickly close the door... they're a bit more potent I think!

 

We used to use a system back when I was a valeter that basically used a device like a disco fog machine that you sat on the back seat and had a remote outside the car. You would take the pollen filter out and run the A/C on near max with recirc enabled then fill the car with the smog. They did different scents too if you were feeling fruity!

 

Ours has been fine but since the weather picked up it suddenly started smelling so must have been the lack of use and damper weather that caused it.

 

I would first try my suggestion of running it on max temp for a bit (obviously not sat in the car as it gets a bit toasty!)

 

Cool, I'll look into them.  My car doesn't have an Econ button. I'll read up on it...

 

EDIT - Must be a diesel engine feature...

Edited 18 May, 201610 yr by planehazza

With yours being the facelift they actually just labelled it "A/C" so just make sure that is off:

 

Edited 18 May, 201610 yr by Phil-E

It works better if you remove (and throw away) the pollen filter; run the anti-bacterial spray and then fit a new pollen filter.

 

I find the activated carbon filters work better

It works better if you remove (and throw away) the pollen filter; run the anti-bacterial spray and then fit a new pollen filter.

 

I find the activated carbon filters work better

 

Cheers dude. I've actually only just fitted a new cabin/pollen filter about 1k miles ago, so once I do this I'll probably just stick an air freshner up next to it.