dkmontgomery98

Hey all, I have a 2k Max. It only has 10k on it but as of the last 5k miles it has been emitting a horrible musty odor from the air ducts in the HVAC system. Is anyone else expereincing this? Is there a resolution. I am going to take it back to the deal as soon as I can find out exactly what causes it.

annimax

I can't give you an answer to eliminate the existing odor but to prevent this from ever occuring the answer is simple. When you are about to leave your vehicle, turn off the air,and turn it from air to vent, and let air circulate until the air reaches somewhere near the outside temperature. What you are getting is mildew that builds up from condensation forming in your air ducts since they are so cold when the vehicle is abruptly turned off without letting the ducts slowly get back to a temp that will not allow the condensation to form in the first place.

Rookwood

My GLE had this odor from the first week of ownership, and from what others have reported, it's a pretty common problem with all cars with AC. It's from mildew growing in the ductwork.

I know there are specific sprays for car ducts, but I used a spray disinfectant. It was a lemon scented Lysol, and then used a citrus oil-based air freshener spray to cover up the smell of the Lysol. I know it sounds disgusting, but it worked and I only smelled the stuff for a day or so. Here's what I did:

Leave the car idling with the interior fans at MAX (no AC on). Spray the disinfectant in the outside air intake (under the hood in front of the passenger side windshield). Give several good 4-8 second blasts. Let the car idle for a couple more minutes while verifying that the Lysol made it into the system (sit in the car and if you smell it coming thru the vents, it's there). Next, blast some citrus air freshener into the same vents and also verify that it's making it thru the system. Let the car idle some more with the fans on full.

That's it -- I drove home from the store with the windows down and the fans on. The next day the Lysol smell was gone, and the citrus smell was very faint. The citrus smell was gone in less than a week and the mildew smell hasn't returned since I did this last summer.

Good luck - it may be worth asking the dealer to spray some of their "professional mildewcide" into the vents, but my fear would be that it smells worse than the mildew. At least most people can tolerate an air freshner smell for a few days.

dkmontgomery98

I totaly hear what you guys are saying. Here is the problem though. I do shut off the AC when I shut the car off. Also the A/C has never been used in the car since we bought it (Average temp over the last four months has been about 30 - 32. So the first question is, does the A/C automatically go on when it is set to defrost mode, if that is the case, that may cause the problem. The only problem with that is I use the defrost for a short time in the morning to clear the windows of frost or snow, and then I put it on floor.

The other thing that gets me here is that I have never had this problem before. My Nissan truck now does not have this problem, my old Accord and Neon didn't have this problem. What i am really concerned about is that this problem seemed to start when I bought the car through a car wash. It has not gone away since.

I am going to attempt to play with the Air freshiners and disinfectints. Thanks for the advice guys.

mike-777

I've never had this problem despite owning an 89 Max SE for 11 years and now a new 2000 SE with 6,000 miles on it.
From what I've read over the years, the problem occurs when the drain holes in the vent system are too small to drain out properly the condensation which naturally occurs.
I see the usuall small puddles of water under my car in the summer after shut down.
For those with this problem, maybe either the drain holes are plugged or never fully opened by the factory. I would think the Dealer could fix this, hopefully without the anti-fungle sprays etc. I would also ask Nissan USA for a better fix.

Good luck
from a clean smeller

blew226

The front defogger does turn on the a/c compressor to defog faster. That's probably where you are getting the mildew from.

tomz17

Mold solution for Maxima Enthusiasts ::

Turn the heat all the way up, and then drive as fast as you can down the highway... (preferrably uphill)


-Tom