how many of you guys drive your cars with the vent open all the time?

i try to do it as often as i can so i don't have to open the windows, but sometimes there's this smell to it.. like a wet towel... not bad, but it is noticeable..

i hear in some cars you can actually spray something to help with that, but where do you spray?


i'm guessing that smell comes from a build up of water in the condensor...? or something along those lines..

Water on the condensor is the most likely cause of this, giving off funnah smells.

water, smoke, fast food, farts....

you should always air out your car its a closed box

which is why i have the vent open........
i try to leave my front windows cracked as much as possible too..


i could buy one those car smelly things you stick on the vent, but they smell worse, they cost money, and they're ugly nissan sprayed something in it once and it smelled good.. i called and asked trying to get them to tell me where they sprayed, but wouldn't tell me or just didn't know what i was talking about.

i also tried spraying straight into the vent, but that only lasts like 2 mins.

When is the last time that you changed the cabin air filter?

hasn't been changed i've only had the car for.. umm. 10months and 2 weeks ~20,000 miles.

You may then want to check it. Dealers recommend that it is changed every 15k miles. This is typically not needed so early. I have always changed mine at about 30k miles.

I am assuming that you bought the car new, and at 20k miles, it shouldn't smell yet unless you have left the windows open during rain or if you smoke in the car.

The most likely cause is moisture.

A few products to look into:

Ozium spray works real well and so does Smells BeGone.

yep, got it new..

i've never left the window open during rain and i'd kill anyone who smokes/eats in my car..

my car smells good, but its those few occasions the vent starts smell like wet towels.. and i do have the ozium spray, probably a different brand, but its the same thing..

i'll get the filter checked, do you think its possible that it was the filter that they sprayed?

I'm not sure. I would recommend that you check the filter yourself. They're easy to check. Once you have it out you can take a look and give it a smell.

Typically you just need to pop the hood, remove the push pins from the cowl cover, take the cover off and pull the filter out.

As I recall, you have a Nissan, and they don't seem to list any Nissan, but www.micronair.com has how to change the cabin filter for most cars.

EDIT:

It looks like the Nissan Altima needs to be changed from behind the glove box.

Maybe this will provide some help: http://www.courtesyparts.com/Merchant2/mer...B7200-00002_L31

excellent.. thank you.

No problem. I hope it fixes the problem. It's the only thing that I can think or, and 20k miles with the vents open may be enough dirt on it to cause the smell.

Good luck.

Yeah. I've had this problem too. Especially in the summer when its hot. I turn the air on and it smells so bad. Winter with the heat coming from the vents seems to have dried the smell out... but when it gets hot again I'm sure it will be unbarable again.

So a cabin filter is the problem? Could I pick on of those up at AutoZone or something?

Or sorry for the hijack Vice King.

AutoZone should have them, although I would call and check to make sure they have your make/model in stock.

i'm going to try to explain this the best i can..

on all cars the ac works the same, except for minor differences in the way you operate them.. the buttons/knobs are different in some cars.

what i was told..
never run the fan in "A/C" mode unless it is really hot >100*F
in my car you set the knob to point to the little picture with the arrow pointing at the head, this takes it off a/c mode automatically. (you can also use the arrow pointing at the face and feet if you want)

as for the circulation mode, you should first set it to "outside air" the arrow pointing into the car.. then once its cool in the car, change to to recirculate the air...
i think it helps to save gas? might not make such a huge differnce.. but its supposed to i think.. (side note: using the fan on the freeway is more economical than having the windows rolled down)

that should help to keep the condensor from building up water vapor...


it is also good to run the car on hot, full blast for a few mins every now and then to completely dry out the compressor.

Dealers use AirCleaner for the vents. you can buy them any place. and to use it you have to spray your air filter with it and run your car with the A/C on and pay it more so that the spray gets to all the duckts and vents. once the spray touches the vents it kills all bacteria that can cause smell...