I will running the heat with the AC on for ten minutes on the way to work tomorrow and let you know how it works. I plan to leave the car with the dealer the next few days for them to work on a pesky suspension noise they were not able to fix last month.

well my 05' has 3250 miles, and it ALREADY does that... i will be wtf'ing when i go in for my 3500 service....

Every car does this. When you run the AC it creates moisture which then turns into mildew or mold inside where you cannot see it, but you can smell it. Run the heat on high for about ten minutes with the AC on and it should take care of the problem. I do this several time a year, even a couple of times in the summertime to help prevent this.

I tried the "heat" method to kill the mildew. It helped somewhat. I use my AC all of the time in all of my cars. I have never had this problem before.

This happened with my other car, which is an 04' Toyota Camry (Hey... it's a good car for the buck ), I tried the "heat" method and it didn't work, I actually let it run in my garage for like 20 minutes but to no avail.

Wow, I'm glad I'm not the only one who had this problem. I thougt it kind of smelled like B.O./mildew

man i just got a new 05 infiniti yesterday, this is the worst thing to find out today!!!

I agree. I am looking into picking one up this week possibly. If not an 05 it will be a g35.

Hopefully I can avoid this.

Scott

http://www.ackits.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=dwd2

check out a product like this... I know our cores are hidden but you can run the nozzel up the dran tube. The foam of the spray will cover the core and kill the mold and mildew and the other nasties. If the you can smell it thats bad, it means you are breathing it, and the spores can cause all kinds of problems. the can on the link is a bit expensive i think i saw a similar thing for $15 but cant find the link.

Leave the vent on with "one bar" on the fan when you drive (no A/C).

When you do run the A/C leave the fan on without A/C for a few minutes before shutting off the car. This will help eliminate the mildew smell.

Sounds like the previous owner ran the A/C quite a bit but didn't let the vents "dry" out by running the fan (no A/C) prior to shutting off.

Check out this unhappy infinity owner due to mold and smelly AC.....

http://www.badnissaninfiniticars.com/index.php

so what's the best way to fix this odor from the ac vent problem? I see a lot of different answers but which method actually works?

Will spraying lysol into the air intake fix the problem? Is this the air filter box located near the driver's side headlights in a coupe? I'm willing to try this to see if it will fix the problem but has anyone actually done this that can confirm it'll work?

turn off a/c a few minutes before you turn off the car