Morning Start - funny cabin smell?
 

Hi folks!

My first post and pretty excited!

When I start my G35 2007 in the morning, there is a funny smell in the cabin. My friend said I needed to replace the cabin filter so I did. However, the funny smell continues until I unselect the air from being circulated in the cabin. Anyone experience this before? Thoughts? idea? fix? Thanks so much for your help.

Gerry

Look in the battery compartment, that's where it draws fresh air.

It's from condensation created by the AC system, which over time can create mold or mildew in the ventilation system. Keeping it on recirc can exacerbate the issue. Use recirc sparingly for when it's needed, then switch to fresh. To minimize what you have now, try switching the system to heat shortly before your arrival to evaporate the condensation. Do this for a little while and it should improve the situation.

Mine will do this too but I found that simply turning the AC off for as little as 30 seconds (even less) before shutting the car off works very well.

Ask frankie, your AC motor may have mold In it too.

Trade your car in, it will never go away in the summer months, I've sprayed everything in the ducts and in the fresh air vent outside and it doesn't last very long.. Or it could be your sunroof drains leaking at the firewall that are impossible to fix.. It's only one of the many stupid problems these cars have.. Welcome to Infiniti life

Whatttt? Didn't you finally clean the fan and motor path?

Yeah, still smells lol

Anytime I've worked on a vehicle with persistent cabin air quality problems it usually ends up being either:

-Rotting debris, plants, mice near the fresh air inlet or inside the duct work.

-Running the AC system without the cabin air filter installed allowing debris to collect on the AC coil.

-Other smells in the floor carpet that get blown around as soon as the fan speed is high enough to have air blowing through the carpet fibers.

Fortunately it's fairly easy to isolate where the smell is actually coming from. Remove the glove box to access the cabin air filter, remove it and SMELL IT, does it smell funny? If so replace, if it smells fine wrap it in saran plastic cooking wrap and reinstall into the vehicle. Now turn fresh air on and see if that fixes the smell, if so the smell is coming from the fresh air inside the engine compartment and you should look for dead critters or decaying plant material in/around the battery box where the fresh air comes from. If the smell STILL persists then get your nose down in the carpet in the footwell, does it smell like butt? Clean the carpet. Does it smell fine? Problem is inside the cabin duct work or the AC coil.

Unfortunately that a lot harder to access on this vehicle, you can tear the dash apart, take the ductwork apart, stuff rags below the coil and use coil cleaner then spray bottle water to clean the coils. Wipe down ALL THE DUCTWORK on the inside with ammonia-based windex (blue windex not the green stuff).

Usually when tearing everything apart you find the culprit, like an old dead mouse or mouse nest with fecal matter in it, sometimes mold/algae looking crap on the AC coils or covering the duct walls.

The system will always smell "strangely musty" for a few minutes after you turn the AC off as the coils rapidly thaw. Some luxury vehicles have a secondary charcoal filter between the coil and outlet duct to prevent the smell but most rely on a single fresh air cabin filter which does nothing for THAT smell.

EDIT: The saran wrap is to block airflow to eliminate the engine bay fresh air as the culprit. Remove this from the cabin filter when done testing.

I like your isolation idea. Thanks for sharing.