[obermd]

I went out this morning and started my wife's Clarity. There was a strong locker room smell out of the air vents. I'll go out and Lysol the air intake system to deal with the immediate mold and bacteria growth. My question is "Does the Clarity have a hidden mode to run the A/C fan to dry the air after the car has been turned off?" For those of us familiar with GMs, this is the GM Afterblow feature and while it doesn't completely eliminate the issue it really makes it rare.

 

[2002]

Clarity doesn't have a feature like that. What I do is when I am about five minutes from home I press the climate button then I press the A/C Off button to turn off the A/C compressor. Note that the A/C Off button must be highlighted otherwise A/C will still be on.

After a couple of minutes as the cabin temperature starts rising I start turning the fan up. By the time I arrive home I have the fan running full blast, both to keep the cabin cool and also to try and get maximum drying. Just before I turn off the car I press the AUTO button to turn A/C back on then I immediately turn off the car. The reason that I turn A/C back on is so that the next time I start the car A/C will already be running. If I forget to turn on A/C before turning off the car, then the next time I start the car the fan will be blowing full blast which is somewhat disconcerting when you aren't expecting it.

I read somewhere that in order to really dry things out you need to run the fan for about fifteen minutes. But no way I am going to drive for fifteen minutes without A/C on a hot day. I figure five minutes of drying at least helps somewhat.

One person said that if A/C is turned off in the climate screen when you turn off the car, then if you later use preconditioning it will only run the fan. I wish that were true because then what I could do is when I got home I could use the fob to start remote climate and it would run fan only for thirty minutes. Which would probably be overkill but at least it would be dry, and at minimal battery usage since it would not be running the compressor. But when I tried this it didn't work, even though A/C was highlight as Off in the climate screen when I turned off the car, when I ran remote climate I could tell that the compressor was running because cold air was coming out of the vents.

In your case since your wife drives the car, I would guess there is zero chance of getting her to shut off A/C for any length of time. So I would say you probably will need to stock up on Lysol.

 

[ClarityDave]

Clarity doesn't have a feature like that. What I do is when I am about five minutes from home I press the climate button then I press the A/C Off button to turn off the A/C compressor. Note that the A/C Off button must be highlighted otherwise A/C will still be on.

After a couple of minutes as the cabin temperature starts rising I start turning the fan up. By the time I arrive home I have the fan running full blast, both to keep the cabin cool and also to try and get maximum drying. Just before I turn off the car I press the AUTO button to turn A/C back on then I immediately turn off the car. The reason that I turn A/C back on is so that the next time I start the car A/C will already be running. If I forget to turn on A/C before turning off the car, then the next time I start the car the fan will be blowing full blast which is somewhat disconcerting when you aren't expecting it.

I read somewhere that in order to really dry things out you need to run the fan for about fifteen minutes. But no way I am going to drive for fifteen minutes without A/C on a hot day. I figure five minutes of drying at least helps somewhat.

One person said that if A/C is turned off in the climate screen when you turn off the car, then if you later use preconditioning it will only run the fan. I wish that were true because then what I could do is when I got home I could use the fob to start remote climate and it would run fan only for thirty minutes. Which would probably be overkill but at least it would be dry, and at minimal battery usage since it would not be running the compressor. But when I tried this it didn't work, even though A/C was highlight as Off in the climate screen when I turned off the car, when I ran remote climate I could tell that the compressor was running because cold air was coming out of the vents.

In your case since your wife drives the car, I would guess there is zero chance of getting her to shut off A/C for any length of time. So I would say you probably will need to stock up on Lysol.

Another thing. This is just a comment on my experience in general. I’ve had cars where the AC evaporator drain gets clogged up making it either slow or impossible to drain. Then you have a situation where water stays inside of the casing surrounding the evaporator coil and mildew starts. in fact, I’ve had it so bad where you could hear the water slosh when you go around a corner. Get the drain unclogged and everything starts working better again.

 

[obermd]

Another thing. This is just a comment on my experience in general. I’ve had cars where the AC evaporator drain gets clogged up making it either slow or impossible to drain. Then you have a situation where water stays inside of the casing surrounding the evaporator coil and mildew starts. in fact, I’ve had it so bad where you could hear the water slosh when you go around a corner. Get the drain unclogged and everything starts working better again.

I think the drain is working fine, based on the water spill under the car yesterday afternoon when I took it out again. The Lysol seems to have done the job.

 

[2002]

I think the drain is working fine, based on the water spill under the car yesterday afternoon when I took it out again. The Lysol seems to have done the job.

Good to hear that spraying took care of it. I have heard of cars that no amount of spraying helps because the spray can't reach in far enough. I have even heard of people having to drill a hole into the air conditioner case to get disinfectant into it.

Where did you spray the lysol?

 

[obermd]

Good to hear that spraying took care of it. I have heard of cars that no amount of spraying helps because the spray can't reach in far enough. I have even heard of people having to drill a hole into the air conditioner case to get disinfectant into it.

Where did you spray the lysol?

Turn the car on and then turn on the blower on low with the A/C running. Then spray the Lysol directly into the intake vents on the outside base of the windshield. Keep spraying until Lysol is coming out the vents in the car and then continue to spray for the same length of time. Wipe off the paint when done. This works on all cars. The other thing I need to do is order a new cabin air filter and replace that.

 

[fotomoto]

Turn the car on and then turn on the blower on low with the A/C running. Then spray the Lysol directly into the intake vents on the outside base of the windshield. Keep spraying until Lysol is coming out the vents in the car and then continue to spray for the same length of time. Wipe off the paint when done.

Next step is to switch the A/C system from fresh air to recirculation and let run for another 5-10 minutes. In addition to this exterior method, I also use an ozone generator inside the vehicle for major cleanings.

 

[obermd]

Next step is to switch the A/C system from fresh air to recirculation and let run for another 5-10 minutes. In addition to this exterior method, I also use an ozone generator inside the vehicle for major cleanings.

I ordered a replacement cabin air filter last night. When it arrives I'll spend part of a morning installing it and then cleaning the ducting with Lysol and hot air.

 

[fotomoto]

I ordered a replacement cabin air filter last night. When it arrives I'll spend part of a morning installing it and then cleaning the ducting with Lysol and hot air.

I haven’t looked at that compartment real good but you may be able to see and spray the evaporator core from there. That would be a HUGE step in eradicating the source.

 

[obermd]

I haven’t looked at that compartment real good but you may be able to see and spray the evaporator core from there. That would be a HUGE step in eradicating the source.

I have - the opening's too narrow to get a good spray in there. I'm thinking about doing the spray with the filter cover in place but no filter and then install the new filter. This keeps the filter from interfering.

 

[EV Nerd]

You might also try a moisture-absorber in the cabin. I've used one in my seldom-driven S2000 here in the So. CA coast, and it helps a lot. They can be had at most big-box home improvement stores, and here's a link to Amazon's:

Amazon.com

They do need to be dumped and refilled occasionally, but it's relatively cheap to do so.

 

[obermd]

So I finally got out and replaced the filter this morning. I ran the car in external air mode with no filter in place while spraying Lysol in the external vents. Then I sprayed directly into the cabin air filter holder, again with no filter in place, to suck the Lysol directly into the blower motor and through the internal duct work. Put a brand new charcoal activated cabin air filter in when I was done.

By the way, this is the easiest cabin air filter replacement I've seen in years - no tools required. Empty the glove box, then press in the sides of the glovebox to drop it down. The air filter cover sits behind the glovebox and has a tab on each end. Push in the tab and pull the cover off each end - one at a time. Pull out the filter and put the new one in and reassemble. The hardest part is getting all the junk back into the glovebox.

 

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You can access the Evaporator drain line on the passenger side underneath the glove box, see pictures
Used Klima-Cleaner https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002Z2MKO?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details You could do this as well