Hvac

[MudderChuck]

Wife complaining about the smell from the A/C in her 96 XJ.. I found the drain for the evaporator and made sure it was open, then funneled some water into the drain pan and let it run out a few times. Then let some anti-mold bathroom cleaner run into the pan.
Vacuumed then blew out (with air) the passengers side air inlet, after removing the air grate under the windshield wipers. Let some hot water run down the air inlet and it ran into the passengers side floorboards. Leads me to beleive there is a drain someplace that is plugged (not the evaporator pain drain). Pilled a few bolts from the fender and pulled it out enough to look in there, didn't see any drain for the air inlet.
I'm open to any additional info or ideas.

 

[SteelHeadz]

The HVAC housing only has one drain tube for condensation or water intrusions from the fresh air intake under the windshield cowl. It's normal that all the fluids runs to the passenger side since the lowest spot of the HVAC housing is the evaporator section. The most common cause for odor coming from the a/c evaporator is dirt and debris thats accumulated and stuck on the evaporator fins. In due time, mold and mildew sets in and causes the smell. Almost like a garden compose of deteriorating leaves. There are kits you can buy to treat the evaporator for this concern however, sometimes it will only work for a little while. Depending on how bad the accumulation on the evaporator is will be contingent if your better off to physically remove the evaporator and clean it good. Also, IF the a/c condensation is draining back into the passenger floor board through the rubber grommet on the firewall, it will also smell like mildew after the bottom of the carpet has been saturated for a while.

 

[MudderChuck]

Thanks for steering me in the right direction. Guess when I get a chance I'll pull off the passengers side kick panel and see if I can spot the leak. Doubtful I'm going to disassemble the HVAC housing. I've got a whole laundry list of other stuff to do, like ball joints and wheel cylinders, thta are a much higher priority.

 

[xjmarc]

Sorry wrong section.