I've just come back from a 500 mile or so trip, and am now dealing with an incredibly smelly car. Here's the deal:

I never use a/c. I'm a fan of the windows-down, wind-in-your-hair driving style. BUT... on the way up on this trip, I was dealing with thunderstorms the entire way, neccessitating the windows up and air conditioning on. I get to my destination with no problems, except for my SRS light intermittently coming on (which I have a feeling may somehow be connected, considering it's never done that before). Now the time comes to leave as the weekend ends, and I open my car to the foulest stench known to mankind. (This moldy mud-water-swamp-gas type stuff). Lo and behold, my passenger side footwell is absolutely filled with this pungent sludge-water. (Note: there had been no rain during the time the car was sitting there, so the possibility of a window/sunroof/etc leak is right out). I think that this has something to do with the air conditioning vent behind the centre console dripping out water into my footwell. What went wrong? How do I fix this? I'm wondering if perhaps the drain from the condenser to the underbody of the car is blocked, causing the backed-up polluted-air-moisture-water to find a home in the interior of my car. Any ideas on what to do here? (preferably a cheap solution)

Edit: On the way back, using no A/C, I had no problems whatsoever, SRS light stayed off, no water coming in.


[Modified by Asterix, 10:19 AM 7/22/2002]

 

I don't know about your SRS problem.. but the water overflowing in your passenger footwell.. that is either 1) a clogged A/C drain pipe.. or 2) in some cases I've heard of peoples getting disconnected accidentally... you should be able to either blow compressed air, or just get one of those fuzzy pipe cleaners to clear the A/C drain line under your car...

as for the smell.. thats like condensation, moisture, stagnant air molding... you can open all your windows and blast the A/C for a while until its gone.. you might want to try spraying Lysol Anti-bacterial disinfectant in your air vents... it'll stop it for a while.. but = (.. the smell will come back in time...

 

Yeah, thats what I suspected. I just looked at the underbody of the car and can't make out where the drain is. Anybody care to describe its location for me? Or should I be able to get to it somehow from behind the centre console?