Hello all,

When I turn on the AC in my 96 Civic EX, I am hit with a musky odor coming from the air vents that I'm assuming is from mold, which I believe has caused me at least 3 bouts of respiratory and sinus issues over the past 6 months, but I'm not sure where to begin to deal with this issue; and wondering if this mold can somehow be eradicated or would I have to replace the vents and/or ducts all together? FWIW: I've also had bits & pieces of what appear to be insulation blowing into the car from the vents.

I appreciate your feedback!

 

I'm not sure if your car came with a cabin air filter but that's the first place to look. Should be under the glovebox by the blower motor.

 

Open the blower box, shop vac all the leaves and debris. Make sure your drip line is out of the car while you are down there, although you would most likely notice the wet carpet. The foam may be saturated with mold and as it breaks apart the chunks are being spread into the air. You can remove and replace. There’s some at the blower box and your vents. After doing all of this I would saturate with Lysol in the cabin with the ac recirculating on, let the system move it through your vents and system. Spray a lot . Close the doors don’t remain in the vehicle. Then switch it to fresh air and repeat. You may need to repeat the process if the odor remains.

 

Thanks!
Apologies for the late reply, but other pressing family matters diverted my attention during winter months. That said, it appears my car did not come with a cabin air filter.

Pic of my 96 Civic EX under the glove-box by the blower motor:


Pics from cars on YT claiming to show 96-‘00 Civic cabin filters

 

Thanks!

Again, apologies for the late reply. I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "Open the blower box", but I posted a pic from under the glove-box by the blower motor, which I replaced about 2.5 yrs ago; and as you can see, there are no leaves and/or debris. I have not noticed a wet carpet, but I believe that I see the foam at the blower box that you are describing, which I've circled in red below, but it appears to be intact. That said, whether or not it and/or the vents' foam are saturated with mold and/or vents' foam is breaking apart...IDK. And I'm not sure how to get to the foam in these areas to check and/or replace.

 

IIRC, 96-00 Civics (in the US at least) don't have cabin air filters, but you could install one from a CRV.

For the mold though, it's kind of hard to trace the source if you believe it's coming from your vents. I'd try some charcoal odor bags or keeping something like DampRid in the car for a bit.

I had some mold smells coming from my trunk/spare wheel area, made sure to dry it out and then DampRid did its thing.

 

If my Civic doesn't have a cabin air filter, perhaps installing one from a C-RV would be helpful, if it can be done properly without a filter housing; but imo eradicating the mold would need to be done first.

I do believe it's coming from the vents, because the only time I smell it is when I run the A/C, but after a quick search, I'm not sure how either charcoal odor bags or keeping something like DampRid in the car a bit would eradicate the mold. It seems, and correct me if I'm wrong, that they may help mask the smell & remove excess moisture in the air respectively, but would not necessarily remove the mold.

That said, I did however see suggestions of spraying either an anti-bacterial car AC mold spray, Lysol or even white vinegar solution into all of the vents and the intake duct beneath the glove compartment, paying close attention to getting it on the evaporator.

I'd love to hear from those who have tried any of these spray methods.

 

Check out the cabin filter retrofit thread - it is a good mod!
My build thread has pics of all the funk that was built up against my AC condenser...

 

Check this out: https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-...civic-2552431/

This is what I had going on:

Read my details here: https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-.../#post52348079

 

Thanks!

That retrofit seems like a pretty big job. I may just want to start with seeing how cleaning out any funk like you did works along with spraying with one of the aforementioned solutions.

That said, a couple of questions...
How do I get to the area where you said that you got your system evacuated?
Also, videos showing a spray being used, remove the filter and spray into the filter housing, but with no filter where can I spray to get it throughout the system and the evaporator?

 

It did take some work no doubt.
You certainly could just start with cleaning your evaporator and going from there.
In that case, I would go in the following steps:

1. Read the FSM about removing the fan motor and air box.
2. Take the car to an AC service shop and have them evacuate your system of refrigerant
3. Order some new o-rings for the connections at your evaporator
4. Disconnect evaporator, remove air box
5. Remove debris, clean evap coils
6. Optional - replace drier (dryer?)
7. Replace o-rings
8. Reassemble
9. Bring car back to AC service for vacuum test and charge

You can get Frigi-Fresh for the evap coils at a parts store, or an HVAC supply outlet will have a product for home/office AC evap coils. Either will work!
Good luck mate!

 

Thanks, I appreciate the step-by-step.