Musty A/C Odor

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Tourbill0n

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For at least the past 6 months, every time I turn on the Raptor, I get a blast of terrible, musty smelling air. Sometimes is goes away, sometimes it doesn't. It seems to be worse on days where it's hot outside and smell is so strong, it makes you gag. So I end up leaving the A/C completely off and keeping the windows down.

I made an appointment with the dealer to look into this and the service advisor just gave me an update. He said there is nothing that can be done. He says they used to spray something on the coils to kill any growth of mold, but it was banned in 2016. Therefore, he says to live with it and keep the windows down. Also, to turn off the A/C 5 minutes before arriving home to dry out the coils. Who the hell can remember to do that every single day?!

Is this dealership full of it? Anyone else experiencing this?
 

EricM

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Did the Lysol thing in an Escape we had. It worked well. I drove it to a spray car wash, then turned on the heat and A/C and ran at least a half of can into the cowl where I could feel it sucking in the most air. Ran it back and forth between hot/cold/recirc and normal, spraying in between. Then I used the car wash to spray the lysol residue off the cowl plastic. I was the linen scented stuff, that smell was gone after a couple days. We sold it not too long after that, so I'm not sure how it went long term, but it did work while we had it.
 

Blusmbl

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I haven't experienced that in any of the 2015-up F150's and Super Duties I've driven. My 2005 Ram did have an issue with it and I tried both Lysol and I think rubbing alcohol on a couple different occasions that would clear it up for a while, but the smell would always come back.
 

jabroni619

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I had the same problem with mine, the lysol method worked for me. Been a year since I sprayed it and still no musty smell. Sometimes I'll come back briefly but it doesn't linger like it used to.
 

Yoshi

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Lysol works, but spray it in the outside intake vents near the front windshield with the heater on high to kill off the mold on the heater or evaporator core.
 

zemuron99

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Not saying the Lysol/rubbing alcohol tricks wont work, but I'd check some other things first:
-run the AC and make sure you can see condensation dripping out from the drain tube. A clogged tube allowing water to pool and then turn brackish could be leading to the smell. If you don't see the condensation drip let us know, we can help trace the drain tube back for you. They're usually on the passenger side, but I haven't looked for one on mine yet. Maybe others here can help out.
-if you can, open the access panel to the heating/A-C coils (no idea where this is off the top), and the fresh air intake to the a/c and make sure no critters have/had made a nest in there. They find the warmth of the engine, like it in the cold weather and think the engine bay would make a nice home.

Good luck, let us know how it turns out.
 

raisins

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Bump... has anyone found the location of the drain tube on the Gen 2? I googled and didn't find any results :( Going to pop under there later and wanted a head start since I noticed water wasn't draining properly today. I do have an odd musty smell without A/C on, but once the A/C kicks on, it goes away. Weird.
 

FerdFteen

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Interested to read others' experiences with this as well. I bought my 19 at the beginning of February and have had no problems until the last couple of weeks. It has been super humid in Austin this spring/summer, so I'm guessing the Lysol solution might work for me.
 
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