Air vents smell like sour sweat (not musty)

Hey guys,
I know there’s a lot of threads on ac vent smelling like musty or moldy, but has anyone ever dealt with it smelling like sweat? I live in a pretty humid location so I imagine it’s condensation buildup inside the vents, but how on earth can you clean it without ripping open the entire dash??

The problem has slowly been getting worse and worse, and now it smells like someone put their old gym bag in the ac ducts...

2019 f150 raptor, 12k bought new, ive never even been inside it sweaty...

-does it on both recirc and outside
-I’ve replaced the cabin filter, helped a little but not much
-I’ve run the heat before shutting off a couple times to try to dry it out... made it worse.
-thoroughly cleaned the inside (it’s never been dirty or had any spills)
-sprayed sanitizer down the vents, helped slightly for a few days then came right back...

Probably have some funk growing in the vents from A/C. I try to run fresh air through my vents for a few minutes after running the A/C to dry it out. I had a jeep that did this. It smelled like feet. Was so bad, I changed the air box. Real PITA.

SOLUTION****

For anyone who sees this is the future: the AC condensation drainage elbow somehow popped loose and drained water into the passenger footwell. The carpet got soaked and stayed wet so it ended up smelling like sweat. Brought it to the dealership and theyre replacing the carpet. Hopefully this fixes the issue entirely. If it sank into the AC vent system then it could very well need to be fully disassembled and cleaned. Hopefully doesn't come to that but Ill post up if it does.

I just went through the issue of my AC system smelling bad. After a couple visits to the dealer and a wasted 250 dollar AC system cleaning that didn’t help, I ended up buying a carbon cabin air filter, I then took my ozone bag for my hunting clothes and turning the truck on and AC mode to recirculate and run the ozone through the system. It’s been a couple weeks and the truck still smells fresh.

The funk is in the vent system and needs to be sanitized.

dixonk said:

I just went through the issue of my AC system smelling bad. After a couple visits to the dealer and a wasted 250 dollar AC system cleaning that didn’t help, I ended up buying a carbon cabin air filter, I then took my ozone bag for my hunting clothes and turning the truck on and AC mode to recirculate and run the ozone through the system. It’s been a couple weeks and the truck still smells fresh.

The funk is in the vent system and needs to be sanitized.

Click to expand...

I'm going to try the ozone recirculation, that's a new idea for me

JustDennis said:

I'm going to try the ozone recirculation, that's a new idea for me

Click to expand...

I ran mine for 30 min.