[size=18]Recently noticed a damp foosty smell coming from ventilation system. Anyone any ideas before I go to dealer.[/size]

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Guessing it the aircon system

If not used for a while they breed bacteria and start smelling

Try heater on max heat aircon on blower set to medium for as long as you can bear it, the vents need to be open and then again max cold hopefully this will kill them off

You could also look at air bomb for this at your local car spare shop

Bear in mind I resently read somebody spending £70+ on these bombs and still had the smell and was recommended a pro company for £110 Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

http://www.disco3.co.uk/forum/topic53883.h...9864618e98 Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

Hope you get it sorted. And afterwards leave the aircon switched on all the time. It'll prevent the smell coming back and you'll hardly notice the difference in fuel ecomony. Not only that, it should extend the life of the aircon system.

npinks wrote:

Try heater on max heat aircon on blower set to medium for as long as you can bear it, the vents need to be open and then again max cold hopefully this will kill them off

The problem is that the heating core is after the evaporator core in the air's flow path through the AC ducts, because the air's moisture must be removed before it passes through the heating matrix.
So that max heating will not affect the place where the most bacterias live: the evaporator core.
It will affect/clean the bacterias from the last part of the air ducts, after heating core. But their "moist and damp home town" is safe, before the heat.
This is the reason it has just a partial effect. So sticking with a clean polen filter and doing a thorough professional cleaning job from time to time it will be better.

Where can I find the pollen filter and is it easy to change[b][/b]

By using the search option

http://www.freel2.com/forum/topic5827.html?highlight= Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

Many thanks for the link.

i ha dthis probem with my last car (not a LR) i bought a lemon scented bomb from Halfords for £20 ish you just turn aircon on full with the recycled button pressed activate the bomb and leave it running till th ebomb finishes and it cured it, it kills the bacteria and therefore gets rid of the cause of the smell.

I had this problem.
The drain from the air conditioning fan unit was blocked at the outlet pipe.
Your carpet will be wet and the foan underfelt is hard to get dry.
The plastic pipe that drains the fan / evaporator unit was blocked at the end where it goes through the floor.
Under the car there is a metalic heat shield and this had been pushed up to block the pipe.
If you pull the carpet up on the drivers side about where your left foot would be, you will see the pipe.
I am surprised that more owners have not had this problem.
I am unsure if Landrover have carried out a modification because the existing drain arrangemnt is not good.
My car is a March 2009 build.

I had this problem now and i contact dustless rockville to help me out. They cleaned the vents properly to eliminate the smell from the vents.

Last edited by JerryForsythe on 9th Dec 2020 3:56 am. Edited 1 time in total

I had this since my first car, 1970s. Either use the air conditioning all the time, or don't use it. Also don't leave the ventilation system on recirculation when parked, so a bit more air gets into the plumbing while the car is parked, & the car will be pretty right. Clean drains if you think there is an issue.


The air conditioning in winter is great as it dries out the air more, so in effect one uses it all year round. Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

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