I've been noticing an increasingly worsening smell eminating from my 91 4Runner's A/C vents. Upon taking apart the entire dash and most of the A/C unit itself, I found a really bad case of mold in the condenser water tray and on the condenser coil itself. I tried wiping as much of it out as I could and cleaning it with several different types of cleaners but I cannot seem to get rid of it all.

Does anyone know of a secret weapon for cleaning mold from an A/C system?

Thanks

One thing that is not a solution, but helps with the problem here in the humid southeast..

Many times it's so humid I run the AC on recirculate for better cooling while driving.. but I have learned to always switch the AC control back to the "outside air" position when the vehicle sits overnight, so there is an open path to the outside for the water in the AC unit to evaporate back to the outside..

I find the stink from the AC unit to be much less when I do this.. Have also sprayed Lysol in the AC intake with the fan running at times.. There are other sprays made for this purpose.

I used this trick on my saab a few years ago. put all the windows down and the AC on High. Get a can of Lysol or similar disinfectant/mold killer stuff. Spray it into the vent below the wipers (has to be on Fresh air). You will probably end up using about half the can, but it seemed to work. After you finish spraying just turn off the blower and let the cab air out

I always try to shut of the AC a mile or two before I stop but leave the fan blowing. Seems to help.

Does anyone know of a secret weapon for cleaning mold from an A/C system?

Thanks [/quote]
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>>>*We use ordinary household bleach, mixed with water. It works....*EB

bleach works wonders to kill almost anything. I had to kill my pet mold that was growing in my biohazard flask at work. You should see just how big those things get, pretty sick. Keep feeding it and it grows. But I had to bleach the sucker and dispose of it before the inspector rolled around. 10% bleach always does the trick.

Thanks for all the replies, folks. I had actually already tried the ol' Lysol in the intake vents trick when I first noticed the foul odor. Just sorta made it smell like Lysol scented funk. I guess I will try the bleach trick next.
Is there a trick to getting the water-drip pan off of the bottom of the condenser? I have remvoved all the screws and tabs that I could find holding the thing on, and I removed the drain hose but I still cannot get the stupid thing to release from the back (firewall side) so that I can really get in there and try to clean it. I've already managed to crack it while trying to bend it back enough to get my hand in there.

Thanks again.

One last suggestion...use Frigi-Fresh. It is designed to kill AC odors and works really well. As mentioned before, the key to getting rid of the odors, is getting rid of the moisture before turning the vehicle off. While uncomfortable, I usually roll down the windows, turn the heat on hot, turn the fan on high, and set it on "fresh air" about 2 minutes before turning the vehicle off. Although just running cool air through is enough. It just needs a few minutes to get rid of the moisture.

Recirculation compounds the problem so if it isn't too hot out, use fresh air.