Have you ever gotten in your car and started it up but noticed something wrong with the odor, like reek of vinegar? Unfortunately, this is not exactly a rare case that happened to automobile owners. If you’d like to read about what can cause your car AC smells like vinegar and how to resolve it, you will be able to find the answers below.
Air Conditioner Smells Like Vinegar
Several possible reasons can cause a reeking whiff of vinegar. Here are some of them:
Moisture
Rather than creating cold air inside the car, a car’s AC system captures heat and moisture outside the vehicle. The air conditioner’s coils condense the humidity in the air to remove the humidity before blowing the cool air inside your car.
Since the coil component of the AC system has a lower temperature than the surrounding air, the air that gets into the AC system creates moisture pockets in the car AC’s condensing units which are then depleted outside the vehicle via the AC drain line.
If the moisture cannot escape for some reason, it’d be trapped inside the air conditioning system and cause a bad smell after several days.
Mold
A faulty drain line component of a vehicle’s air conditioning system due to overuse creates a potential for the unit to become an ideal environment for bacteria and mold to thrive. The air will pass across the AC unit where the microorganism flourishes, causing it to emit a nasty smell inside the vehicle.
AC Smells Like Vinegar Dangerous
Now that you’ve read about the possible culprit of why your car AC smells like vinegar, you may wonder: is it dangerous? Well, in some scenarios, the AC odor is not harmful to the occupants’ well-being. It is more of an annoying case. However, note that if the smell gets terrible, it may affect the driver’s concentration, according to a study.
Car AC Smells Like Vinegar Fix
Luckily, it is possible to eliminate the vinegar odor in your car AC. Here are some of the tips to do so:
Dry the AC unit
For a moment before the car is shut off, switch its AC off but don’t switch off the AC fan and let it open. This will help dry out the air conditioning unit and remove the moisture that allows the mold and bacteria to prosper.
Clean the Car AC filter
Every now and then, it is essential to perform maintenance of the air conditioning system of your car. At some points, even a replacement will be necessary. The unit cannot be appropriately condensed if the AC filters get dirty or are too old to function correctly, hence the odor. You may clean or replace the AC filters as often as suggested by the automobile manufacturer.
Spray antiseptic towards the inside of the air vents from the outside
Before performing this tip, you have to ensure that the air conditioning is indeed drawing air in from the outside. The sprayed antiseptic will be captured and into the unit’s ventilation system to effectively kill the mold and bacteria.
If you have performed all the tips above but the problem of your car AC smells like vinegar persists, try to bring your vehicle to the nearby repair shop or local mechanic. They will be able to help examine the conditioning and determine the source of the problem to get rid of it.
On the other hand, if the smell is not coming from the AC unit, the mechanic is going to work on other possible sources of the issue.
