slicky rick

i am wondering, my 2010 cs2 emits a bad smell on start up like a wet rag that goes awqay immediately after. i researched and was trying to find all the ac filters. apparently there is only 1 filter- the one located outrside near the passenger side windshield. Is this correct? is there no recirculation filter located inside the cabin. My 98 S class has 3 ac filters : 1. outside air filter similar to the pollen filter we have 2. a charcoal filter 3. cabin recirculation filter. i am sure our porsche's have these too, well at least 1 and 3. Anybody care to share where this is and how it is serviced. it cannot be just that outside air filter. are we saying that air inside the cabin goes straight to the evaporator when on recirculation mode. I remember the inside filter of my s gets dirty fast. if our porsches do not have this we will be having problems with our evaporators soon enough....

yemenmocha

As far as I know YES and I'm stuck with the same miserable problem. IMO all of the threads here do not resolve the issue, even though some members had their smell go away. I have a brand new filter, had the intake vents treated several times with sprays (on both fresh and recirc) and haven't used the A/C in 9 months and the smell was there at first use of A/C this summer. It's like it won't die, it can only be covered up temporarily.

LlBr

Here's the AC pollen filter (below). IMO? Get some Lysol remove the filter and spray it into the intake. That will kill the mildew. In the future make sure you turn off the AC but keep the system running for five minutes before you park; doing that will eliminate the moisture condensation on the cold AC coils which the mildew loves. I turn my AC off at the street corner a few minutes from my garage. Get the least offensive Lysol scent. You'll be smelling it for a few days. I did this on my GF's car many years ago. It worked great.

GSIRM3

Changing the filter probably will not help your problem. Odor is most likely caused by mold or some other undesirable scum on the evaporator coil or condensate drain area. Those components are downstream of the air filter, so a new filter would not help.

akim47

GSIRM3 is correct. My AC smells like 8 pairs of nasty feet... I went in a couple of days ago to my Pcar Tech friend... he changed the pollen filter and sprayed the crap out of it, but warned me it wasnt a solution. Apparently there is a deodorizing kit they use where they spray a foam into the internals which will degunk the system. He said that he's received positive comments that it works. Maybe something worth looking into... Until then, I have 4 air fresheners scattered throughout the car... Also, that pollen filter was expensive!!! $56 (that was p-car employee discount)!!!

slicky rick

well so far the tally says there is only one filter. so what we are saying here is on recirculation mode all the dirt dust and what have we goes straight into the evaporator coils. Now for something as expensive as our cars i would think they would have some protection for these cails as im sure cleaning them would be an expensive proposition requiring removal of the dash. i amconcerned because where i am is very dusty and polluted. i cannot not have it in recirculation mode unless i want to smell all the smoke and pollution from outside. any retrofits to remedy the situation? maybe someone can show me where the air comes in in recirculation mode...

slicky rick

my car is vry new and i like the new porsche smell. in addition the smell only happens the first few seconds of operation. after that it goes away. there should be a technical service bulletin regarding this problem....now i am getting disappointed with Porsche. they should be addressing these minor issues.

LlBr

BTW, is your AC drain hose working properly? Make sure there's a puddle under the car after the AC has been running. If not, then the drain is plugged and the water's staying in there allowing mildew. Sorry, I don't know where an AC drain hose might be poking out.

cvazquez

I believe the new filters are now treated with carbon to remove odor. Might want to check with the dealership for a carbon air-filter.

GSIRM3

The filter can't remove odor if the source is downstream of the filter. If you are talking about removing odor from something like diesel fumes, then the charcoal filter might help.

Edgy01

The issue is that you run your a/c continuously up to the minute that you shut down the car--and you live in a high humidity area. The ideal way was to turn off the cooling function of the a/c before you shut down the car, giving the ducts and vents an opportunity to dry out. Since you have not done this all that stuff has collected nasty things that smell when reactivated by the moisture in the air. It seems some of these cars have this problem and others never do.

yemenmocha

Many are missing the point here. The OP and I (and some others) have done everything recommended in the other threads. It's probably something like a plugged drain tube or something with the coils.