Freon Leak!?

[Darf]

Now I have a confession to make before I get into this post- I am a hyper-car-condriac, and have a bit of a history with being obsessed with every little sound, mark and wet patch my cars produce. If any of you suspect that all I need is a good slap, slap me...

My near-new euro occaisonally blasts me with something that smells a bit like butane and burn clutch mixed together, which is what I imagine freon might smell like. The other day my colleage also noticed it- and asked me if I had farted. With this being one of the rare occasions where I actually hadn't, I answered honestly.

The aircon still seems cold enough, although hardly freezing. The smell thing may happen about once an hour and only when A/C is running.

This is the first new car I have and so I'm not sure if this kind of thing is normal while the system 'settles in', but I would hazard a guess that its not.

The dealership reckons they'll need the car for a day or 2 to check it out. Are there any simple ways of checking to see if its leaking? Knowing that modern freons aren't really freons at all, but mostly hydrocarbon based (spot the chem major) I could always hold a lit cigarette lighter in front of the vent when the smell is happening, but the resulting flamethrower-action a real leak would produce might just remodel my face.

Could they just check the pressure in the system or the temp of the chilled air? Or have they gotta get the dye out and get medieval on my car straight away?

Any suggestions are appreciated

[r-r-redEuro]

i think its normal because it happens to me too sometimes. my car has done about nearly 7000kms now.

[aaronng]

It's outgas from all the glues and stuff that is used in the dash. It gets trapped in the vents, especially in the heating vents and gets blown out once in a while. It's basically super concentrated "new car smell"

[ECU-MAN]

if the AC system had a leak in it, the refrigerant would leak out rather quickly and the AC system would not work

[panda[cRx]]

if the AC system had a leak in it, the refrigerant would leak out rather quickly and the AC system would not work

^ :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[killua888]

funny you say its the "new car smell". two of my friends own the 05 jazz(last of the jap made ones) and both blow out a fart type smell out of the aircon quite frequently but it never happened when the car was new. they always ask me if it happens in my euro cause no one has been able to fix it for them.

[aaronng]

funny you say its the "new car smell". two of my friends own the 05 jazz(last of the jap made ones) and both blow out a fart type smell out of the aircon quite frequently but it never happened when the car was new. they always ask me if it happens in my euro cause no one has been able to fix it for them.

Darf said "butane and burnt clutch smell", which is what the concentrated new car smell smells like. The fart type smell just means that there is mould growing in their aircon ducts. Yuck....

[omgzilla]

If the dealership you take your car to has a machine, ask them to run an Ultrasonic Air Conditioning Treatment.

We've got one at our dealership. Does an excellent job in getting rid of musty old a/c smell and tobacco odours etc.

Here: http://www.wynns.ca/pages/english/e_products_x-equip.html#AIRCOMATIC

[killua888]

Darf said "butane and burnt clutch smell", which is what the concentrated new car smell smells like. The fart type smell just means that there is mould growing in their aircon ducts. Yuck....

LOL, i'll be sure to tell my friends that the next time i see them

will be funny to see their reactions

[aaronng]

LOL, i'll be sure to tell my friends that the next time i see them

will be funny to see their reactions

I've seen pics of mould growing in AC vents and it looks very disgusting...

[EUR003act]

I've seen pics of mould growing in AC vents and it looks very disgusting...

i think my mates CR-v had mould in it... you had to turn off the air-con for the last ten minutes of drying and let the fan dry everything out... otherwise when you turned the car back on all you could smell was dead/living? fungi

[r-r-redEuro]

ive had my air con turned off all day and about 40mins ago when driving my mum and sister out to eat my sister went berserk and said did i fart she said it smelt like eggs im like wtf ? and it only happened for about 1min.

[EUR003act]

ive had my air con turned off all day and about 40mins ago when driving my mum and sister out to eat my sister went berserk and said did i fart she said it smelt like eggs im like wtf ? and it only happened for about 1min.

well did you fart?

lol nah i know the smell your talking bout

[tron07]

funny you say its the "new car smell". two of my friends own the 05 jazz(last of the jap made ones) and both blow out a fart type smell out of the aircon quite frequently but it never happened when the car was new. they always ask me if it happens in my euro cause no one has been able to fix it for them.

Those pre-face lift jazz or honda city (we dont get them in AU) are know to emit a smell (damp smell) from the aircond. The weather in Au is pretty dry, thus it might not be as common compare to asian countries which got pretty humid weather.

[aaronng]

Even my Euro here has that damp stinky smell. Now I turn off the AC for 1 minute before I turn the engine off after a journey.

[80057]

Even my Euro here has that damp stinky smell. Now I turn off the AC for 1 minute before I turn the engine off after a journey.

yeh i do the same, i turn of the ac the last street im on and put the fan on full ball to blow all the aircon air it, air con air goes stale quickly i've heard, also in winter you should run your aircon once a month or so to flush the stale air in the aircon system, that way when summer comes u wont get the yuck smell.

[EuroDude]

Mine does that too. The trick is to turn off the Air Recycle when you are using A/C, so fresh air runs through.

[Darf]

Just to clarify, this is definately not the 'damp, stinky' smell. This is come kind of hydrocarbon gas. I guess it could be bursts of new-car smell, but I still think its from the aircon. If it was glue and and dashboard materials emitting the smell, I would have thought it would be more prevailant after the car has sat in the sun for a few hours and got all hot. This smell comes out all at once like someone has just sprayed some ass-fragranced deoderant at you, and then fades away.

Still I'm glad to see I'm not the only one.

[bennjamin]

freon has a very distinct scent...mixture of the gas itself and the oil used to lubricate the lines internally.get a whiff of it and you will be light headed for quite sometime.
BTW a small leak will empty the contents of the lines in a few seconds - considering the pressure contained within.

[aaronng]

Just to clarify, this is definately not the 'damp, stinky' smell. This is come kind of hydrocarbon gas. I guess it could be bursts of new-car smell, but I still think its from the aircon. If it was glue and and dashboard materials emitting the smell, I would have thought it would be more prevailant after the car has sat in the sun for a few hours and got all hot. This smell comes out all at once like someone has just sprayed some ass-fragranced deoderant at you, and then fades away.

Still I'm glad to see I'm not the only one.

Yup, yours is the new car smell. My car is a 2004, and even now when I use the heater, I get a whiff of potent new car smell coming out of the vents.

[tony1234]

Even my Euro here has that damp stinky smell. Now I turn off the AC for 1 minute before I turn the engine off after a journey.
Agreed.I've been doing this for a number of years now and i don't get any nasty damp smells at all.:)