1997 850 AC not draining at all, and musty smell...

thedancingfiddle · Post by **thedancingfiddle** » 11 Aug 2014, 11:30

Hey all,

I'm wondering what else I can do to get my AC cleaned up and hopefully get rid of this musty smell that I'm 99% sure is related to running the AC. The car never had the smell until I ran the AC for the first time a couple months ago, and it seems to be worse after days when I run the AC.

Here is what I already know:

AC seems to work great - I had it recharged, and it blows nice and cold.

There never is any water at all dripping from under the car, even when I've run it for quite a while.

I pulled back the carpet on the passenger side and investigated the drain hose - neither the hose or the fittings at either end have any clogs. Everything around the hose is totally dry, even when the AC has been running.

I get no water leaking inside the car either.

Any ideas on what I should do next are very much appreciated, thanks!

- Cedar

Post by **phils94850** » 11 Aug 2014, 11:35

It could be your cabin filter...

thedancingfiddle · Post by **thedancingfiddle** » 11 Aug 2014, 12:13

I put in a cabin air filter this spring - there hadn't been one previously. (the car was new to me last winter). I cleaned out around the air intake at that point - it wasn't that bad surprisingly. I'll check it though, for the smell.
This wouldn't explain the fact that no water ever drains out under the car. Hmmmm.

Post by **matthew1** » 11 Aug 2014, 12:15

phils94850 wrote:It could be your cabin filter...

This.

It's a few T25 or T30 bolts and you're in. Sometimes the filters can be cleaned, sometimes they're just done and you need to get a new one.

[Ooops, I got this post in too late. Seems you're familiar with the location and access.]

thedancingfiddle · Post by **thedancingfiddle** » 11 Aug 2014, 12:19

Post by **abscate** » 11 Aug 2014, 12:21

There is a drain hose that exits the bottom of the climate unit and enters the 'transmission tunnel' and should be putting water under your car...way under where you have to look to see.

If you don't see any water, you have about 1 liter of skanky, greasy ducks-floating in it water sloshing around the bottom...and your car will smell like 22 pairs of old soccer socks.

Solution - pull back the panels, and get that hose draining.

Nice picture in 11th post of first page of this thread...

https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... eater+core

thedancingfiddle · Post by **thedancingfiddle** » 11 Aug 2014, 12:26

I've already looked at this hose, and it is all clear and dry. I pushed a piece of bicycle brake cable up the hose, and down into the hole, and both are clear.
My bicycle line "snake" went up the hose with no problem, then hit something hard at the end. It felt like hard plastic. Is this normal?

Post by **matthew1** » 11 Aug 2014, 13:30

Sometimes in my yard-long-tip-tie-drain-cleaning™ method I hit a bend in the drain. Usually jiggling and turning the unclogging tool will get past it.

Post by **matthew1** » 11 Aug 2014, 13:31

There's also a drain near the third arrow (l-r) in the pic above.

thedancingfiddle · Post by **thedancingfiddle** » 11 Aug 2014, 13:35

The hard surface I hit was about a foot up into the drain, which seemed to be all the way up the hose.

I'll check out the drain from the wiper area, but I don't think there's a problem there, since that wouldn't be affected by running the AC...