[bazan]

hi
Lately ( the car just past one year and this just started to happen in the past month or two) have been experiencing some wierd smell everytime the car start and will go away. the smell is hard to described but seems like bad smell from dampness. i just had my first maintenance visit and everything is fine ( except for warranty replacement of peeling alloy rim and although requested they computer failed to set the ASS to last used mode). i opened the hood to check the cabin filter although seems a bit dirty and i can certainly DIY change it , but i doubt if this will solve it as the smell should not go away if it is the filter. Any owners have similar issues?

also anyone tried using the Yakima king Joe pro to carry 3 bikes on the X3? apparently that one does not need the glass huggers. i need to carry 2 adult mtb and a kid one.

thanks

[Radioactive]

I know that other models of Bimmers had a problem with condensing water from the a/c pooling and growing mold. Had the problem on my wife's E60.

[Teemo Panda]

When you get the weird smell, was AC or Fan on?

[mibmwx3]

Do you get the smell when the air conditioner is on? Does it smell like adhesive bandages? I had a leak in the evaporator which caused this smell which was actually mold.

[HighPlainsCruiser]

In most cars you would turn on the heater-air conditioning-defroster and then blast the intake with some type of deodorizer/disinfectant. Not sure if that's good to do with hepa filters and the auto mode that closes off air circulation in this car. Not sure if the Auto mode does anything, the salesman said it automatically detects carbon monoxide and shuts off the intake into the cabin but I've sat behind the exhaust of cars and continued to smell exhaust. Where is the intake for the climate system?

[bazan]

the smell is there for the first couple of min when starting. I think the A/C is usually on buy for sure the fan is. i asked my service advisor today and basically he told me to live with it. He tried to explain to me that the smell is caused by condesation from the ac unit dripping to some pan behind the dash. which unfortunately the orientation of the plan does not allow full drainage of the accumulated condensation. As a result depending on humidity , temp etc. i have that smell. not much he tell me i can do. I thought this issue only apply to the older generation BMWs when searching the threads. I didnt realize the X3 2013 has the same design issue

[Teemo Panda]

Originally Posted by bazan

the smell is there for the first couple of min when starting. I think the A/C is usually on buy for sure the fan is. i asked my service advisor today and basically he told me to live with it. He tried to explain to me that the smell is caused by condesation from the ac unit dripping to some pan behind the dash. which unfortunately the orientation of the plan does not allow full drainage of the accumulated condensation. As a result depending on humidity , temp etc. i have that smell. not much he tell me i can do. I thought this issue only apply to the older generation BMWs when searching the threads. I didnt realize the X3 2013 has the same design issue

That's like a crap load of BS, try other dealerships and see how it goes

[bazan]

went to another dealership in the area and tell me the same ... nothing they can do and whatever they do they claim the smell will come back. Just can't wrap around my head why the smell is not always there. it only happens with the first blast of air from the vent ( with or without AC) and will go away. Anyone know if changing the cabin filter is worth a shot? heard there is something u can spray down the vent too?

cannot believe the car is only one year old and already develop this embarassing smell

[ianfp]

You can get DIY anti-bacterial air conditioner cleaners. I used them a couple of times in my E46 when stale air started coming out of the vents when first starting up. You place the can in the foot well and start the engine and set the sir conditioning to recirculate - start the can and close the door. It usually takes about 5 minutes for the contents of the can to purge through the recirculation system. It seems to work!

[bazan]

i have tried a similar product here called odorstop by emzone. you put it on the floor and set it off and put hvac on recirc until the bottle sprayed emptied. it doesnt seem to work and only seem to mask the smell. i am wondering if i did something wrong or need to do this for another can

[pokerface]

What I've read before that the best way to preventthis is to shut off the compressor and let the fan run in ther last few minutes of each trip so that the pan will dry.

Call this anecdotal... I've never done this consistently to be able to confirm it works.

[bazan]

@pokerface. Yes I have read that in some of the threads... but that's a real pain and I am not sure why we should be doing this as it seems like a design problem

[///Mposter]

Originally Posted by pokerface

What I've read before that the best way to preventthis is to shut off the compressor and let the fan run in ther last few minutes of each trip so that the pan will dry.

Call this anecdotal... I've never done this consistently to be able to confirm it works.

I had this issue with my 335i. I did follow the recommendations to turn up the temp to 70-72 the last minutes of the trip to open or combine the hot air flow and cold airflow . It helped, but I don't always remember to do it and sometimes it is stronger than I can handle so I turn it to hi heat 80, and it smells so wonderful, then turn down to cold after driving a minute. Other treatment could be to use an ozone machine .

[bazan]

I took the car into the dealer again to have it check. they now reported back that they have seem evidence of rodent. they fine pieces of chewed paper and poops near microfilter and more so near the blower fan. i was informed the good news is they did not find any nest. However they cannot find any dead animal etc...They also try to use an interior snake camera to probe further beyong the blower but see nothing. There are now couple of things they recommend to "try" to get rid of the smell. The microfilter needs to be replaced and is a given. they are now recommending either i do a "misting" ( which according to them is not just a bombing but rather forcing somethig directly into the vent), to see if they can get rid of the smell. if not they can then do the ozone machine thing. the last resort if the above 2 steps still not eliminating the smell will be to dismantle the dash and "hopefully" they find something ie a dead animal etc. Because of the cost involved ( insurance not covering) they therefore do not just want to dismantle the dash. they are hoping that the smell is due to the plastic absorbing the scent rather than a dead animal ( as they cannot see anythin up to the blower). My concern being isnif their recommended steps really will solve my problem, it seems like i may be spending money on solutions which may not work. for now i have authorized them to do the misting and we will see. any recommendation? Whats bothering me is if there is evidence of chewed paper and poop my believe is there should be rodent and somehow the body needs to be located. but on the other hand if there is really a dead body in the syst somewhere why is the smell very strong only when first start up?

thanks for all input

[HighPlainsCruiser]

All air systems get smelly, that's why there are so many air fresheners hanging from rear view mirrors. Here is a picture of the air filter removed. I sprayed some deoderizer/disinfectant in there with the air systems on full speed, seemed to help. The air filter looks bent but its actually a rubbery material that went back into place. The parts that make up the assembly fit together very tightly and were difficult to remove. Out of curiosity I began to remove the assembly on the other side which contains the brake fluid resevoir but the plastic clip that holds the top screen in place broke, nothing effected but you may want to have a service person do it. I think in the future I may just get an in car deodorizer and but the air system on recirculate for awhile.