ok sooo went to disney on ice today with wifey and lil 'un to be smacked in the face by a cheesy feet smell comming from the air vents... obviously more pronounced when turned to hot but after half hour or so it goes away it seems to happen when the interior of the of the car is 'damp' due to hopping in and out in the rain but its hard to say.

what the hell?

have you got air con in your car that you have turned off. it could be bacteria in the system. you can get it cleaned through easy enough if it is.

Yep, its always turned off... its not gassed! ive got a leak on the O/S heat exchanger union but thats something for an other day... i know toyota do an 'Airco-cleaner' in aerosol that u direct towards the air intake of the system and you fire the whole can into it with the fans on full whack and it works with amazing results! do fiat do something like that or should i go see Mr T!?

You can buy similar from car spares shops or try fleabay.

I use this cheap one:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AIR-CON-CO...item19c7f0c6c6


The button on the can latches and you can just leave it on the floor of the car with the windows closed and fan running with the recirculation flap closed for 10 -15 minutes. It's a slow release can and the fan draws it around all of the system.

The smell is bacteria having a party in your vents, :yuck:
I use Milton spray, run the fan and keep giving a nice spray into the vents, then leave it to work, and it dont smell to bad also cheap to buy if you have OCD or are obsessed with catching stuff . . .

It is clinically proven to kill a wide range of bacteria and fungi, including those that cause food poisoning such as E Coli, Listeria, Salmonella and Candida Albicans, the fungus that causes thrush.

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Also a scary bit of info . . if you let your vents get really out of control you can catch Legionnaires' disease!
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Legionnaires-disease/Pages/Introduction.aspx

For the cleaning 'bombs' to work you need to have the AC operational to clean the system properly I believe. I had to use one in my Stilo once when it started to have a smell of rats pee come from the ventilation system :yuck:

GrandeGuy said:

... if you have OCD or are obsessed with catching stuff . . .

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not my sytle im a mechanic so i drink from the same cup all week without washing it properly!

i initially thought it to be a heat exchanger union /seal and it still may well be but ive seen in a classifieds post

Aircon is not working (been like this since I got it and could be the usual stilo pipe)

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What is this usual stilo pipe?

dealer says hes sold maybe 1 or 2 of the heat exchanger seals and from his memory they were for accident damage jobs! so it kind of makes me wonder if it is those i would have expected to see a higher movement if it was a common fault am i just going to have to get it gassed and take the bumper off to see the leak or do any of you lot have any ideas?

strange thing is it gasses up fine, passes the vac test, then loses the gas over 3 or 4 days

The flexible rubber part of one of the pipes from the compressor on early models was too short. It caused the metal part of the pipe to crack. The pipe was replaced with one having a longer rubber section.

hmm did it crack obviously or are we talking hairline?

I think someone posted about it being a hairline crack, but for most it's been a major fracture.

richydraper said:

hmm did it crack obviously or are we talking hairline?

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Completely snapped in an obvious was I believe from pics I've seen on here, although this might be a different aircon pipe I'm thinking of.

ive had two break, one was hairline that took my air con specialist a age to find, and the otherone was a shear break, both of them were the shorter hose. the replacement hose (were going back a few years now) was around £70 per pop from main dealers.

mine snapped just infront of the thermostat and right down the bottom of the bumper near the rad.... complete breaks.

well ive sourced the leak...


its where clamp 13 holds the 2 circled pipes the lower one has rubbed through... great i thought, a cheap pipe and ill be on my way... looked on eper and its a complete condenser for £327

i aint payin that so the question is... whats that pipe made from aluminium or steel? basically im gonna see what my options are for welding/brazing it

£81.79 with a 2 yr warranty... thank you very much Peat! at that price its worth it...

wonder how much ill spend dropping the rad mount plate off and repairing all the clips and hooks!!

richydraper said:

not my sytle im a mechanic so i drink from the same cup all week without washing it properly!

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Nice

i can see your face now all screwed up at the thought of it... i wont tell you what the worlds best hand cleaner is!