Smelly Aircon with gti mk6

[jrgti]

I hope Volkswagen takes note and fixes this problem for next the gen. Well at least I think it is a problem because it has never happened with my previous car- a Ford Fiesta (driven 40K kms), mum's car-hyundai gets and sister's car-mazda 3. Maybe it's because these cars do not have a cabin filter, I don't know. Even my first car which was an 88 mitsubitshi colt never once spit out such a foul temporary smell.
I've had a dealer change the pollen filter but the mouldy smell returned after a few weeks. I then took it to another dealer for a specific air-con service for $99 and they told me it was because of the evac (I think that is how you spell it) and how it collects all these dirt. They even had a diagram of it and the layers of crap that accumulated. Anyway they sounded like they knew what they were talking about. After about 2 weeks the smell came back.
I did a lot of research and read about getting the cabin filter changed which is seperate to the pollen filter.
Anyone else had this problem and had the cabin filter changed to fix the problem?

[Corey_R]

Are you a smoker?

[jrgti]

Not a smoker. The last dealer told me the smell can occur as a result of parking in the garage long term or underneath trees. I use my car on a daily basis for work. Trees? Wtf, I have always tried to park beneath trees for shade even with my previous cars.
The smell first manifested during the first winter I had the car so whether that is a coincidence or not I am not sure. Maybe the moisture had something to do with it. Or it could be that I have been taking it to the car wash regularly in the last few months due to having to drive into the country side on a number of occasions for work. Water may have entered into the vents somehow.
Whatever the reason I believe this is either a vw design issue or the mechanics need better training. My previous cars have all experienced the above and never emitted this foul smell each time I turned the air-con on.

[mr gee]

I have two mk6 golfs and an Audi and don't have this problem

may we know what settings you have on your HVAC?

on my golfs, they are set at aircon 'on'; temp 21-22; speed on auto 1; recirc on auto.

[jrgti]

When I do have to use the hvac, the settings depend on the season. When the outside temperature is cool enough I usually just have the fan on and the recirculation is set to manual. With air-con, dual zone is always off, temp 23-24 and the recirculaton mode is manual.

---------- Post added at 11:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:36 PM ----------

Just took out the cabin filter and it looks squeaky clean and smells odourless so changing it won't help.

[Corey_R]

I'm not sure because YOU have a fault automatically means that there is a "design fault" in the MK6. I mean, it's been out for 2 years and no one has complained of this one yet. If your dealer hasn't yet been able to fix it, but you like them, then take it back and get them to address the issue again. If you don't like them, then take it to another...

[nat225]

in my past experience, air con smell comes from:

- smoking
- using any kind of car perfume, glade, etc...
- introducing body odor or sweat onto cloth seat repeatedly
- any other strong unpleasant smell object left inside the car too long (person, thing, food, animal, etc..)

i myself get a headache and dizziness very quickly when driving or riding inside a smelly / perfumy car and feel like throwing up.

i also don't like using air fan (fan on but air cond off) only unless it is in a very greeny countryside without any other cars within 500m on sight, it's either air cond with closed circulation (in city traffic) on or windows open (super rare, 1 day out of 365 days, or on a race track).

i don't think the German engineers are that dump to design a faulty air cond filtration or something worse than a 1988 production car.

[jrgti]

I wouldn't say faulty but probably never tweaked for the australian conditions with these european cars. I constantly clean my car and I am a clean freak. My sisters mazda 3 is filthy on the inside but it doesn't produce the mouldy/sweaty smell.
Doing a search on the web you get a few forums in general saying all cars have this problem but narrowing the search to just the vw, it appears to have been a problem even before the mk6's.
Oh well I am just going to have to wait until the 30K km service which is due in Feb/March next year and mention to the dealer about it.
I absolutely adore the car but I will not defend VW about this. I still think they have to consider this and I will just write a an email to vw aus group even if the email never gets read.

[mythik]

On the topic of pong: I upgraded my cabin filter to one with activated charcoal in my MY12 GTI as per this guide: active carbon cabin air filter replacement on VW Jetta, Golf, and Audi A3 TDI

Highly recommended. Sometimes I take passengers who don't understand the directions '1-2 squirts' and mistake that for 'pour the whole bottle of perfume on yourself' so like nat225 I feel totally stuffed when in the same cabin. With the activated charcoal filter, all is well when recirculating the air.

[Ooj]

On the topic of pong: I upgraded my cabin filter to one with activated charcoal in my MY12 GTI as per this guide: active carbon cabin air filter replacement on VW Jetta, Golf, and Audi A3 TDI

Highly recommended. Sometimes I take passengers who don't understand the directions '1-2 squirts' and mistake that for 'pour the whole bottle of perfume on yourself' so like nat225 I feel totally stuffed when in the same cabin. With the activated charcoal filter, all is well when recirculating the air.

Where can you get the carbon filter from in Australia? I asked for this part with my 2 year stealership service and they said that they have never heard of it nor could get it. It was a bit of BS but they said the standard filter has a "little bit" of carbon in it!

jrgti, not sure if you already do this or not but after it rains or the car is washed, try and dry the water that collects around the doors. Also whenever the floor mats get wet, don't let them dry in the car - either take them out or roll down the windows in the garage. Same goes for other beautiful smells such as BO and KFC. If all else fails, try and put some desicant on the vents and at the pollen filter.