Rear AC smell - 2021 Limited

[wildfxp]

Hi all,

I’m running into an issue with my 2021 Limited. Around October, the rear AC suddenly developed a smell. I have had quite a few people and shops smell it, and it does seem electrical. It mostly only comes out from the rear passenger duct, with minimal from the rear driver. The third row is also minimal to no smell.

My car had a lot of mods done to it, for off-roading. I had the off road shop go through all their wiring, and they ensured all wiring has been underneath, or on the roof, where my roof rack is. They did remove the rear panels and third row seats to look, but to only tell me the AC system is “enclosed”, so no wiring would be within that system.

I’m out of warranty, but the dealer also gave me shit for all my mods, stating they would need to cut all my wiring. Therefore I went to another shop that really tried, but just couldn’t get replacement parts. They were trying to get the whole rear AC system before really breaking open everything , leading to the engine compartment. There just isn’t much of any parts available since my car is so new.

Here’s my Dilemma. I use this car for family travel, but I haven’t really driven the car in a few months. I do want to fix it, since I only have 20,000 miles, but can’t risk health issues with my kids. I am in the process of looking to sell the car if I can’t fix it.

Please let me know if any of you have solutions. I’m in So Cal

 

[MaxPower]

We had a pretty bad odor develop in our rear air. At first it smelled electrical to me, but the more it happened it changed to a musty/dirty smell. It ended up being a rear eval coil leak. After the coil was swapped out we haven't had any other issues with the smell. I'd make sure to have a diagnostic done to check for leaks.

 

[wildfxp]

Just circling back. Was able to get this fixed around March. A year prior to this issue, I had a leak develop from the roof. It leaked into the rear passenger upholder, which I guess did find its way down lower.

After opening up the actual rear AC unit, I saw that the noise dampening mat (assumption) attached to the metal part of the car, had fallen. It did seem this blocked the blower fan, so eventually it caused electrical problems. The blower fan and plug was changed.

This resulted in another problem shortly after. I had a Freon leak from the rear, so the seals and rear passenger wheel was removed to replace the parts.

 

[bocabimmer]

We had a pretty bad odor develop in our rear air. At first it smelled electrical to me, but the more it happened it changed to a musty/dirty smell. It ended up being a rear eval coil leak. After the coil was swapped out we haven't had any other issues with the smell. I'd make sure to have a diagnostic done to check for leaks.

That explains a lot… I had a bad smell coming from the rear AC and always assumed it was something moldy from my kids always spilling water in the cup holders.

After I had a rear AC leak repaired (not sure if it was the coil or something else) it went away.

 

[Mr Big]

I'm chasing a weird smell situation. My AC has a musty odor from time to time. I did the Lysol trick, checked for debris in the shroud, changed the cabin filter, used disinfectant and nothing worked. Then I discovered it only happened when I went to the car wash and then would disappear after a day. And no smell was coming from the actual ducts. On top of that, nothing is wet in the vehicle, (no damp carpet, headliner, nothing). So now I'm looking at the panoramic roof drains. I heard that can be an issue.