[KCZ]

I have yucky smells from the air vents, and I'm thinking the cabin air filter needs to be replaced, as a first step at least. MyLotusGarage is selling the OEM Lotus ones as a special order item, and it's taking forever. Does anyone know of a third-party manufacturer? Lotus must have sourced these from someone else's part bin.

 

[F1 SML8R]

Not sure if Invictus will chime in, but at one point I think he ID'd the damn thing was also used in some kind of tractor as well. Again, only Lotus...


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[S4Denver]

i ordered a couple from them (Flow), got them in under 2 weeks? mine was filthy after 5K miles

 

[invictusmaneo]

Yea it's used in a jcb tractor too but the price was the same, so I ordered through my dealer. Got them in a week or two from the Atlanta warehouse.

Likely if it's mildew smell you'll have to do a Lysol can through the intake too to kill it

 

[glb]

Yes, Lysol may be needed. Sometimes it's necessary to drill holes in the ducting in some cars.

Before you stop driving, turn off the a/c but leave fan on (high) to dry out the system.

 

[KCZ]

Lysol, ugh. Will see what the old filter looks like, as soon as the new one arrives.

 

[invictusmaneo]

it wont matter. it wasn't the filter for me. the mildew and mold grows throughout the ducting. I (based on stuff I found on other forums) opened the doors, windows down, put towels in front of all vents/AC exits, turned the AC on high (set to the vents, not floor) and removed the filter, ran it for 20-30 seconds then slowly but surely emptied the whole can of Lysol (choose the most mildly or non-scented smell possible--non scented is avail at medical supply places, I used vanilla and it worked without making the car smell) into the filter area..the duct goes up and then down, so I tried my best to get as much mist into the stream of air as possible. Ran the AC like this for a little ewhile, then once the can was tapped out (it was a big can so took awhile) turned the AC off and ran the blower for awhile...make sure recirc isn't on.


I never had problems until my temp sensor went out in the AC so they had to replace the entire AC box...after that it started wreaking terribly...so I did this, and now 95% of th etime I run the blower on high without AC on before I park it for the day for about 30 sec to 1 min and it has kept me clear.


There is a very very subtle lingering vanilla smell, but really, it I doubt anyone else knows it is there.

The filter had nothing to do with it, though when I did swap it t 15k it was filthy

 

[KCZ]

I'm not sure what started my problem. My dealer had removed the drain valves preemptively due to the TSB ages ago, and I haven't had any other HVAC work done. I'm not even sure exactly what the source of the problem is yet.

 

[KCZ]

To follow up, the old pollen filter was dirty but not stinky, so I shot Lysol down the system. I couldn't get a can of vanilla Lysol (which is pretty big) into the access area, so I used almost 2 smaller cans of lemon using Invictus' instructions. The stinkiness seems to be gone. I can smell the Lysol when I first turn the A/C on, but it's not bad and definitely better than the original smell. Replacing the filter was easy.

 

[invictusmaneo]

Glad it worked out. I think humidity may make it an incessant problem but after my Lysol bomb I haven't had a problem. To make sure, if it's super muggy I'll run the blower on high with the ac off for 30 sec to a min to try to clear the condenser off when I park long term

 

[James33]

Just changed mine - it was pretty nasty. Shot a can of Lysol into the opening then replaced. Pretty easy but it did take over a week to get the filter from mylotusgarage.com.

James

 

[roarf]

Replaced my filter today. Old one was the original and appears to have done its job.

Also discovered that if you insert the filter lengthwise as shown in the pic below, no bending/creasing is necessary to get the filter in! I'm sure I'm not the only one that's figured this out but, just thought I'd share in case there are others that haven't.