Need some advice and specific recommendations on things that have worked.

Trying to diagnose and fix the problem causing a fungus/mold smell with A/C or heat on. The 997 has 13k miles.

$125 later after the dealer replaced pollen filter and sprayed some disinfectant in vents the smell came back. The dealer said the CPO warranty does not cover this.

PCA.org tech suggests the next steps would be to either disassemble the heater system, or talk to a pro detailer.

I read on the Cayenne forum here on 6speed a recommendation for Wurth A/C & Heating System Treatment. Also on that forum, someone had recommended a sequence of turning off the A/C and leaving a fan on first before shutting the car off.

In another thread on 6speed someone recommended cranking up the heat and letting it run for a while to fry out whatever is growing.

I'd rather not disassemble (although it might be a good project) the heater and or vent systems but I don't want to breath this air.

Has this happened to anyone and what worked to fix the problem?

Thank you.

 

has the car gotten wet inside? I had an 07' 997 that was left in the rain with the windows down by an idiot body shop and I had the same thing. I never found out what it was but decided it was an overall mildew smell due to the car getting wet. I ended up getting rid of the car.

If you want to make the leather smell nice try Sonus conditioner. Brings back the "new Porsche" smell.

 

Car smells fine with A/C or heat off. Thanks for the Sonus recommendation.

 

Your car probably has a "Fungal Infection". For that you can try something like Lysol spay inside. I would remove everything out of the car and put in sun Fungi hate the sun! Start the car up, run the AC and spay some Lysol (or even some AC cleaner – from Auto Shops) through the air intake, turn of car, spay some Lysol in the car, especially on the carpet, close the car, spray the interior carpet that you removed (both sides) with Lysol, wipe of everything else (don’t forget the stuff in the trunk), spray a little in the trunk and allow everything from inside the car to air out. Wait a few hours (overnight) and drive the car with the windows open (it is nice weather!). That should fix it and leave you with a nice fresh interior.

A box of Baking Soda in the car when you leave it will help quite a bit.

Finnaly this is a common problem in boats and they have stuff that you can hang from the mirror and it will fumigate the car, if the above does not work give that a try.

 

Thanks for the suggestions, I appreciate it.

The car smells fine with A/C or heat off. There are no issues with the interior, it's just from within the A/C & heating system.

The dealer said they sprayed disinfectant already in the vents, I believe the intake vent as well.

 

In that case:

Start the car up, with the heat on and that a/c on, spray Lysol into heat intake vents. Shut the car off and let it sit overnight.

It may take a few times but it will kill the stuff off.

 

Sounds like a good idea to me, thanks. I don't have a shop manual to help locate the intake vents - do you know where they are and how to get to them?

 

If it were mine - these are the steps in order I would take to get rid of the bacteria in and on the evap core vents:

1. Replace filters ( Done )
2. Spray disinfectant into vents ( Done )
3. Wurth Foaming Evap Core treatment
4. R&R Evap Core , put in 5gal container of chemical treatment
5. Replace Evap Core

Using your heater, using the recirc feature off/on at times, will help it not occur again.

Here in Texas, we do alot of annual a/c treatments to prevent the odor from happening.

S

 

Beano

 

I had this with a 993 Turbo . The Florida humidity in the summer is brutal .

I did the heater full bast . It helped but did not cure it. Neither did Lysol .

At the dealership they has their own spray and it worked like a charm . It can be fixed .

 

Evap core sounds to be the main target next on the list for me.

I'll check out Wurth Foaming Evap Core treatment.

Thanks

 

I'm confident it can too, just been pretty busy and have not had much time to focus on it.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

Was this a used 911, that came with this problem?

 

Yes, certified pre owned. However, the smell didn't show up for more than a few months after I purchased it.

 

Update -
I have the car into the dealer for unrelated (one of the horns not working and the convertible top rattling a bit) and I asked about the cabin smell coming back. Previously at another dealer they replaced the cabin filter and sprayed disinfectant in the vents - it helped but it came back in a few months.

So I get a call yesterday saying the car will be ready tomorrow and that Porsche has come out with new fix for the smell. They replace the heater core as the original ones had an adhesive that would cause the smell. All covered under warranty. I will ask when I go in how long this fix/change has been in place but it sounds like it is a recent approach.

This is great news assuming it really does the trick.