While it’s not as commonly used during winter, one of the most important components of any vehicle is the air conditioning system. Useful for maintaining not only a comfortable human temperature but also helping with vehicle temperature considerations, the AC should be well-maintained.

At Warner Vans of Utah, our fleet shop pros are here to help with any issues that arise with your custom Sprinter van’s AC or air system. One such issue that can arise across all vehicle types, and for a few different reasons: The AC emitting a strange odor from the air vents. This may or may not be impacting the actual quality of the air in your vehicle, but regardless, it’s an inconvenience you shouldn’t have to deal with. Here are a couple tips we can offer on getting your AC to stop emitting a strange smell, plus how our pros can help if these options don’t solve the issue.

Drying Shutoff

In some cases, the strange smell coming from your AC is due to too much moisture building up in the area. The AC unit uses moisture as part of its foundation for cooling your air, but it’s possible for the components here to get out of whack and produce too much.

What this does is create a mildew-related smell, one that in the worst cases might be accompanied by mold formation. But ridding your vehicle of this is simple: Turn the AC off for at least two minutes at a time, but leave the van’s fan on while you do this. This allows the system to dry out more completely, often stopping the mildew smell. Get in the habit of doing this regularly if smell is an issue for your system – we recommend doing it near the end of a driving session if possible.

Exterior Air Source

In some other cases, the source of your smell issues in the AC might be something different. It could just be the accumulation of grime and dirt over time, which may just require a basic infusion of some better smells.

To accomplish this, start the van and set the AC system on high. Also ensure that the system is on the setting that pulls air in from the outside, rather than recycling air from the interior space. From here, roll down all the windows and spray Lysol or another antiseptic spray into the air vents located between the hood of the van and the windshield, the area where it pulls in air from. Leave the windows open and spray like this periodically for at least 10 minutes, repeating if needed.

Professional Service

In some cases, neither of the above steps will improve the smells coming from your AC. Some systems have this smell due to underlying issues that only deep cleaning or even part replacement can correct, and our fleet shop pros are here to help if this is the case for you.

For more on ridding your Sprinter of a foul odor coming from the AC, or to learn about any of our luxury Sprinter van options for sale, speak to the staff at Warner Vans of Utah today.