Hi Scotty,
I have a 2008 Nissan Rogue with 180K. It’s been great until recently. It has a bad smell when I turn in the AC, but the smell dissipates quickly. Could this be Freon (or whatever they call AC coolant these days) leaking into the cabin? It was low on Freon, but had a broken cap. So I topped it off and replaced the cap. It’s been blowing cold ever since, but I still get the smell EVERY time I start it up. What could be causing that?
I had a 2003 Toyota Highlander that had a similar smell years ago, and when the AC went out a repair guy said it had a leak in the cabin that he could not repair. So that’s why my head went right to the Freon. Does Freon have a smell?
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If it smells a little sweet and like nail polish then it's probably a leak. If something else, change your cabin filter, turn you blower on high, open the fresh air vent and spray a can of Lysol into the vent beneath windshield.
When is the last time your cabin air filter was changed?
Recently.
Give it the Lysol treatment that @doc described.
If you're smelling something sweet, it could be a coolant leak in or near the heater core. Ethylene glycol or propylene glycol are primary ingredients in anti-freeze and has a sweet scent to it. The AC evaporator and heater core often share the same enclosure and use an air diverter door to give you heated air or cooled air depending on the door's position.
If you have or know someone with a radiator pressure tester, use that to add pressure to the cooling system, usually attached where the cap is on the radiator. Watch to see if pressure holds. If it holds then it's something else making your air stink. If the pressure bleeds down, then coolant might be leaking into the heater ducts.
