air conditioning

whenever the air conditioning turns on its smells really bad. my guess is that it needs to be cleaned. am i right?

Is this one of the later models that has the filter in the air conditioner located on the passenger side?

What does it smell like? I hope not Anti-freeze. If so that could be a heater core problem.

Usually bad smell in the air conditioning system is bacteria growth in the ducts. Some autoshops sell a spray for that purpose.
You spray into the air conditioning ducts and it is supposed to kill the bugs. The odor will go away. Jose.

i think its a '97, but im not sure because its not my car. hmmm... i dont know how to describe the smell. it tends to go away after a few minutes(or i get used to it) most of the time.

thanks for all your help.

i think its a '97, but im not sure because its not my car. hmmm... i dont know how to describe the smell. it tends to go away after a few minutes(or i get used to it) most of the time.

thanks for all your help.

Did you solve this odour problem. I find on startup, when running the air or heat for about 5 minutes, then starts to go away. Real bad stink! Someone said the heater core is the problem and needs to be replaced. About 400 bucks, because of an all day job getting the dash off? Something about residue on the fins? Any cheaper ideas to fix this?

I don't know how involved this would be to clean, but I know that hardware store sell a spray to clean condenser coils to avoid dust and bacteria buildup..

you would have to spray directly at coil, so seems to me that the best alternative is what someone already posted, take it to a shop that can sanitize it for you with "their spray".