Odor

[Clewdster]

My 1999 Ford Taurus smells like a garbage dump. It has a musty smell. My husband and I took it to the Ford dealer and they thought it was something to do with the air conditioning. They put some type of perfume spray in it and now I have a perfumed garbage dump. The perfume smell is going away but not the garbage smell. I had a 1986 Thunderbird that had a smell problem but we could hear water sloshing around. My brother-in-law was able to get the Thunderbird to pee and the smell went away. He did something with a coat hanger and got the water out where it was trapped. This was about 10 years ago and we can not remember what he did for sure. We can not hear water sloshing this time and have no clue as to how to get rid of the smell. Anyone else have this problem or have any ideas?

[sahib]

Don't know how the spare tire resides in these, but I had an older Escort ('83 I think) where water got in to the spare tire well in the trunk. Nasty. Don't recall what caused it either. Might want to check that if you haven't already.

[vicv]

Sometimes the condensation hose from the A/C can become plugged. Find the where the hose discharges (behind the passenger front wheel well?) and poke a wire in there to break the clog loose. Also, I think there is a cabin fresh air filter under the windshield on the passenger side. You can access it from under the hood. This can be full of moldy, rotten crud and the smell can be drawn into the car thru the vents.