There is a product from the company BG products called "frigi-fresh" that kills the mold spores in your evaporator.

You should remove the cabin filter before applying ( I have seen it work without removing the filter first, but not as well).
You put the blower motor on high, making sure recirc is NOT ON (so it is drawing air from the outside cowl vent).

You spray the product directly into the cowl panel where the fan is sucking in the air.

The fan sucks the frigi fresh into the evaporator.

Works pretty good, one can is good for several applications.

You can by it at some car dealers. I have also seen it on ebay.

Sean


hope this info helps!

 

Frigi-fresh works well... but the active ingredient is the same thing contained in Lysol sanitizing spray.. so I've been using Lysol for several years now.

Just remove the cabin air filter from its compartment. Put the A/C fan on high and air control on outside air and start spraying into the outside air intake (typically located between the windshield and hood on the passenger side of the car).

 

On another car (not the TCH) I solved this problem with a product named Ozium (available in auto stores an other places here in very humid Houston).

But instead of spraying it into the outside air intakes, I put the A/C in recirculation vent mode and sprayed a generous amount into the front floor areas with the A/C running, let it run for 10 min or so with the doors & windows shut (and myself outside of the car). Then I let the car sit overnight. Repeated this daily for several days and the problem was gone, never to re-appear.

 

Huh. My earlier post on this didn't make it in, so here it is.

My '06 had a terrible odor about 7 mos. after I bought it, and after a trip up to Vancouver. I took it into my Prius dealer and he nailed it.

Rodents. Mice or rats had gotten into the front passenger compartment through the air conditioning ducts, chewing up the front carpet and of course, eating out the air conditioning duct work.

They cleaned it up, replaced the front carpet and the AC stuff.

Poof! Smell gone.

 

One would think that after more that 75 years of producing automobiles we would have made those vent slats too small for such animals.

Maybe we can add this tip (about the products that work) to the FAQ? I think it has been asked at least twice,

 

Just think of those little buggers getting into one's house - no vents. They (rodents) have sharp teeth. And Prius do have a lot of plastic.

The advice I have is not to leave any food in the car. They'll sniff it out and decide to set up house keeping.

That said, if the smell most foul (think urine and feces) does not yield to all other tactics, looking for rodents is a good bet.

 

I took care of it.. It was a bug or something that died and dried up in my intake vent. thanks for all the insight

 

Well, if you lived in LA, the **** thing would have just dried up.

 

Try just replacing the cabin air filter. Mine was starting to stink and this did wonders.

 

If something once alive, such as insects, or worse some mammal sets up housekeeping, believe me if I tell you any filter change will not solve your problem. You have to deal with the source of the problem.

That was my problem - rodents set up housekeeping in my front passenger compartment. As I stated, $5,000.00 bucks and a new front carpet and a/c solved the problem. And that was just in the first couple of 1000's miles.