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I recently left my car (Honda Accord) in the parking lot of my apartment complex for a little over a month while I was out of town. It was working fine when I left.

Now that I've come back, I've noticed something visible coming out of one of AC vents (only when the AC is on). Sort of like a light smokey look-- but it's not actually smoke. The other AC vents act normally. It has a slight smell, but I can't identify it.

Otherwise the car looks, sounds, and feels fine to drive. Does anyone know what might be wrong with the vent and if there's a simple thing I can check to fix?

I currently live in Houston, TX so it was very hot and humid for the month that I was gone-- not sure if that could have caused anything.

Jeff
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1 Answers1

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That sounds like condensation from moisture that's already in the system. It's not harmful but that slight smell could be the beginnings of mildew.

You might want to dry out the system. The best way that I've heard of is to run the air through the recirculator with the heater on, trying the defrost, floor and vent settings. If you run hot dry air through the system for a while, it'll dry out quite a bit.

Admittedly, in Houston this will be like sitting in the ninth circle of Hell....

Afterwards, you should notice that you aren't getting that fog from the vent (or at least quite a bit less).

Bob Cross
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