New (used) 528 With A Small Problem - I Hope - BMW Forum

rsn48 · 09-26-2004, 10:30 PM

Hi all

, new here, and new to BMW car ownership but not to the BMW family as I own a BMW 750 K bike.

My wife and son want a new volvo so I thought I would buy this car as the "second" car so I could "brainwash" them into the "bmw" family. I am hoping that all the whistles and bells on the "5" series will lure them in. They don't know I have the car yet. After we have had this car for awhile, I am hoping we can then upgrade our "main" family car to a Beamer. Here's hoping the plan works.

But I have a problem - maybe! The car I purchased is from a dealer. It has a modest but recognizable musty smell which I believe is from the air conditioning unit. The dealer has promised to get rid of the smell; the "getting rid of the smell" is written into the contract. I don't pick the car up for a two more days. My question is this, can the smell really be gotten rid of? They brought their "detailing" guy in and he assured me it was a smell he could get rid of, but my cynical side is not to sure if that is a sales pitch or not. I know there are ozone machines they are using now that weren't available in my youth (I"m 56 now).

So what do you think, can the smell be really gotten rid of? In the old days, once a car had that musty smell, it was there to stay.

BeelZibub · 09-27-2004, 06:44 AM

I bought a 6 yr old 523 4 months ago and the Air con smelled bad (musty ).
about 2 months ago I decided I couldn't put up with it any more so I went to
Halfords and bought a can of AIR CON SANITISER for about 9 quid. What you do is pull your passenger seat right back press a button on the can top and stand it in the passenger foot well (with the engine running, the air con running flat out and all vents open - doors and windows shut) and loiterfor approx. 10 mins while the interior of your car is soaked by a vanilla smelling liquid(hope you've got leather - much easier to wipe dry). Now I was disappointed with this system as when
I got in the car the next time and switched the aircon on it still smelled fusty after a load of swearing and 1 weeks use though I realised that ther fusty smell had completely disappeared - Iguess it takes a little while to kill all the bacteria in the system which cause the smell.

Good luck with the wife - my fiancee was insistent she bought another VW next time, until I lent her my beamer for a week. Now she must have a 5 series touring - that'll cost me.

billB · 09-27-2004, 07:14 AM

It seems to me that you have some type of organisms buildup (bacteria/mildew etc) in your Climate control box that sits under the dash over the trans. hub. It is well documented musty smell. Now to solve the problem and this is not a detailing guy thing. It is not the carpet and this is how I would do it:

1. Ask your dealer to change those 2 chrac. filters sitting on both sides of the firewall; in case if he haven't done so.

2. To get rid of the musty smell he has to clean and vacuum the box. By the way that black plastic box is sealed. the way they do it is to drill a hole on the drivers side and a pointy vacuum extention does the rest for you. After ward they plug a rubber thing to seal it.

3. A word of advise: when you start using the car especially in the summer try to SHUT OFF the AC 5-10 minutes before reaching your distination while the BLOWER ON FULL BLAST with the AC button off. This will help to dry out any moisture in the box. In fact that is how this bacteria/mildew builds up in the first place. When you shut the system down some of that water drains out (you see it on your driveway after you stop the car) but some water gets trapped in the box; you need to dry it before shutting down.

I hope this helped a bit

regards
billb

d3ity · 09-27-2004, 03:05 PM

BMW dealers can get ANYTHING out of cars.

BTW: for future refrence

Your motorcycle is a beamer
Your car is a bimmer

enjoy your 5, I love mine.

BeelZibub · 09-28-2004, 06:14 AM

BTW: for future refrence

Your motorcycle is a beamer
Your car is a bimmer
[/quote]

john f jepson · 09-28-2004, 08:45 AM

I have a 520i, it had the same problem I used the aerosol that has been mentioned earlier, you just leave it on in the car put the air con on full on recycle. Not had a problem with it since smells fine!