We purchased a used 2006 SL500 in May of this year. The cars interior has a smell. I think it's most noticeable when the A/C is on. I asked the previous owners, who also bought it used, if they know what the smell is. They said the Mercedes Dealer they bought it from must have done something to make it smell. It smells like an air freshener or like someone spilt a bunch of perfume inside the car. I've used a spray that is suppose to eliminate smells and it might have helped a little, but the smell is still strong.

In doing some searches in this Mercedes Forum I kept seeing postings about filters including some about carbon filters. Thinking, if it's some type of air freshener, it might be placed in the filter compartment. This leads me to the questions:

How many filters are there in the climate control system?
Where are they located?
Are there any tips on how to get them out?

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

My 2006 E350 station wagon with 23,000 miles has a greasy odor problem that occurs only after a rain or carwash, but not immediately. The car must stand with the windows up about 3 hours after it has gotten wet.

I have tried to isolate the problem by hosing water, one section at a time; first on the front section of the car, then the middle section of the car, and then the rear section of the car.

I determined that the odor only manifests when the middle of the car is soaked and the car sits for a few hours with the windows up. The motor does not need to be running and the A/C does not have to be on. The dealer cannot find the source of the problem, tried to fix it by thoroughly cleaning the A/C system

After airing out the car, I smelled areas around the doors and as a result suspect that the smell originates in the window wells on each of the 4 doors.

 

The attached screenshot is from the R230 Tech DVD available for purchase directly from MBUSA. It only costs about $50 and is highly recommended. Call 1-800-FOR-MERC.

 

Great picture. Someone at another Mercedes Forum gave me a similar picture, but not as good as yours.

Also, I'm going to checkout the tech disc you wrote about.

Thanks for the info.

 

One more thing you may want to check is the AC (condenser I think) either in front of or behind the radiator gets plugged with bugs and dirt etc so a good de-greaser/cleaner and power washer to clean out all the little fins usually helps the odor problem when running the AC.
I had one once that even had mold in it and once I cleaned it the problem was completely gone.