Hello, I am a new member to the forum and I have a problem with my wife's Mercedes. It is a 2001 2.3 C Class Coupe. She has owned it from new and actually collected it from Stuttgart. It has only covered 49500 miles and has full main dealer service history. The problem is a damp smell, particularly strong when entering the car after it has stood in a warm atmosphere. The system has been re-gassed and an air con "bomb" treatment carried out without success.
Any ideas please?

 

I used to have a Puegeot like that, as soon as you turn the air con on it smells rotton or if you are driving along with the air con and turn it off, when it warms up it smells. I believe it is algy or something living on the evapourator radiator (the rad inside the dashboard that is cold), when it gets cold condensation forms upon it and the algy lives on this moisture. If you leave the air con off you dont get condensation, the algy dies and no smell. I was sure this was the problem but could see no way of getting to the radiator (without removing the dashboard) to clean it or bleach it.
I hated the smell so left the air con turned off, thats an option in the UK but i appreciate other places do get hot. In industry we make sure the condensate can freely drain away and clean the drip trays etc to prevent algy build up. Hope this helps, Gary (UK).