S5 stinky air conditioning at startup
 

Anybody out there experience this issue? When you start the AC (turning the system on to auto, from off)the initial smell from the AC vents is of a rather musty, stale, yeasty nastiness. It doesn't last long, but it's noticeable, and off-putting, and I personally am kind of embarrassed by it, seeing as a car like this shouldnt have stinky AC from day one. It would be different if I was a stinky person that used the AC on recirculate, and it was just sending out my stinkiness, but that isnt the case. This was noticed the day that I drove it back from the dealership.

I brought it in to Audi service today to have that checked (along with the WHIRRING noise I described in an earlier post, and the rough "idol" hehe, which was a known issue in another thread here.)

But I digress - when I mentioned the stinky AC, the service guy kind of frowned, and mumbled something about "yeh, this is a problem with Audis" or something to that effect.

Anyone else heard of this before???

Not "an Audi problem"
 

My A5 is the 4th Audi we've owned, and I've never heard of this as being a common problem. I leave the AC button on all the time and let the system do its thing.

agree - why the heck is he turning off the AC?
 

leave the settings to auto

Many new cars with the latest condenser styles seem to have this issue. My A3 did it until
 

I made a point to turn off the a/c a minute or two before shutting down the car. Water gets trapped in the system and turns into nasty smelly stuff.<ul><li><a href="http://autorepair.about.com/cs/heatingac/a/aa071601a.htm">http://autorepair.about.com/cs/heatingac/a/aa071601a.htm</a</li></ul>

My S5 doesn't smell at all, with or without the air, sorry to hear.

whirring, yep. rough idle, yep. smell: yep. smells like coolant, did it from day one. Still doing it
 

And it's not coolant, I've checked. It seems to be some sort of antibacterial coating on the evaporator. Trust me, this isn't anywhere near as musty as it can get. I run the vents on high with the a/c off before shutting the engine off for about the last 5 minutes or so to dry everything out.

Did you have the whirring checked out?
 

I can tolerate the rough idle, and would even reluctantly live with the AC issue, but the whirring noise is borderline dealbreaker. I might tell them to take the car back and just put in an order for an 09.

No problems with the S5, but the A8 would have this problem periodically
 

Experienced it in other cars too - seems to be a drainage issue. Make sure your drain lines are clear (not blocked)

It's a common problem, but not specific to makes or models
 

Many cars get AC funk, and it's due more to the local environment and the owner's usage patterns than it is to the manufacturer of the car.

I've heard the biggest culprit is cold evaporator coils gathering condensation after the car is shut off, which allows mold to grow in the cool damp envirnoment while the car is parked. The way I've heard to avoid this (and have had some success with) is to turn the AC off a minute before you get to your destination, to let the evaporator warm up so it won't get sweaty.

If some people on the board don't know what your problem is, it's likely because they don't live in an area with the unfortunate combination of high humidity and rampant mold spores. It's definitely geographically based, and I'm sure people from the desert Southwest have no clue what you're talking about.

Eh, not sure I'm fully with you on that, at least in this instance...
 

You see, I picked up the car with 29 miles, which I assume were driven in Germany, mostly. The car probably had only a few minutes of running time in Northern California. And this smell came on the very first time I turned on the car and the AC, and that was when I left the dealership. I just dont see why you'd have this problem develop that quickly.