Gross smell after rains

[tacorancher]

Hi Everyone,

Every time it rains hard and my truck is out or I’m driving it in the rain, I get a nasty BO type smell inside the truck. The whole family complains. I’ve checked/done the following:

- Inspected hybrid battery area under all the back seats. Put my hand all over the insulation and as far back as possible and feel no wetness

- no wetness behind the seats or on headliner that I can feel

- no wetness in the front two seat footwells that I can feel

- changed cabin filter

- cowels clear and appear to be draining properly

- checked door drain plugs - no water trapped


What did I not check? My concern is it’s a very subtle water leak I will not be able to find. My truck sits at 32,000 miles so I gotta sort this fast. I have the platinum VSA but I’m not sure if it covers leaks.

From my recollection this has been a problem from early on but I never connected it to the rain. I figured it was just me lol.

Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

-TR

Sponsored

 

[TacoFreak]

You already checked the obvious stuff pretty thoroughly. Have you checked that the moon roof drains are open? I assume you see the normal water discharge under the truck after driving when it is hot.

The only other thing I can think of is water not draining somewhere in your climate system ducting. I know that there are products that you can spray in the air intake for the CC system that will kill off anything growing in there. That might be worth a try. I assume that this is not something that you can hope to get diagnosed by a dealer, but have you talked to them?

Second gen Tundras has a lot of air injection pump failures the first couple of years they were in production. They fixed that and did a TSB, but the problem still happened sometimes in places where the temp and humidity were high - like gulf coast Texas. So your problem could be something that is not seen in other climates, and that means it would be less well known and harder to figure out.

 

[CharlieLed]

I would start with removing the cowl vent panel at the base of the windshield and check for a dead rodent. This is where air enters the cabin so it is the logical place to find a source of the stench. A decomposing rodent would smell the worst when wet.

 

[tacorancher]

Thanks guys ! I ran the heater on fresh air and it seemed to get rid of it?? Weird. I will keep testing.

 

[TacoFreak]

So, do you only get that smell after running your A/C on recirc?

 

[tacorancher]

You already checked the obvious stuff pretty thoroughly. Have you checked that the moon roof drains are open? I assume you see the normal water discharge under the truck after driving when it is hot.

The only other thing I can think of is water not draining somewhere in your climate system ducting. I know that there are products that you can spray in the air intake for the CC system that will kill off anything growing in there. That might be worth a try. I assume that this is not something that you can hope to get diagnosed by a dealer, but have you talked to them?

Second gen Tundras has a lot of air injection pump failures the first couple of years they were in production. They fixed that and did a TSB, but the problem still happened sometimes in places where the temp and humidity were high - like gulf coast Texas. So your problem could be something that is not seen in other climates, and that means it would be less well known and harder to figure out.

Very helpful. Given that the heater seemed to help - how can I check if my HVAC drain line is clear? It seems to be dripping from there properly but I can’t tell for sure.

 

[TacoFreak]

Very helpful. Given that the heater seemed to help - how can I check if my HVAC drain line is clear? It seems to be dripping from there properly but I can’t tell for sure.

Good question. I have always assumed that if it drained at all it was open. But I guess it could be partly clogged and that might mean some water gets retained in the HVAC ducting somewhere.
I know that people sometimes run fishing line down the drain lines to make sure they are open, but I don't know the specifics of doing that with the HVAC drain.

 

[tacorancher]

Good question. I have always assumed that if it drained at all it was open. But I guess it could be partly clogged and that might mean some water gets retained in the HVAC ducting somewhere.
I know that people sometimes run fishing line down the drain lines to make sure they are open, but I don't know the specifics of doing that with the HVAC drain.

Interesting. I’ll keep doing the heater thing for now. What I don’t know about the drain line is how to find the point of origination. I assume it’s embedded inside the AC components. Maybe I can fish it from the bottom, but I won’t try that until I know more. What’s also weird is the dealer supposedly did a hvac coil service or something, but I see zero evidence of that.

 

[TacoFreak]

What I don’t know about the drain line is how to find the point of origination. I assume it’s embedded inside the AC components.

Yeah, the line is usually on the bottom of the evaporator box, but I can't see that in my truck for all of the other stuff under the dash.

 

[aaudiholic]

Are you using the A/C to dry the air? Also use fresh air when you can to keep the cabin from getting stagnant. Everyone that comes through the dealer complaining of such typically never uses the A/C and they also leave recycle on 24/7

 

[Longpatterned]

My doors hold water and I pull the plugs at the bottom after any decent rain. Seems to take a while to dry and the windows come up wet for a few hours after rain or car wash.

 

[tacorancher]

Somehow the 15 minute I ran the heater at full blast seems to have eliminated the smell. I’m skeptical and will continue to monitor.

 

[tacorancher]

Are you using the A/C to dry the air? Also use fresh air when you can to keep the cabin from getting stagnant. Everyone that comes through the dealer complaining of such typically never uses the A/C and they also leave recycle on 24/7

Yeah one of my issues is leaving it on recycle. So I fixed that. When I used the heater I did not use AC (which feels counterintuitive because AC dries) because that is what Grok recommended .. and somehow it worked.

 

[Mercedes]

https://www.tacoma4g.com/forum/threads/ac-drain-hose-location.7897/

Maybe this is the drain hose?

Hi @bsquaredMTB,

Where you able to confirm the hose you photographed is for the A/C drain?

TIA.

 

[bsquaredMTB]

I didn't really confirm it but I think that's it. Hard to say for sure unless someone has more expertise on this.

Sponsored