[thespr]

So basically when I originally bought the car, the heat would not work at all so I took it in to get serviced and it turns out there was basically no coolant in it. They checked for leaks and everything and ended up repairing or installing a new water pump, one of the two.

Anyways, since that repair the heat has worked just fine, but I notice an odor MOSTLY when the car sits idle for awhile (overnight, during work before or after lunch, etc.).

I originally thought it smelled a lot like fuel and thought there was a huge issue, then I kind of thought it smells like an exhaust leak, but now I don't know if it's just a coolant odor leak or something (read a few posts regarding Cruze coolant odor leaking into the cabin).

The smell is usually confined to the cabin and not outside of the vehicle but once I turn the car on, drive a bit, have the A/C and **** on, the odor disappears until the next long-idle period of time.

Does anyone have any ideas or quick/easy ways to check/verify what could be wrong?

Thank you!

 

[thespr]

Well.. never really actively tried to smell smelly socks and the last time I smelled them was in high school during football LOL but I guess the smell could be conceived as that.

I'm assuming if that is the case, would I need a new cabin air filter? Wouldn't the smell continue even if the vehicle was moving and blowing air through the system if the air filter were the cause?

 

[thespr]

I work at a dealership and get free car washes and it's the whole 9 yards car wash not just a small simple one, includes underbody washing and everything so I've had my car washed there ~4 times in the past 2 weeks. The issue is kind of a minor inconvenience but for the 5 minutes until my car heats up, the smell is annoying as **** lol. Not sure if there is a way for the coolant odor to leak into the cabin or if coolant is LITERALLY leaking all over the HVAC system ..

 

[thespr]

How much would it be for the whole GM kit thing, or do you think spraying Lysol into the intake while cranking the fresh air setting would work just as well? Also, how much generally would I be looking at for a new cabin air filter to be installed or is it relatively easy to do myself and I'd just buy the ~$20 part?

 

[thespr]

Alright sweet, any kind of Lysol will work? And I just crank the fresh air setting and spray it into the vent at the bottom of the windshield on the driver side?

Thanks for the help everyone. Glad to know this can be fixed for the cost of an air filter and a can of Lysol.

 

[thespr]

Went and sprayed some Glade (all I had at the moment) into the driver-side air intake while fresh air was cranked full blast. Can't tell as of now but it did seem to help initially so hopefully that will help.

My dad has an industrial air compressor or something in our garage he said I may not need to replace the cabin air filter immediatley, I could just take it out and blow the piss out of it with that air compressor so maybe I'll wait on the air filter replacement.