Mine is also heater as well as AC. Goes away after a 30 second gag. Hopefully there will be a recall on this. Might be toxic!! Tried all the cleaners and junk to no avail.

 

My smell problem doesn't involve the A/C system.I traced it to deteriorating foam !! Many plastics/rubber can deteriorate in time .The foam is polyurethane which has had problems going back to the 1950-60s .Depending on the formulation of the foam it can some years later cause a problem .In my 2009 F-150 it developed a chemical that I was allergic to .Just replaced all the seat foam and the problem is gone !
The new soy foam they advertise , if I understand correctly is only 25% soy, the rest is polyurethane !
BTW I distrust commercial A/C cleaners as they usually contain a masking scent ! A mold problem might be better treated with ozone !

 

For most of you who have been following this feed I just wanted to update you all and ask for your assistance if you have had the same issue. Last week they replaced my evaporator core for the 3rd time since 2014 and around the same time frame of May. They noted that the evaporator core was leaking again and contained a moderate amount of mold. Since my vehicle is now out of warranty I was told that I needed to pay the $100.00 extended warranty deductible. After arguing that this was the 3rd time this has been replaced and that I should not be responsible for the $100.00 I was shrugged of by the dealer. The Ford CSM assigned to the case refused to call me but rather utilized email to tell me that they "Ford" would not reimburse my $100.00. I am in the process of obtaining information and asking that any of you that have receipts for a similar repair please send them to me at mjh19647@aol.com. Due to the fact that"mold" is an issue I am consulting with a class action attorney to see if a case can be brought against Ford Motor Company.

 

Add me to the list 2013 EB 61k miles and it just started. I have the Ford esp but getting my local dealer to find the problem is going to be hard. They like the cannot replicate problem excuse.

 

Good afternoon everyone, new to the forum. I recently changed from Dodge to Ford and since I bought it I've had issues with it. My issue now is that my evaporator has to be replaced. I bought my Ford F150 second hand from my father/ Its a 2013 Ford F150 Lariat. I bought it from him April 2016. I noticed the smell but wasn't too sure what it was. This weekend my ac stopped blowing cold air. I'm being told now that its my evaporator. Unfortunately it has about 52,000 miles on it right now and when I called Ford of North America they told me that it was already over the bumper to bumper so they couldn't help with the repair. But my question is could my evaporator have been leaking thus causing it to fail? If so from what I have ready here it seems to be an ongoing problem, should Ford cover the replacement and labor even if its past the 36k/3 years bumper to bumper? Thanks in advance

 

Welcome to the forum, BobbyMia! I'm Rachel, one of the Ford Customer Service Reps on the forum.

Please send me a private message with your case number, or VIN, and I'll check it out.

Rachel

 

Welcome to the forum. I can't say bout parts n labor. What did they say is wrong with the evap? The only thing that it can be doing really is leaking. That's it. It's just a bunch of metal.tubes with metal fins. Freon goes from the metering device into the evap, which gets cold as the Freon absorbs the heat and boils off. Now, it sounds like, based off the smell, that you have a leak in it, or possibly in a seal to/from the evap. Have you tried adding a little Freon and seeing how it acts? Unfortunately air conditioning is something that without being there it's very hard to tell you what is wrong. If I were there i could use my sniffer to pinpoint the leak. So if I seem to have people running through a bunch of things.... it's to narrow down what's going on.

 

Thank you BrandonK. So I took it to an independent AC repair because I was trying to save the diagnosis fee at my local Ford dealer. I used him before when I had the Dodge and my brothers in law also use him. He told me that the evaporator was shot, that it had to be replaced.

 

Here's my story: I have a 2013 F-150 Ecoboost FX4 purchased new from a local dealer. In the spring of 2016 I noticed a chemical smell, identical to the smell of a new box of band aids, would emanate for the vents when I started my truck. It would go away after a few minutes. The climate control was set to 70 with the automatic setting. After about two months it quit and I noticed the AC was not very cold. I took the truck to the dealership and here is what the invoice stated:

23445 CP 19D701 CC 42 Test AC operation on test. Intstall temp gauge. 20 deg temp drop out of vents and a small smell in the air. Inspect vehicle. Found the AC drain clogged and not draining. And the low side service port leaking. Replace valve and recharge system. AC has a 30 deg temp drop out of the vents. Perform evaporator drying procedure per WSM for cleaning the evaporator. Retest OK.

Its been two days and it seems to work fine. I'll post if something changes.

 

Good morning everyone, I just wanted to let you guys know that my local Ford dealer changed out my evaporator. With the help of the Ford team on this forum and Mario the CSM for my region we worked to a more than reasonable solution. I followed the steps given to me by the Ford team and Mario called me withing 24 hours of having the truck diagnosed at my dealer. I want to thank everyone involved in getting this problem resolved. Ill monitor it closely and post if anything new comes up with the evap. Have a great day everyone!

 

When I bought the ecoboost 150 in 2013 it often had a leather / manure type smell, it would disappear after a while and come back months later.

Now my AC is pooched with 66k on it, dealer said it needs a new evaporator.

Is this problem related to the smell I have had all along? If so I brought it to the dealership's attention several times in the past year and they were not able to find anything. Should this be covered under warranty?

Rob

 

Hey Rob,

This is similar to the problem I had, the only difference is that I just recently bought the truck and thought it was weird that it failed so quickly. Since you've taken the vehicle to the dealer a couple times it shows that its an ongoing problem. I suggest you PM the ford Service group on this forum if they haven't reached out to you yet. They are very helpful and can point you in the right direction.

 

I'm glad I searched for this as I'm currently experiencing this issue on my 2013 F-150 with ~22,500 miles. I get a strong plastic smell when I turn on the air conditioning, but it goes away after a few minutes. I can't say I notice the smell if the AC is turned off. The lease is up in a couple of months (warranty too), so I'd like to get this tackled before I have to pay out of pocket. It's pretty sad when I think about it though, because the first year I owned the truck I drove it daily, but the last 2 years, it's been my winter vehicle with maybe 100 miles a week during the summer.

 

I purchased a 2013 F150 Ecoboost 6 weeks ago that has the manure smell when on a/c or heat. part of the purchase agreement was to see to the smell among some other things. i had to drop off the truck the next week for the items to be addressed. after a week at the dealership, i was told it was "good to go". upon picking it up the smell was still there. the salesman said all he could smell was a "fragrance". I replied "yes, i imagine the inside of a goats *** might be described as having a fragrance to it". i tried to live with it, but now that it is cold out and i use the heat every day, it is not tolerable anymore. my wife complains of a headache every time she rides in it.

I called the salesman and told him about the mold on the evap causing the odor and asked him to speak with his manager about fixing it as it was initially part of the agreement to deal with the odor. He informed me that they will not cover the repair.

Any shove in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.


On a unrelated question, can a certified vehicle be uncertified just because the used car manager drove it as his personal vehicle for 4 months/ 4k miles?

 

I guess that I should consider myself lucky that the evaporator in my 2013 F150 lasted 4 years before leaking. Now, Ford wants $1,600 to replace it. I am frustrated and disappointed that Ford wants me to pay that much for an issue that they have know about for so long and have done nothing to address. We all paid good money for our vehicles and I expected to receive a quality product. I can see now why Ford stop using the "Quality is Job 1" slogan nearly 20 years ago. I sent a PM to FordService on this forum yesterday but have not received a response as of yet. I will get the evaporator replaced, but the response I receive from Ford will be a major factor in my car buying process in the future.