Outside Smoke Or Smells Leaking To The Interior While Ac Is On

[Warlord]

Dear experts,

need some help here. My ride is a Nzt 260, and being using it for the last 2 years. It has clocked nearly 30k. My prob is recently I noticed that when am behind a smoking vehicle or passing an area utterly smelly im getting that odour inside the car. When the ac is switched off this doesnt happen. Twice I put the vehicle to toyota lanka but the mechanics were unable to find the issue. Now they say that they need to remove the dash which I was a bit reluctant.

Whats your take on this? Can there be probability that there might be a leak in the ducts behind the dash which is sucking outside air. Two supervisors at TL confirmed me that there were no leaks outside.

some direction here by you guys isvmuch much appreciated.

[Fixzit]

Your AC must be talking in fresh air. Im not sure about your exact model but most of the new cars with climate control automatically switch the ac into fresh air after some time to maintain the air quality in your car. If you are getting fresh air even after manually switching your system into recycled air, then you will have to check the electricals in the system specially the motor which drives the opening and closing of the fresh air door which would be closer to the blower suction side..to access this they might have to take off the dashboard.. if you are worried about it, try talking your car to a good AC mechanic and see what he says. Maybe he can do this without talking off the dashboard. Try to get this done as soon as possible because with fresh air it also suck in a lot of dust which would eventually block the cabin filter and also the dust would turn into a muddy substance which would damage the evaporator. .

Edited May 15, 2014 by Fixzit

[GayanR]

Try manually setting the a/c mode to recycled air..If it's still happening you got a hole in the air suction door or sponge(in my case it was a freaking rat eaten the sponge)..or could be a electric issue the doors aren't closing even if you set it to recycle...

[Warlord]

Fixzit and Gayan R , thanks guys. Any excellent AC guys u know? I know one, but the prob is I havent seen any newer model car coming to this guy. So am a bit uncomfortable with letting him meddle with the dash.

kudos again guys

[Fixzit]

Maybe try asking the mechanics in TL about what we mentioned and see what they can come up with. In some cars you can access this door just by removing the glowbox. I have done the same on mine for the above mentioned reasons as mine was going into fresh air mode quite often. I have removed the power socket to the motor which drives the door while it was in recycled air mode so it would not go for fresh air at all..on my car it was quite easy..I hope its the same on yours..