Alcohol-like smell from A/C duct

[mostwired]

Whenever I start the car I feel some light but distinct ethyl alcohol-like smell from the A/C vent. It goes away almost immediately. I've never noticed that before - but maybe it's my damn allergies that are letting me breathe just this time of the year

A similar smell appears when somebody else starts my car and I'm by the exhaust.

My coolant is not leaking internally (level is always high). What the heck is it - maybe my O2 sensor is going, and the car burns rich causing this smell?

 

[Bmw 325i 7803]

Sir I regret to inform you that your car is drunk and it is either you or your friends who are responsible for it.....

 

[kev415]

I dont know what freon smells like, but hows your A/C doing?

But if its comming from your exhaust, it might be emmissions related. There is some sort of test you can run on the O2's to tell if it s reading correctly or not, i dont know the exact specs on it tho....

 

[SoonerE39]

Thats what happens when you are tending bar from the dashboard.

 

[jrt67ss350]

I dont know what freon smells like, but hows your A/C doing?

I'm nearly positive that freon is odorless. Anyhow, if it had a smell, it shouldn't smell like ethanol - different chemical functional groups on both of these molecules. Mostwired, what kind of gas do you put in your car? It's possible that your gas has a high ethanol content and you are actually smelling a little bit of raw unburned ethanol upon startup.

There was this particular gas station I used to go to to fill up my Camaro - their 93 octane gas was 20% ethanol. The car ran well on it, but the car always smelled like raw ethanol when I had that gas in it, especially on startup.

 

[mostwired]

Justin - you might be absolutely right! I do use 93 gas all the time. And the smell from A/C I figured was just that exhaust smell that'd get in through the car's vents when I back up from driveway.

 

[JasonM3]

Is it hot outside when you start it up? If it may just be a little bit of mist or.. hmm whats the word.. anyway when cold air hit hot air, its makes a little cloud. Kinda like when you are outside in the cold and you can see your breath. The smell you smell could me just from being damp from condensation, and you get a strong rush from it when you first start it and condensation has been sitting in your vent ducts, with the dust and whatever else collects in there. Or sometimes when I dont take a shower for 4 or 5 days the rush of air when the fan starts blows my stench up to my nose and thats what I smell... opps did I say that out loud?

J