Heater Smells Like Urine....how Do I Stop It!?

[gotRICE?]

I had the same issue on my R33.

It does it at really random occasions.

What i did was fill a really big bucket with stupidly hot water, and alot of a nice smelling cleaner... could try some sort of disinfectant, floor cleaner, or whatever floats your boat, then poured the whole thing down the scuttle panel to clean it all out.

I did it 3 or four times, then a couple with just hot water.

Seemed to work pretty well.

Failing that, another thing i tried was to pour some straight car was liquid in there with no water. Just leave it there. The aroma from it hangs around for ages.. unless it rains

[BASHO]

Just a random thought-could it be the drain pipe from the aircon (presuming there is one) ??

[The_Scroop]

I purchased a can of aircon/heater deodoriser/disinfectant stuff from repco yesterday. It says to spray half the can in the scuttle panel, 1 spray into each air vent and then the rest into the air recirculation intake. I'll give this a go today.

Any idea on the exact location of the air recirculation intake? I know its in the passenger foot well but I need to find it exactly so I can spray the can into it with fan on full

[paulR32gtr]

One of our cats insists on marking his territory on our bath mat for some f%$@ed up reason - we just discovered this stuff called Urine Off which actually destroys the cats piss, kills the smell which normal washing doesnt.

We spray it and wash it as well, but it actually works really well without a wash, so you could first make sure it wont wreck your paint, then spray it down into where your vents get their air from.

[frozenwaffles]

I don't think killing cats will help... How about killing all dickheads who say things like that?!?!

[The_Scroop]

just an update for anyone who has been following

the smell is gone!

the can of deodoriser/disinfectant stuff I bought from repco did the job and has killed off the smell. It's been a couple of days and it hasn't returned so I think it's fixed whatever the issue was =]

[iseekool]

I found running the A/C on re-circulate constantly helps overtime I've also used the ambi-pur stuff on my central vents - I'm guessing its because A/C removes condensation.

[gfunkk]

Hi, my mums car had the same prob.. I don't think it's bacteria problem n doubt it really is cat piss! It's the heater core, most likely leaking n will affect electricals too like cd player and etc.. Mist change asap before problem branches out. What ur smelling is actually the burning smell of leaves that actually got into ur engine bay which prob contains animals piss.. Let me guess, ull find it hard to get rid of mist from ur windscreen too? If yes then u r experiencing the same problem. Anyway I could b wrong but get it checked out soon..

did anybody read this post? i think Calvz is onto something here

my windscreen gets foggy/misty really easy even in summer.. maybe my core is leaking..

[gotRICE?]

If the heater core was leaking it wouldnt smell like cats piss, hot coolant smells fruity.

[The_Scroop]

i doubt it was the heater core since i didn't have a mist issue and the smell was more mouldy rather than like coolant. the last time i changed the coolant the hose came loose and spilled the shit into my engine bay, that was one hell of a bad smell ....and quite embarrassing driving up hawthorn rd with smoke flying out of the bonnet

[Saul]

Basically my heater smells like urine...bad....the musky cat piss type of urine. Has anyone else had this or know how to fix it?

I would assume some sort of bacteria build up? It only smells with the aircon off, if i turn on the a/c then it doesn't smell but as soon as the a/c is off and its running off the fans/heater (regardless of temperature) it will stink.

Help pleaseee!

Cheers

Dom

Same with my r33, smell of urine. I actually had coolant leaking on to the passenger floor from the heater core. At the mechanics now, hope it's just a busted hose. Check your coolant level.