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Hi MesaMark,

Thank you for sharing your experience with us. We are sorry to hear that you are experiencing the foul smell as well. Please send us a private message with your mileage as well as the dealer. We do not recommend sharing private information through public posts, however, we are happy to provide further assistance. Please private message us to get a case started.

Darlene
Chrysler Social Care Specialist
We will be taking our Van in on Saturday to have this looked at as well. I tried to send a PM but your box is full. Is there a Star Case or details you can share with all of us so we can share this with the dealer on Saturday?
Thanks!
Jayson
 
We will be taking our Van in on Saturday to have this looked at as well. I tried to send a PM but your box is full. Is there a Star Case or details you can share with all of us so we can share this with the dealer on Saturday?
Thanks!
Jayson
Hi Jayson,

Thank you for reaching out. I apologize that our inbox was full. We have deleted some messages and made room for more. Please PM us with your VIN, mileage, and dealer to get a case started.

Darlene
Chrysler Social Care Specialist
 
How do I send a PM?
In the post just above yours that I quoted here, left-click the @ChryslerCares name on the left side of their post and select "Send a Private Message to @ChryslerCares " Alternatively, in this post of mine, you can click any of the places I have mentioned @ChryslerCares and that will take you to their page where there is a button on the upper left labeled "Send Message" and that will allow you to PM @ChryslerCares
 
We're having the same odor issue. What does it mean that there's a STAR case? Does that translate to service on the issue being covered by the dealers?
Hi megafuninthesun,

STAR cases are opened on a case by case basis. If you are experiencing this concern as well, please send us a private message with your VIN and mileage so that we can document it further on your behalf.

Darlene
Chrysler Social Care Specialist
 
I have the same problem with our limited pacifica. I live in vegas where the humidity is very low, and still we have a foul vinegar smell a lot. Dealers said to run fan without ac as we are shutting it down for a few minutes, but that is unacceptable as we forget and the car should be designed to not have the user do that. The airbox should have a drain, and if it doesnt then its a design defect. Not sure why all of the pacificas dont smell, especially in humid environments. Maybe having just enough water allows bacteria to grow. Has anyone noticed getting sick because of this bacteria? If there are health consequences we may have a class action lawsuit here.
 
Service Rep said that we cannot leave the car in recirculate. Its just something we prefer to do, and if the car cannot deal with that, then they should have engineered a solution that automatically kicks it back into fresh air intake. The service rep explained that we should let the system pull in warm air to help dry out the coils? Anyone agree with this?

Thanks

jason
 
Has there been a resolution to the smelly a/c? We've been having this issue on our 2018 limited Hybrid for about a month now. Took it to the dealer for its first oil change and told them about the smell and they recommended replacing the cabin filter, which after reading this thread probably wont solve the problem.
 
Has there been a resolution to the smelly a/c? We've been having this issue on our 2018 limited Hybrid for about a month now. Took it to the dealer for its first oil change and told them about the smell and they recommended replacing the cabin filter, which after reading this thread probably wont solve the problem.
Hi amoney805,

We're sorry to hear that you are experiencing this concern as well. Please send us your VIN and mileage so that we can document this on your behalf.

Darlene
Chrysler Social Care Specialist
 
A/C Smell

I have a 2017 Pacifica (34k) with the same issue. Of course,the dealer said they cannot duplicate the discrepancy but we continue to smell foul odor. It’s intermittent. Cabin filter changed no change. System is kept in Auto mode @ times switch to recirculate.
 
Service Rep said that we cannot leave the car in recirculate. Its just something we prefer to do, and if the car cannot deal with that, then they should have engineered a solution that automatically kicks it back into fresh air intake. The service rep explained that we should let the system pull in warm air to help dry out the coils? Anyone agree with this?

Thanks

jason

It has ZERO to do with that. It's just in recirculate if the mold is already there the smell is going to be worse, he is suggesting a way to minimize the smell at best. He may believe your filter is already fouled as well.

First, change that cabin filter as soon as you can, but after the step below if you can't get it installed right away.

Go to you car today and turn on your heat for FULL BLAST AS HOT as it can go for 15 minutes. Then move it to vent on hot for 15 minutes, then to cool for a couple minutes.

Then drive around using the outside air vent then kick on the AC with recirculate OFF for about a week. Every time you are done driving turn off the AC before you turn the car off and run that vent for a couple of minutes. Running the vent on hot is best , but running it for a minute or two is better than nothing at all/./

After a week that smell will be gone. I would not use recirculate again until your cabin filter was changed in case it was fouled.

Never use recirculate in the winter it can create a similar issue by introducing unwanted humidity in the car. Recirculate really is meant to be used only in the summer when the AC is on and when it is really hot outside or in few times you might want to try to eliminate outside air small.


This AC smell happens to every make Every brand and google can very that pretty quick. There is an entire industry built around this smell and has been since AC first was introduced into cars. I never experienced myself, but remember the smell in my Friends old Chevy and some other peoples cars, at that time I just never thought about it. Back then if the car had AC it was rare and a godsend we dealt with it.
 
When I messaged @ChryslerCares I was told that there is a Star Case for the smell issue. The Star Case number is S1624000008. I don't know if Star Case numbers are specific to certain VINs or problems.

I gave the info to the dealer when I had the van serviced. In addition to doing whatever the Star Case remedy was, they wanted to replace the cabin air filter which otherwise wouldn't have needed replaced (just had it replaced 5,000 miles ago), but if there was anything on the filter (odor, mold, etc.) it made sense to replace it even though I had to pay for a new filter. So if you are having this problem, wait to replace the filter until they do this service which is supposed to solve the problem.
 
When I messaged @ChryslerCares I was told that there is a Star Case for the smell issue. The Star Case number is S1624000008. I don't know if Star Case numbers are specific to certain VINs or problems.

I gave the info to the dealer when I had the van serviced. They wanted to replace the cabin air filter which otherwise wouldn't have needed replaced (just had it replaced 5,000 miles ago), but if there was anything on the filter (odor, mold, etc.) it made sense to replace it even though I had to pay for a new filter. So if you are having this problem, wait to replace the filter until they do this service which is supposed to solve the problem.

So whats the point of doing a star case if they dont pick up the charges?
 
@ChryslerCares, your inbox is full and it wont allow me to send you an email.
Hi amoney805,

Our apologies. We have cleaned out our inbox as of this morning. We look forward to hearing from you and assisting with your situation.

Darlene
Chrysler Social Care Specialist
 
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