Location for the aircon "inlet" ?

[r3vmatch]

Can someone tell me where the Z4's HVAC system outside "fresh air intake" is located?

I'm trying to get rid of musty odor smells from my Z4, courtesy of its previous owner and one thing I wanted to do was spray the area where the car takes in fresh air from the outside -- only I can't seem to find out where that is! I have replaced the air filter and vaccumed all the leaves and other debris that came out and I've used some chlorine-dioxide tablets from Amazon to "gas" the interior.

Is the "fresh air" for the AC located under the cowl that covers the windshield wiper transmissions assembly? I notice some grills / gils on the cowling both on the passenger & driver side. I also notice a rectangular-ish plastic vent in the engine bay, I'm guessing that's for condensate to be drained?

Note: I'm in the US, LHD if that matters.

 

[Pondy]

To be honest your best way to 'clean' the a/c evaporator, which is where the smells will be emanating from, is to put a disinfectant 'bomb' type thing in the cabin and run the ventilation on recirc with the windows closed. Don't have the a/c, or heater, on and make sure the flaps are set to push air over both coils (heater matrix and evap).

Then do it again with the a/c running, so any physical debris can be washed down the drain by the condensate on the evap coil.

If there is debris on the heater coil, that will be trickier to get rid of without gaining access to the matrix.

 

[caius]

Accessing the HVAC unit is a dashboard out job, which was easier than I expected when I had a leak from the heater core and fitted a new-to-me core.

The air intake is under the cowling, on the intake manifold side of the engine bay on a RHD (might be opposite on LHD?). There's a drain into the engine bay under it, I've seen some debris/detritus in there before but nothing major/rotting. You should be able to look down with a torch through the cowl vent and see what's in there, its not far down.

 

[r3vmatch]

Accessing the HVAC unit is a dashboard out job, which was easier than I expected when I had a leak from the heater core and fitted a new-to-me core.

The air intake is under the cowling, on the intake manifold side of the engine bay on a RHD (might be opposite on LHD?). There's a drain into the engine bay under it, I've seen some debris/detritus in there before but nothing major/rotting. You should be able to look down with a torch through the cowl vent and see what's in there, its not far down.

Thanks for confirming, I figured it was under the cowl, I bought a wiper puller already, so this weekend I'll remove the the cowl and make sure the intake vent is clean and clear.

How did you know you had a leak in your heater core? Did you pull the dashboard yourself?

On my 3.0si I notice a small loss of engine coolant over a 6-mos period of time but no chocolate or discolored coolant or oil, so I was thinking maybe a pinhole leak in the heater core. I've done the INPA bleed procedure each time I top off with water so I don't think it's trapped air on my side.

 

[caius]

How did you know you had a leak in your heater core? Did you pull the dashboard yourself?

Carpet in both footwells was wet and the interior smelt of sweet sweet coolant. Didn't really notice a leak at the bottle, deduced it had to be the core leaking from what I could see.

Pulled the dash one weekend (after getting the air con degassed) and put it back the following weekend after swapping the cores over. Took loads of pictures and bagged screws up from each area in a labelled freezer bag. Passenger airbag was the most confusing bit I can remember, had to get underneath and look up to find the bolts holding it in.

was pretty obvious it was leaking once it was a bit exposed.