Air con decontamination

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I give my a/c systems a blast of Dettol All-in-One Disinfectant spray now and again. Labelled as killing a fair old range of bacteria and viruses. Seems to keep the systems clean and fresh at a modest cost. Certainly cured the musty smell and headaches on a recently acquired CLK.

Don't forget that cars with 581 auto a/c will have a second filter mounted above the passenger footwell. Its primarily for use when the under bonnet pollution sensor detects sufficient pollution in the incoming air to close the external air intake, switch to recirc and pass the air through this quite thick carbon filter. Willing to bet this filter is seldom checked or changed.
 
Is there a youtube tutorial how to check if i have this.
 
I tried various types of aircon sanitizers, but what worked best was running the heating at max temp and max fan for 15 minutes while driving (with the windows open, or you'll boil....).

The heat evaporates the water and humidity from the air vents and cabin filter. The mold (and bacteria) then just dry-up and die...

This was on the W203. My W204 does not seem to suffer from mouldy aircon, which is good.
 
I attempred to look at the active carbon filter but there was too much fluff and its in an awkward spot. I saw somewhere online it says change it every 60k. Does it really need changing?
 
I think the answer is in your first post.

If your filter is gunked up, any treatment will only be short term, until the gunk from the filter works its way back into the air flow.
 
I changed the cabin filter. But its this new one mentioned above. Active carbon filter.

On cold start of AC i still smelt a slight bad odour. I might try the spray again.
 

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