New owner here so still learning the car So I'm trying to track down the musky order coming from the vents on this carHave replaced the filter and ran and stand alone air filter at night with uv lights to kill any mold residue. It has helped and got rid of 60% of the smell, but im noticing with use it keeps coming back. I notice that sometimes even though AC button is off AC apears to be running and blowing cold air when temperature is set below ambient. Is this normal on these cars? Maybe this is what's causing the issue with the smell as the AC is not fully turned off and always causing condensation? Any way to turn it off completely? I randomly spoke to another XJ owner and he has the same exact problem it appears so it might be a common issue?

 

Never had this issue, in the UK you can buy an aerosol can of air con cleaner , you shut all the car windows and turn the air con onto recirculation, you push the button on the can and stand it in the footwell, the contents blasts out and is sucked through the air con system and and you leave the car running for maybe 10 minutes. This is to clean out the system. It may be worth seeing if you can find something similar over there, might cost you $20 or so I guess.

 

Alexjag, from the sounds of things, your drain for your ventilation system is not draining properly. Something you can try is getting a can of Lysol. From there, you can try spraying a bunch of it into the center part of the dash ventilation system (remove blower from passenger footwell area, spray in there or may be able to simply remove the filter and spray from there). Spray in as much as you can. let the car sit for a bit with the Lysol. You will then want to open the windows and turn on the ventilation in manual mode and move the air around with the windows open. This is going to flush out any Lysol vapor left in the car. What can happen is if you start to get a blockage there in the center part of the dash, water builds up and it leads to a mildew/mold problem. By spraying in the Lysol, you can kill this growth and clear up the drain line too (which is where your problem really lies). I have been known to get a piece of 1/4" copper tubing and shove it down the ventilation ducting where the blower motor is and bend the tubing as needed to make the end get on the drain line. A quick blast of air will push out the slug of mung that is blocking the drain. But, this can be challenging as you are doing things by feel and trying to get where the drain line is.

 

It is the same as the XK:

"When A/C is off, the compressor current signal supplied
by the ATC module holds the A/C compressor solenoid
valve in the minimum flow position, effectively switch-
ing off the A/C function."

It is quite common to have this smell on our Japanese imports here in New Zealand because they sit in auction rooms and on a boat for weeks or months. I have fixed a few using the solution that roviw mentioned.

 

You know I have had a 2008 XKR for years and I have heard of people having issues with their AC drain but I never have had that probelm and I thought they would have definitely fixed it by 2013 but maybe this is what is happening, so I might have to tackle it

 

HMm yeah I think this guy didn't drive it that much but at the same time it seems like it's an ongoing issue cuz I can smell it each time I turn on the AC and interior still smells.
Interesting as far as the AC compressor I don't think it's the same on the 4.2 because it's immediately cut off but on a 5.0 sometimes when i turn it off it's still on all the time it seems like

 

There is a factory TSB about this.
Never heard of this but if it works!
https://www.jaguarofnaperville.com/what-is-frigi-fresh/