Dusty smell coming from vents?

[Brandon Friesen]

On my 2014 Mazda CX-5, which I bought used, I smelt a pretty strong smell of dust. It’s like the type of smell you get coming into the cabin if you’re following someone closely on a gravel road. I replaced the cabin filter(and boy, it was BAD!), and the smell decreased in strength, but is still very noticeable. After around 1,000 miles on the new filter, I removed it and inspected it, only to find very few small grains of dirt, on an otherwise clean filter. Everything appears to be clean, the intake for cabin air, behind the wipers, is completely clear. Any tips?

Topic

[Richard Kirshy]

Could be dirt/mold build up on the AC coil or heater core.
Might try to see if there is any debris inside the heater box, if the blower can be removed and give a look and perhaps a vacuum.

There are products available that help eliminate mold on the coils.

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