Where to start with Cigarette smells in hvac

Somehow I think my truck ingested someone's cigarette.
Now, whenever I turn on the car and turn on the heater, it smells like a cigarette.
This happened suddenly one day, so I'm assuming this is what has happened.
It sucks the most in the morning when I need heat to defrost the window, and it is cold out. I have to open another window just to let the truck air out.

Where do I look for the intakes?


'15 ram 2500 6.4.

Thanks!




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This might sound crazy but the hotter the day you do this the better the results will be.

First use a solution of 3 parts water, 1 part dawn, 1 part white vinegar in a spray bottle. Make sure the A/c is on and using outside air, put the speed on slow/medium. If you have a cabin air filter, remove it for this process and replace it after. Spray the entire contents into the air register behind your hood where the air enters the cabin from the HVAC. You dont want it pulled through at light speed, but let it get on all the surfaces and pull the garbage off it.


2nd would be something to kill the bacteria left behind as thats mostly what you are smelling so a fogger of some sort or ionizer. I prefer the fogger, mcguires makes a good one its smells great too. You need something that sits a while in the car to get into the plastics and cloth.

3rd, clean everything. Headliner, seats, carpet, glass, door panels, under seats, behind the visors <---- everyone forgets that area. use a cleaner, not just armorall. You have to pull the residue from the surfaces. From there use a condtioner on all the surfaces.

Lastly, and this one is a great trick, grab 2 new dryer sheets, put them under both seats. They let off a nice smell, and will help in the process of battling back the smoke.


If you are not a smoker as the thread implies, then you can likely get away with just cleaning the intake path which is on the cowl behind the hood.

Very odd, I have the exact same issue with my 2015 as well and I don't nor would I ever let anyone smoke in my Truck.

I use a McGuire's deoderizer spay on the interior and it does the trick for a while, but then the odor comes back after a month or so.

Mine just hit me one day like someone was smoking next to me. I've also never had anyone smoke in my truck and don't personally or have any family that does.

I'll try the above suggestions.


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Wonder if its just the plastic gassing out? Is there a thick residue on your windshield?

Probably a blocked drain somewhere causing trapped water to mildew and put out an odor.

Similar situation in my Mercedes if you don't shut down the a/c correctly. Its design to have the fan run so many minutes after the engine is turned off to get rid of trapped moisture.

I like ozium as a quick fix. Or rent or borrow an ozone generator that's what service shops use to kill smells. Runs the generator with the HVAC on full blast for a while.

Ozium is a good option.
My first job out of college was working for Enterprise. You would not believe what some slobs would do to a rental.
We had a bunch of cleaning and destinkifying products, but Ozium was the best bet for human ashtray stink.
We would spray it into the intake above the hood with the system running until you could smell it inside, then with windows down we'd let the car idle with the heat on max for 1/2 an hour to cook out any moisture.

Rarely got any complaints from the next renter unless we had to short cut the turnaround.

Here is what I did and it helped a lot. Instill have a bit more work to do but...

I bought a 2014 Mustang Premium with 6112 miles. It was a smokers car but I could not pass it up.

Wiped every surface down cleaning the water after each wipe. Twice.

I got a bag of Zeolite from Amazon. Spread it all over the floor carpet. I also did the floor mats. It is a ***** to vacuum up but works. I let it sit for 24 hours. Then I ran the heat and AC on recirculation for about 30 to 1 hour. Vacuum it up.

Shampoo the carpets and mats.

Replaced the cabin filter

Put 4 arm and hammer fridge boxes in all 4 corners of floor. Replace daily for 4 days while running ac and heat on recirculation.

Bought a 12v ionizer from Amazon and run it while car is on.

The car barley has an odor now. And this was a flat out smokers car.

Feel around where your exhaust pipe exits, is it wet? If it is and from what your describing it will be, it just finished having sex and is only relaxing!