A car in Lou Trottier's shop with leaves right below the wiper blades. Small leaves or bits of leaves that get into the air intake can cause a mildew smell when turning on the air conditioning.Lou Trottier/The Globe and Mail
I now mostly park on a street and under a tree. Most days recently my car has been covered in leaves. They mostly fly away once I start driving, but a few get stuck near the base of the windshield. Should I make sure to pick these leaves out or is it fine to just leave them. – Jordan, Toronto
The first heat wave of summer brings all the vehicles in with inoperative air conditioners while the first heavy snow fall results in curb hits from the drivers who don’t deem it necessary to buy winter tires.
But what about spring and fall?
These two seasons don’t have any extreme weather or temperature changes, but there are still distinct repairs and services being done during those months. Spring is all about getting the winter tires off and assessing any leftover carnage from a long un-loving winter. People are more focused on cosmetics during this time of year as everyone is getting outside and washing and detailing their vehicles.
Fall however is usually the busiest season for most repair shops as the masses panic all at the same time to get winter tires on once the cold weather hits. Which brings me to today’s point. It’s also during these fall months that I see something that most drivers don’t. Ask anyone with a treed yard, falling leaves are colourful and beautiful when they are still on the tree, but lose their charm once you have to rake and bag them all. They also have the added bonus of potentially costing you money.
When those leaves fall onto your vehicle, they can make their way down into your dash area. Right below the wipers on most vehicles is the air intake for your blower motor. When you turn on your heat or air conditioning, the blower motor starts spinning and starts sucking air from the outside to the inside through this air intake. While large leaves probably won’t be ingested, the same can’t be said for those small pesky leaves that seem to get everywhere.
So, when you turn on your heater blower motor and hear a fluttering sound similar to a baseball card placed in a bicycle’s spokes, this will be a small leaf which has made its way to the vehicle’s heater box and blower motor fan area. When you get that pungent mildew smell after you first turn on your air conditioner in the spring, this is partly because small leaves have made their way into the air-conditioners evaporator core and are rotting. Most cars now come equipped with a cabin filter system which catches most of the debris but they don’t catch everything.
This is maintenance that requires zero skills and costs you only moments of time. Pop that hood and clean out those leaves before they get sucked in. Live in a heavily treed area? Plan on doing this every week until they stop falling. It costs you nothing. The other way ends up with you asking me to remove your evaporator core or go fishing into your heater box trying to remove debris. Keep in mind when you bring your car in for service during these months that you can ask to have this area cleaned. Most won’t charge for this quick cleaning service.
A car in Lou Trottier's shop with leaves right below the wiper blades. Small leaves or bits of leaves that get into the air intake can cause a flapping noise when turning on the heater.Lou Trottier/The Globe and Mail
Lou Trottier is owner-operator of All About Imports in Mississauga. Have a question about maintenance and repair? E-mail globedrive@globeandmail.com, placing “Lou’s Garage” in the subject line.
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