Strange smelling inside the car

Hi, I am running a seven years old Jimny. After an attack from some rats I had to change the filter for the aircon beside others in a Suzuki garage. Soon after that I noticed a strange smell inside the car. It smells like some chemical compound. First I've thought it comes up only when using the aircon. But after a while I noticed it also without using the aircon. Today I visited the garage again and they checked everything. The did not found any leakage or any suspect thing. But I was told ther was a very small whole at the hoss going to the aicon filter. And that could be the reason for the smell. I was also told it would be very expensive to get this fixed. My questions now:
- Does anybody have made a similar experience?
- Is it realy something related to the aircon system or could it be something else?
- Could that smell be potentially dangerous to my health?
- Can I just ignore it?
Many thanks ...
 

By air conditioning filter I assume you mean the cabin air filter in the ducting behind the dashboard, the small thin square one installed vertically? Not all jimny even had this filter from the factory. I am also assuming that the air conditioning is still blowing cold? As for what the chemical smell is, it could potentially be vapour from the engine bay which won't be good for you. Or alternatively it could be remnants of the rodent infestation and there again it's not good in a confined environment over time as they can carry diseases. I would ask whoever found the hole to identify it for you and I would then attempt to patch repair it with something like say a bicycle inner tube repair patch or similar and see if there is any change in the smell. If not then you can buy air conditioning system sanitisation sprays that should help if it is internal contamination.

What sort of smell is the car producing? I garage my 2019 Jimny during the winter months and noticed at the start of this year a smell an off musty smell coming from the air con. I bought some spray and changed out the filters which cured it. This winter when I start the car up for its Monthy engine run I will whack up heating to red hot to burn off bacteria building up in the system.

If it is aircon gas that is leaking then that can be dangerous. If the aircon has a leak it won’t be long before it stops working.

Is the smell getting worse, it might be that you notice it more, I am just wondering if the garage used something to clean out the rat droppings.

Do you know where the rats got in to?