kriskross225

L/Certified 2017 Lexus ES 350 65k miles purchased Dec 2022 with 55k miles

So late October I turned heater on for first time since the spring and the middle console got really hot in addition to the cup holder in front of the console. I only noticed it because i have a plastic card sleeve in the console and it smelled like hot plastic and I was like hmmmm. I didn't remember that being a thing last year but closed the rear vents and the issue went away.

Fast forward a couple more weeks and I notice a sweet smell (like strawberries) and then it transitioned into a nasty exhaust smell. I changed out the cabin filter (as it looked really bad) and smell went away but air didn't feel quite right as I had some drainage while driving but didn't think much of it as I thought it was just allergens being filtered out still. A week later I'm driving and I turn off music and I hear a faint noise (like liquid struggling to get somewhere). It's a very low noise and the next day I had scheduled maintenance. The dealer could not hear it and mistook it for the blower and made plans to replace that. I get the car back and I'm on my way home and then when I get home I have this burning sensation in my mouth (kind of like when you burn yourself with pizza but not that extreme) and that lasted a few hours before going away. The soap scent from the car wash was in the vents so I figured maybe some soap got in the HVAC and needed to clear out. The next day it happened again except in my throat as I made it a point to keep my mouth closed during the car ride. My throat had some slight swelling as well but that resolved in a couple minutes.

At this point I'm like errr I can't drive this thing so I take and do a night drop off at dealer before going off on Thanksgiving trip. Dealer can't find any leaks (I don't think they looked at the HVAC entirely), replaced the blower and did the AC cleaning service as I wasn't sure if that would help or not. I get back into town, pick up car and I can still hear noise behind dash but mouth isn't really burning so am maybe thinking it's ok but took to Goodyear for a second opinion as they service the rest of our cars. Goodyear could not hear it and didn't do anything with it to which it was then that I realized you really couldn't notice it until after driving for about 20 min over 30 mph, it goes away when I turn off the AC, and gets louder the colder I make it. I gave it to my dad as he works about 15 min from the house and he said he could hear it very faintly but it wasn't until he got to work or home that he could hear it.

I take it to work the next day to see if maybe the burning sensation is gone and I'm still not sure as the air feels a bit different on my tongue than what it used to feel like but I was thinking I was maybe overanalyzing.

I've been working from home this past week and have taken it out during lunch and I still hear the noise and couldn't tell if air was feeling different. Until today though when I turned off air after driving it for about 20 min, put my nose to the vent and smelt that same exhaust smell from the beginning and I believe a coolant smell as it was bit syrupy. The coolant smell might be hard to decipher though as the AC cleaning service left a nice scent behind.

I think I will take to dealer again tomorrow to see if they can check out the heater core but I am exhausted. I really love this car as it still drives great but I also enjoy not being poisoned by antifreeze. Idk if anyone else has experienced this and I'm hoping dealer doesn't just clean the AC again.

kriskross225

Figured I post this in general to see if anyone may have had the same experience

L/Certified 2017 Lexus ES 350 65k miles purchased Dec 2022 with 55k miles

So late October I turned heater on for first time since the spring and the middle console got really hot in addition to the cup holder in front of the console. I only noticed it because i have a plastic card sleeve in the console and it smelled like hot plastic and I was like hmmmm. I didn't remember that being a thing last year but closed the rear vents and the issue went away.

Fast forward a couple more weeks and I notice a sweet smell (like strawberries) and then it transitioned into a nasty exhaust smell. I changed out the cabin filter (as it looked really bad) and smell went away but air didn't feel quite right as I had some drainage while driving but didn't think much of it as I thought it was just allergens being filtered out still. A week later I'm driving and I turn off music and I hear a faint noise (like liquid struggling to get somewhere). It's a very low noise and the next day I had scheduled maintenance. The dealer could not hear it and mistook it for the blower and made plans to replace that. I get the car back and I'm on my way home and then when I get home I have this burning sensation in my mouth (kind of like when you burn yourself with pizza but not that extreme) and that lasted a few hours before going away. The soap scent from the car wash was in the vents so I figured maybe some soap got in the HVAC and needed to clear out. The next day it happened again except in my throat as I made it a point to keep my mouth closed during the car ride. My throat had some slight swelling as well but that resolved in a couple minutes.

At this point I'm like errr I can't drive this thing so I take and do a night drop off at dealer before going off on Thanksgiving trip. Dealer can't find any leaks (I don't think they looked at the HVAC entirely), replaced the blower and did the AC cleaning service as I wasn't sure if that would help or not. I get back into town, pick up car and I can still hear noise behind dash but mouth isn't really burning so am maybe thinking it's ok but took to Goodyear for a second opinion as they service the rest of our cars. Goodyear could not hear it and didn't do anything with it to which it was then that I realized you really couldn't notice it until after driving for about 20 min over 30 mph, it goes away when I turn off the AC, and gets louder the colder I make it. I gave it to my dad as he works about 15 min from the house and he said he could hear it very faintly but it wasn't until he got to work or home that he could hear it.

I take it to work the next day to see if maybe the burning sensation is gone and I'm still not sure as the air feels a bit different on my tongue than what it used to feel like but I was thinking I was maybe overanalyzing.

I've been working from home this past week and have taken it out during lunch and I still hear the noise and couldn't tell if air was feeling different. Until today though when I turned off air after driving it for about 20 min, put my nose to the vent and smelt that same exhaust smell from the beginning and I believe a coolant smell as it was bit syrupy. The coolant smell might be hard to decipher though as the AC cleaning service left a nice scent behind.

I think I will take to dealer again tomorrow to see if they can check out the heater core but I am exhausted. I really love this car as it still drives great but I also enjoy not being poisoned by antifreeze. Idk if anyone else has experienced this and I'm hoping dealer doesn't just clean the AC again.

Striker223

Run the car with the hood open outside and see if the source of the smell is underhood, reason for this is the interior inducts air from the cowl area so if you have something burning in the engine bay it will come inside eventually.