LexusBob

This may sound strange but whenever I have the AC on with recirculate cabin air and hard accelerate onto the highway or on a backroad and sustain for a mile or so, I experience this rotten egg odor coming through the vents. Upon heavy acceleration, this does not happen if AC is on w/o recirculate. The dealer replaced AC filter and sprayed Lysol or something in vents. They also computer-checked the catalytic converter and stated that everything was fine. However, this is still happening.

Has anyone else experienced this? It's weird and frustrating when a diagnosis cannot be made toward resolving this problem. Any thoughts on possible causes?

Thank you!

chieplai

I had the rotten egg smell yesterday as well...my father-in-law was in the car so I didn't think of it further.

Why would you have it in the recirculation mode? I don't get recirculation; if I were in the middle of Death Valley in the summer and just got into the car and need it cooled down as quickly as possible...maybe...

plex

iTrader: (11)

LMAO............

Kash

my 03 used to have this problem do a search on the forum it was the catalytic converter i think

The G Man

Did you change gas station or octane level?

BobsGX

This TSIB applies to the 06 GX470 but I seem to recall that it applied to earlier years also. Have your dealer pull up TSIB EG004-06 "Excessive Sulfer Odor". The cure is to R & R the front exhaust pipe assembly along with the front exhaust pipe assembly #2. The repair should take less than an hour.

Hopefully your dealer can apply this TSIB to your 05 GX470. Good luck.

LexusBob

Thanks! I'll check out the TSIB. It seems to make some sense.

I use recirculate often since I commute in heavy traffic with trucks, buses, etc. 60 miles each day. This problem has happened since I bought the SUV 2 years ago. I have also used the same gas and station as does thousands of others. I did try higher octane for 2 months but the problem remained. I've been reading all the B.S. over trying different gas/stations and sulfur content variations. There is something definitely wrong. No one should smell an odor like that from their own car when accelerating on highway or any road w/o other cars in front with all the windows closed and AC on recirculate. How can this odor enter into the cabin through the vents under this driving condition? It has me somewhat concerned about fumes and health. My wife refuses to drive the car and I avoid driving anyone else anywhere (embarassment factor). There are simply too many complaints about Lexus & Toyota models regarding this problem. My wife has a 2002 RX300 and we've never experienced this issue! In fact I've never experienced this with any other car. I will attempt to have the dealer fix it under warranty.

Thank you for your comments!

BobsGX

Even stale smelly standing putrid water doesn't smell like rotten eggs/sulfer.

Ohmy05'

I occasionally have a musky smell only when the truck is first started and the blower kicks in on high until the cool air starts coming out. Smells like stale water build up, like water is trapped somewhere, but i wouldn't know where to start looking.

Tipler

I had the egg smell , took to the Lexus Dealer had the catalytic converter replaced under warranty , that still didn't do the trick , I was told to switch fuel brands and , burn higher octane , which I am now burning the highest octane , and it 's been fine for almost one year no smell ,

I only use BP gas now

The G Man

The sulfer smell is from the gas you use, try using top tier gas. Shell is usually pretty good or try running higher octane.

chieplai

...give "don't recirculate" some consideration as well. i don't care what can be done to help, breathing the same air over and over doesn't make sense.

V8_Fan

If you live somewhere where it's humid (and NY is), it's a good idea to run the AC on fresh before you shut off the engine. This will allow any moisture buildup in the vents to evaporate. Otherwise, you could end up with mold growing in the vents...expensive to replace, and it wouldn't be a warranty item.

Here in AZ, I use recirc all the time. Driving is mostly in town, and many cars are 20+ yrs old with little or no emissions, plus recirc keeps the cold air in longer. Mold or moisture buildup in the vents isn't an issue, as humidity is only 5%. If I use fresh, I set the AC to the smog sensor mode so it shuts the vents off if the sensor in front of the engine bay detects any exhaust fumes (this is on the LX...you can adjust the sensitivity of the smog sensor).

I would suspect the sulfur smell is from high sulfur in the gas, but it might be a regional thing (that all gas in that region of the country has higher sulfur?). I believe crude oil from the Mid East has much higher sulfur content than North Sea brent ("sweet crude") or west Texas crude. I presume you're running quality gas like Chevron or Shell 91+ octane and not cheapo Arco/Citgo? You will typically find the lowest sulfur gas in California (they've been refining ultra-low sulfur diesel for many years now in LA while the rest of the country is just starting this year).

The G Man

I think we are talking about about 2 diff. problems here.

LexusBob

During my next visit for service, I'll ask them to apply the TSIB EG004-06 "Excessive Sulfer Odor" fix even though it's for my 2005 GX. The fact that Lexus is zeroing in on catalytic converter vs. air vents for this problem, makes me think that there are 2 separate issues as "The G Man" indicated. I can understand why there might be some confusion on this since the odor is coming in through the vents. What's strange about it is that it's coming in while driving down the road. How could the smell from catalytric converter or elsewhere from the undercarriage come up through the vents while driving? I'm no physics major but that doesn't seem possible. Again, I have never had any odors like this from any cars that I have driven with AC or no AC.

If the fix doesn't work, I'll try different gases and octanes again.