When the air intake mode is the "outside mode" or when the A/C is on, I
smell a foul odor in my '06 ES330. What causes this? This started to happen
recently.

Perhaps it's time to replace your cabin air filter.

Fidelis K wrote:

"Charles Brand" <cbrand (AT) erols (DOT) com> wrote

I never knew there was a cabin air filter. I bought it in February, so
probably it's time to replace it.

If the 'foul odor' smells like rotten eggs, that's normal with cars equipped
with catalytic converters (by 'cars' I mean ANY car, regardless of make and
model, manufactured with a US Government-mandated catalytic converter since
the late 1970s/early 1980s when converters were made mandatory on all cars
sold within, or if purchased abroad but to be operated within the US). I
read long ago in a Chilton's or Haynes manual that the 'rotten egg' smell is
normal when, PERIODICALLY, the catalytic converter vents accumulated, but
neutralized, pollutants to the surrounding air.

Needless to say, if you smell that 'foul odor' constantly, then take the car
to your dealer (this applies to all makes and models of all cars).



"Fidelis K" <maplestrat (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote

This makes sense. The odor was strong a few days ago but today it was pretty
much gone. Well, anyway, I'll have a 5k mile check-up on Monday, so I'll
ask.

"Mike Piacente" <mpiacente (AT) adelphia (DOT) net> wrote

where's mcbrue? calling mcbrue!!! He'll inform you that the smell you
are smelling is related somehow in some absolutely ludicrous way to the
lag in the transmission and that you will die from it when a cement
truck with no brakes comes barrelling towards you in an intersection
and this stench is so awful because its from the laggy transmission
that you can't even manage to get your foot on the gas, then you will
pass out from the smell before you engage said laggy transmission which
will kill you anyway.


Ha ha ha, oh mcbrue!!


--
NYLexSC

The cabin air filter should last much longer than that. Only reason I would
suspect the air filter is if something crawled up there and died with its
claws sunk into the filter.


"Fidelis K" <maplestrat (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote

NYLexSC <NYLexSC.2e3t5n (AT) no-mx (DOT) forums.yourdomain.com.au> quipped:


don't forget that in the twenty some odd Benzes he's owned (all of
which were superior to the Lexuses he keeps buying), never had this
problem.

The most common cause of the bad odor is a dead animal around the
intake. Of course sometimes it could be a reptile that crawled in to
keep warm in a climate changing to fall. Hmmm ... do you live at a high
altitude or in the far north? Sometimes it has been just a bird nest
with the baby birds not able to get out, and the occasional dead cat
which had attacked the nest and been killed by the mother bird. Of
course, we assume you have already checked for those obvious problems.
If your car was through a flood on the lot before it was sold to you,
the smell may be coming from a mold problem. And if it is a mold
problem, you should get it fixed right away by calling mold busters.
Some molds are the dreaded tropical sleep inducing molds. And you know
that they can be especialy dangerous in construction areas where there
are lots of heavily laden cement trucks darting around, even if you do
not have one of the killer ES trannies. And we know that you don't
since this is a new car. Interestingly, Mercedes Benz kars had some
really bad smell problems. But that was generaly caused by fear induced
in the occupants by the rapid acceleration of the kar around some slow
moving kudzu car which was just sitting there or moving reallllly
slowly while the driver appeared to be pumping his foot about where the
accelerator should be. Hope this helps. If not, you might try the
stealership. Often they know what is causing it, even though they will
deny there is a problem. They take the car back behind the vines (kudzu
vines, of course!) and fix it and never tell you they did find and fix
the problem. That way you do not loose confidence in the car. Just hope
it is not like that kille tranny problem ...

mcbrue freshairscentsprayingly under the bridge in the trailer down by
the river

"mcbrue" <mcbrue (AT) aol (DOT) com> wrote

Well for the (first generation) LS400 that is just wrong... Everyone I know
who owns one experienced AC start up odor issues. I hesitated to respond,
because I firgured everyone would just laugh at me, but this Spring, I
replaced the engine air filter. At the same time I washed out the plastic
"air scoop". There is a moisture/water trap right before the "air filter
box" (this exists on the LS430 also). Well I cleaned it out and unclogged
"the (water) trap" and the smell went away ... or at least got a lot better.
I can't say why the engine air intake would affect the interior smell, but
IT DID. Several of my friends did the same, with varying degrees of
success. It is easy to do, and free.