IS250 Sulphur smell - Rear quarter vent duct solution?

[Morbid Valve]

Hey all of you chosen ones (you know who you are),

I dove deep into the well known sulphur/eggy problem on older IS250s and found multiple people pointing towards the rear quarter, trunk boot, air duct, vent, rubber seal, insert other tags here for the poor soul searching for this problem in the future - to be the problem.

For you my friend who found this in the future, this is the part you need:
https://lexuspartsdirect.co.uk/product/lexus-is-phase-2-rear-quarter-panel-vent/ 

My question is simple but quite unusual...

Given the low availability of these, the prices are quite silly especially considering you can't just get the rubber insert that's deteriorated and since Lexus upgraded this part sometime post 2007 - I have no certainty whether the above is the post or pre upgrade version so:

Can I just block this vent out to avoid the nasty smell/sulphur poisoning?

Does anyone know what the technical purpose of this vent is? Is it to avoid 'bloating' of gases in the boot? Is it a redundant safety feature? Will I be hurting some weird niche part of the 1000 inner workings our wonderful cars constantly do without us knowing?

 

Thanks a lot, I love being a part of this community - if you're reading this in the future I highly recommend you sign up!

EDIT: Or does anyone know if any other car's vent might fit?? 

Edited July 13, 2022 by Morbid Valve

[chr15gb]

Don't block it off. When you slam a door the air pressure builds up within the car, the vent is there to relase it.

If you're lucky, the door may "bounce" back open. If you're unlucky, the rear window could shatter

 

[Morbid Valve]

19 hours ago, chr15gb said:

Don't block it off. When you slam a door the air pressure builds up within the car, the vent is there to relase it.

If you're lucky, the door may "bounce" back open. If you're unlucky, the rear window could shatter

 

Doh!!! This makes so much sense why didn't I think of it!

You saved me a potential window shattering mate, kudos to you.

I'll be moving onto repairs then!

[Hillie]

7 hours ago, Morbid Valve said:

I'll be moving onto repairs then!

For items such as these have you considerred breakers yards for spares?  Many Insurance repairs are completed using approved recoverred / recycled parts.  A pressure vent will not need colour matching and if it comes from the same base model and recent front end right-off then it could save you some cash compared to Brand Dealer Prices.

https://www.partsgateway.co.uk/car-breakers/lexus

 

 

[Morbid Valve]

14 minutes ago, Hillie said:

For items such as these have you considerred breakers yards for spares?  Many Insurance repairs are completed using approved recoverred / recycled parts.  A pressure vent will not need colour matching and if it comes from the same base model and recent front end right-off then it could save you some cash compared to Brand Dealer Prices.

https://www.partsgateway.co.uk/car-breakers/lexus

 

 

That's a good shout - I'll have to look for post-upgrade models and hope they aren't crusted either but it's definitely worth the effort! 

Odd that no one bothers to sell them on eBay considering the price hike - you'd think some breakers would've caught wind of this and jumped on the extortion train!