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That Stinks!- Smelly Is250 Aircon?


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Had my is250 for about a month now. About a week ago I noticed a bad smell from the a/c when starting the car. Smells like bad feet (no mine are clean for once!) or perhaps smelly water. If the car is left sitting anywhere for more than a few hours the smell is there on starting but clears quickly.

I have checked what I think is the air intake for blockages/dead animals whatever - I think this is the vent directly in front of the windscreen?

Car is garaged at night and it was in the garage that I first got the pong. Any suggestions?

Thanks

Tony

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Hey I can smell bad but it's not me this time. I'm in Oz too and I'm thinking it maybe something to do with all the rain we've had. I'm guessing water trapped or very quick growth of something nasty on the condensor inside. With the humidity we've had everything is growing green mold!

But I'd still appreciate suggestions of where to look/what to try

Tony :duh:

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But I'd still appreciate suggestions of where to look/what to try

Tony :duh:

Come to think of it, the Volvo S60 I traded in for the IS250 also had a strange A/C smell on start-up. We don't have a whole lot of rain or humidity in Melbourne, despite what the Sydneysiders would have you believe, so I doubt that was the cause of my car's smell either.

I always thought is was a dead animal or a rotting rubber seal. As the car was 5 years old and being traded in, I never persued it.

In your case, I would get the dealer to look at it. Although if it was anything like the smell I had, it was gone after the first minute of air blowing through and may be hard to trace.

Good luck with it and keep using the Rexona :lol:

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Is there any dead mice or fish around or near where you parked :lol:

Now push the air recycle button making sure that no outside air is allowed to get into the car and we can start diagnosing from there on.

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I get that bad smell if i set the A/C on fully cold..... goes away quickly if i set it back to around 20.........

I had a strange musty smell the other day all day and then it went away again.

I think sometimes you end up with water that sits in the Aircon system and goes musty. Once it's dried up it goes away

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Guys - my old Peugeot 406 had this problem, until a colleague of mine advised me to set A/C on, put blower onto a lowish speed, and heat on max...this kills the bacteria I believe which cause the smell!

It is condensation and bad water smell. You'll notice that when you start the car, somethimes the windscreens fogs up momentarily. It's just the damp/mould :sick: in the vents which need drying out and it is normal.

The heater trick worked for a while, but it did return...just have to keep doing this every now and again...and it tends to be worse in the summer!

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I tried everything and eventually i replaced the pollen filter which cured it. Your car is new and shouldnt have this problem whether you have an arse of a dead rat or not. Take it back to your dealer then lock him in it and let him have the bog of eternal stench. :D

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Thanks for all the suggestions. Large fat lexus's looks like a good one.

I've now checked it with both recycle and fresh input. Left if for about 4 hours tried it with recycle- stinks. 4 hours later still stinks when on fresh.

So I then pulled the a/c filter out of the glovebox- no smell there. I've checked the internal mat on the passenger side for anything stinky- nope. I carefully checked the external input and it appears clear.

Because the car is new I'm going to let Lexus fix it. They'll be picking it up next week and I'll post the outcome. Frustrating though - "hey want a ride in my nice new stinky Lexus?"

At least it clears

Tony :tsktsk:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just had a call from Lexus. Getting the car back this afternoon - same day they picked it up. They did not seem surprised about the issue although they thought it was a little soon!!!!

It was not the aircon but the joints in the plastic tubing in the ventilation system. Apparently they use a seal between the plastic that can attract fungus/mold/bacteria and this is what had happened to mine. Lexus of Newcastle got this car from Lexus of Brisbane and they think it was the humidity there that bred the nasty stuff.

What concerns me is they think it will need treating yearly. :duh: Ok I am used to older a/c systems that get a slight smell but this was far worse. Picked up a friend the other day who was polite enough to tell me I had a foot odour problem!

Service was good as was the solution. But the problem I think could be recurring so please post if you get this issue as I suspect many will.

We shall see

Tony

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Well, thats interesting the IS250 SEL that I had for a test drive last weekend seemed to suffer from the smelly socks syndrome as well, but it came and went (and came back again) so regularly, and only for a couple of minutes I didn't take too much notice of it.

Hope it's not a trend :sad:

Barry

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Guys - my old Peugeot 406 had this problem, until a colleague of mine advised me to set A/C on, put blower onto a lowish speed, and heat on max...this kills the bacteria I believe which cause the smell!

It is condensation and bad water smell. You'll notice that when you start the car, somethimes the windscreens fogs up momentarily. It's just the damp/mould :sick: in the vents which need drying out and it is normal.

The heater trick worked for a while, but it did return...just have to keep doing this every now and again...and it tends to be worse in the summer!

Yeah after a while you can get bacteria build up which causes the smell. You can actually get E-coli growing in your aircon system, which aint good for your health lol. When I got the smell in my Peugeot 406 I got a special can of stuff from Halfords I believe. It was recommended in Auto Express Magazine. It specifically kills the bugs. you open the can and leave it in the car with the windows up etc with the aircon on full blast. It fills the car with this smoke/mist. After the process is done, there's no residues or anything left, the smell was gone and hasn't returned. I just can't remmeber the name of what I used sorry - hope that helps ;)

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IT stinks- AGAIN! Lasted exactly three days and I'm now really ****** off. Lexus are coming back again this week but I'm fedup with the mileage being added (100 mile round trip each time) and the lack of a fix. I got a little attitude from the service department so rang the GM and lets say I let my feelings known.....

Not good enough grrrrrrr

Tony

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IT stinks- AGAIN! Lasted exactly three days and I'm now really ****** off. Lexus are coming back again this week but I'm fedup with the mileage being added (100 mile round trip each time) and the lack of a fix. I got a little attitude from the service department so rang the GM and lets say I let my feelings known.....

Not good enough grrrrrrr

Tony

Try the Hot blower trick Tony...it's worked for me...

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IT stinks- AGAIN! Lasted exactly three days and I'm now really ****** off. Lexus are coming back again this week but I'm fedup with the mileage being added (100 mile round trip each time) and the lack of a fix. I got a little attitude from the service department so rang the GM and lets say I let my feelings known.....

Not good enough grrrrrrr

Tony

I remmembered the product I used was by Comma from Halfords. It worked a treat for my 406, now I just went out and bought another tin to use on the IS, as I'm starting to get a little pong now :sick:

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It's back and stink free for now. However I think the service dept is clueless as they've gone overboard - steam cleaned the carpets, mats and seats as well. All that work rather than look for the problem. I guess they don't want to pull the dash and console apart.

Next time I'll try the heater/a/c trick and after that the Halfords/Comma can. However I don't think that it is the A/C evaporator at fault as it is worse with the A/c off?

Time will tell. However Lexus get 5 out of 10 so far for after sales service. Poor feedback from service, no follow up call from Rep and 10 weeks after purchase no Lexus Encore membership. I think Lexus Oz are struggling with the amount of sales they are getting for what is a great car

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Hi Tony. Not a very good response from the guys in Newcastle. I got my IS from the Brisbane guys and so far no issue with smells. The Brisbane service department have been good with the new 250 help and previous 200.

Keep us posted on the smells.

Also, have no problems with the Encore program and getting joined. Give them a call.

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