Thebreeze

I bought a new 2013 ES 300h. It only has 7K miles on it.
When I first start it up for the day there is a moldy smell coming out of the vents for a few minutes.
I've not taken it through any deep water.
Does it just need some new vent filters?
What filters would be involved?
I have tried to get this question answered by my dealer at Lexus of Nashville, Tn. but they are so rude and unhelpful. I've had it with them for good.
They put me on hold and never come back.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions as to what it may be.

jim256

Page 370, common problem on lots of cars if you run RECIRC a lot and just turn off the engine with the A/C still on. I turn the compressor off about half a mile from home, it switches to fresh, and have never had the problem on any car.

●To reduce potential odors from occurring:
• It is recommended that the air conditioning system be set to outside air mode
prior to turning the vehicle off.
• The start timing of the blower may be delayed for a short period of time immediately
after the air conditioning system is started in automatic mode.

Thebreeze

Thanks Jim !!
I wish you were working for my dealership.

txes

That's some foul smelling information.

You shouldn't have to do any of that prior to turning off the car.

Mine doesn't do it and if it did, I'd be at the dealership and not waiting on hold.

John

I8ABMR

you are in TN so the humidity is insane . This will cause the moisture to build up. They can use an ozone machine to fix the smell or if the car was older just replace the AC filter

lesz

For reasons of fuel economy, Lexus made a design decision that has the climate control system, when in full auto mode, default to recirculating air whenever the engine is started and the temperature is anywhere above the low 70s. This means that, whenever the temperature is in the 70s or higher, no fresh air at all is entering the cabin. With every other vehicle that I've owned, including a couple of other Lexus vehicles, the automatic climate control default was fresh air, and it went into recirculate only when the car was started after sitting in the sun on a day when the temperature was in the 90s.

My guess is that defaulting to the recirculate mode saves only a very minimal amount of gas, and the decision to set up the vehicle that way is one that I wish they had made differently. I've found that, when the temperature is cooler and the default is fresh air, cabin air upon start up is much fresher than when we have had several 90 degree days in a row and the system has been running only with recirculating air. I try to remember to manually switch it to fresh air, but I don't always remember to do so each time I start the car.

In the manual for my vehicle, it actually shows a personal setting that would allow you to change this, but, unfortunately, either the manual is incorrect or Lexus made a change in the vehicle between the time the manual was written and the time when my vehicle was manufactured because the option to change the fresh air/recirculate default doesn't appear in the settings options where the manual says it should be.

ElliotB

I live in South Florida where we have almost 100% humidity almost all the time. I leave mine on recirculate almost all the time. I have never had any issues with my a/c. Take your car to the dealer and have them check it for you.

amphipri0n

Isn't there an option available that will have the car automatically switch to fresh air when turned off, then come back to whatever was the actual setting on startup?

Arty101

There is an option to leave it in the fresh air vent, but I'm not sure about fresh air AC mode. Do a search on this board where there is a setting you can do yourself under No AC on/off button on dash or something like that.

lesz

No, there is no such setting. As I said in my post above, in the manual it says that you can disable the default to recirculate with the AC on via one of the climate control personal settings that can be set by the user via the nav screen. But, when you actually navigate on the screen to where that setting should be, it is not there. And, according to the service managers at 3 different Lexus dealers, there is not even such a setting available that only the dealer can set. Since the manual is not consistent with what is actually on my vehicle, I'm not sure whether Lexus may have made a production change somewhere along the line since the car was introduced.

Yes, you can disable the recirculate default, but that is only if you are also disabling auto AC, which would require you to manually turn the AC compressor on every time you wanted cooling or every time you wanted to use the windshield defogger.


If I use recirculate continuously, I wouldn't describe what happens as being "moldy" or "musty", but the air quality just doesn't seem as "fresh". Perhaps, I'm more sensitive to the air quality, but there is a difference.

Arty101

BTW, look in your Owner's manual but it doesn't look too difficult to change your ac filter. Like other Lexus cabin filters, it's not too hard, just behind the glove box and the removable shelf. I see replacements available on Amazon and cost about 1/3 of the dealers (parts only) so I'll be changing the filter on my 300h at the 10,000K and not let the dealer upsell me.

ronk5150

The Mold Issue is well known by Lexus. They have done nothing that I know of to address the issue. My wife and I leased two 2013 Lexus Vehicles, the ES-350 and RX-350. This is our 4th/5th new Lexus. The mold smell coming from the A/C when you turn on the car is really bad in the ES model. So far no issues with the RX. Both cars have approx. 4500 miles on them.

I just had the 5K service performed today. The service Tech installed a Charcoal filter and suggested it would take 30 days before the mold smell is gone. There was no charge for this and I was told it was a Good Will gesture.

I find it hard to believe there isn't a recall fix for this issue. All I have done for the last 20 years is brag about these cars and the good service.

Sticker price on these two vehicles total well over $100K.... no recall?

Ron

txes

First post and you're pushing for a recall?

Please excuse me while I LMAO...

John

ElliotB

By the way, I am sure there is more than one Lexus dealer in your area, right? Try another one!

jollick

I agree with Elliot, I live in GA and this has been one wet year. I leave the air circulation switch on the dash in AUTO and have never had a moldy smell, just that good new car smell. :-) I would take it in and let them look at it. I had one car where a spider got into a rubber drain tube and clogged it, when the dealer cleared it water came out and fixed the issue.