I need help!! For some reason, when I turn on the engine the air circulation is always set to recirculation, even though I always set it to fresh air. How can I correct this problem? I always prefer fresh air. How can I program the air circulation to always be on fresh air when I start the engine?

Thank you for your help.

 

I believe you need to go into manual mode. In order to do this keep pressing the button until you see the recir. light on only and that will stay that way everytime you start the car. I leave mine in AUTO mode and it will switch from internal to external recir. depending on the temp setting. The internal recir. allows the car to cool down faster . If you have the AC on I don't find any difference in the air "smell" whether in internal of external mode. Just my preference.

 

You may need to set your driver memory again with the air set to fresh. It may have been set to recirculate when you programmed the driver memory button.

 

Thank you for your suggestions. I will let you know if it works.

 

It's a good idea to keep it in auto. It monitors the air quality and if, for example, you get behind a truck with exhaust fumes, it will switch to recirculate automatically.

 

On hot days, the system works harding having it on fresh air. It has to cool hotter, humid air. On recirc, it already is taking in cooler air from the cabin.

I, too, would keep the system on automatic.

 

Keeping the system in Auto seems to be best for passenger comfort; however, if I did want to get fresh air intake, I tried both of the suggestions from jagtoes (the light was on fresh air, I shut off the engine, turned the engine back on, and the light went back to recirculation) and AccElan01 (the light was on fresh air, I reset the driver memory, turned the engine off, turned the engine back on, and the light also went back to recirculation) and neither worked.

What am I doing wrong? Do I need a Lexus technician to change the default setting? The strange thing is that a couple months ago, fresh air was the default mode when I turned on the engine and now for some reason, recirulated air is the default.

Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

I think it goes into recir mode if the temp in the car exceeds a certain level when started up (auto or not). Otherwise it stays at your setting. I'm willing to bet a few monthes ago when it stayed in Fresh setting upon start-up the temp wasn't as hot as it is now. Like others have said on here, the best is probably auto since it changes from recir to fresh after the car is running depending on the temp and the quality of air.

 

It depends on the outside temp. I believe for heat, the setting should be on fresh. For A/C, it should be on recirc

 

I was always under the impression that for a/c to cool the car down fast, it should draw air from the coolest source. Today, with the temp at 88 degrees, the inside of the car is hot hot hot. So I set the a/c to cool air from the outside until the car is cooler than the outside temp. Then I switch to recirculate the inside cabin air because it is easier to cool.

 

I thought the same as garsarno. When the car cabin is hot, I also open up all the windows and the sunroof, and turn the air circulation to maximum a/c with fresh air to expel all the hot air inside the car. After it has cooled down, I then close the windows and sunroof and then switch to recirculated air to maintain the cool temperature inside the car or switch to auto mode.

It seems counter-intuitive to me that with high temperatures in the car cabin, why the hot air is being recirculated instead of being expelled out of the car.

 

Sure, for the first few minutes, there is nothing wrong with using the fresh air and opening the windows.

 

I've always heard/read the best way for quick cabin cool down is in the recirc mode. Each time the air in the cabin is exchanged, it's cooler. I'll have to look at the manual to see what the mfgr recommends. Either way, whatever works...

 

You got it right. Recir is the way you are supposed to cool the car down the fastest. Opening the windows to assist it obviously helps speed that up. Check with any air conditoner tech and they will tell you the same thing, recir cools faster then fresh. That is why in auto after the car reaches your temp setting it switches over to fresh to maintain it.

 

Then again, if the vehicle has been sitting outside for quite some time (i.e., more than a few hours) on a very hot day (i.e., temps in the high 90s or more) with the windows closed...it could very well be possible that the interior temp of the vehicle may be higher than that of the outside air temp--in which case, hypothetically speaking--putting the system on recirc may not be the best idea since then it would be (for a brief moment) recirculating cabin air that is warmer than the outside air.

Edit--someone already beat me to this...sorry for the redundant posting.