Finally have the first problem with my 2014 300h. Yesterday the car started smelling bad, like sweat. Did not understand why because we are not dirty people (we shower regularly!) but I washed the seats and interior with diluted woolite laundry detergent. I have done that before. But the smell did not go away. Further investigation shows that the smell only shows up when the ac fan kicks on.

it has been very hot and humid in Ohio this summer and the ac is on all the time. The evaporator drain seems to be ok because the car drips out a lot of water all the time. I think that because of the humidity the evaporator remains wet and when the garage gets hot nasty bugs grow on the wet, warm evaporator. I was aware of this possibility and last year for a while I would turn off the ac and turn on the heat a mile or so before getting home. The year the 'new car babying' went away and I forgot to do it. BTW wife has never had this problem with her Altima, so it was not a priority.

Now it is because the car stinks bad.

Do do you think the dealer will fix this under warranty? Has anybody tried spraying some Lysol into the ac system? Don't want to damage it.

 

Hoping against hope, maybe the air filter is dirty. Anyone knows how to change it?

 

This is 100% normal and happens on all cars. You can mitigate this by letting the air run for about a minute with the AC off before you turn off the car. Then you won't get the stinky sock smell during the next time the AC is turned on.

 

Unfortunately, I've replaced the filter to no avail.
However, it's extremely easy to do: access to the filter is in the glove box, on the back wall, by removing a cover plate.
Couldn't be easier.

 

Take out your cabin air filter behind the glove box. Make sure it is on recirculating mode not taking in fresh air from the outside. If it is real dirty replace it. You can buy a replacement carbon/baking soda Fram one at Walmart for $18. If not to dirty vacuum or blow it clean. Spray it with Lysol and let dry before replacing it. While it is drying turn the air conditioning back on outside air mode and with AC on spray Lysol in fresh air vents under wipers. Cut off engine as quickly as you can. Put AC back in recirculating mode and put back in dry cabin air filter. Done!!!!

 

Leave A/C on auto when driving. Anyway, your problem is MOLD. Happened in my Camry. I try and turn the a/c off a few blocks from the house. Not sure if that helps though.

 

Since you use the term sweat, I do not believe you are talking about a musty smell from the AC. I had that on my 2006 GS, Lexus sprayed something in the ducts that helped for a time but it always came back for the first minute of so of operation. I have not had any issues with either my 2013 or 2015 ES. I would get it checked out.

 

I think it is bacteria growing in a biofilm which has formed on the evaporator. The car is parked in a garage so the temperature inside the car would be about 30C. Bacteria love to grow in moist environments at around 30C. The odor is caused by methyl sulfonic acids secreted by the bacteria.
I dont believe that evaporator drains are the cause because even if the drain works the evaporator will still be wet after a trip and if the car is parked in a garage, there is no air flow when the engine is off, and the temperature is around 30C which with moisture is ideal for such bacteria to grow.
The only way to prevent this is to park the car outside in the sun so the temperature is much higher than 30C, and to shut off the ac well before the end of a trip to let the evaporator dry out and warm up so that water does not condense on it. That seems to be too much trouble to do all the time and the sun exposure will eventually damage the interior. Also most of my trips are relatively short these days. This never happened on any of my previous cars, so it must have something to do with the evaporator design which allows it to stay wet for longer.

The fix now is to get some chemical in there to kill the bacteria. Instead of sucking in Lysol it may be better to drill a small hole in the duct leading up to the evaporator and insert a tube and directly soak the evaporator. For this one needs a drawing of the ducting leading up to the evaporator. Does anybody know where one can get that?

Thanks..

 

Don't drill a hole.

They sell kits (ex: toyota ac refresher kit) to do exactly what you propose, but instead it's pushed up as foam through the evaporator drain hose.

 

You started THIS thread almost a year and a half ago, so you knew there was an issue. Did you follow any of the suggestions given? They have reduced the odor in my ES to the point where it's pretty much nonexistent.

Edit: I see that you followed last year, but not this year. There's the answer. It is a poor design that is inherent to producing this issue. It's the price Lexus paid to gain a little fuel economy, it seems.

 

Mike,

I don't think that your link is working, but I think that this is the thread to which you are referring.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es-...condenser.html

I'm guessing that the solution to the OP's problem is as simple as following the suggestion that I made in that thread, which is to get into the habit of manually changing the climate control system to use the fresh air mode when using the AC.

The climate control system defaults to using recirculate mode whenever the AC is being used and the outside temperature is above the low 70s. The only reason why Lexus (and other manufacturers) have designed their climate control systems to work that way is that doing so allows them to get a very small increase in their EPA mpg rating, but that design also means that damp and stale air is constantly being recirculated through the vehicle's cabin, and, eventually, that results in diminished air quality in the cabin.

In the 4 years or so since the Generation 6 ES has been available, there have been a number of threads in which people have complained about stale/musty air quality when using the AC, and, in those threads, many have reported that simply getting into the habit of switching to fresh air mode has solved the problem. Unfortunately, Lexus has decided to make the system default to the recirculate mode every time the vehicle is started (and the outside temperature is above the low 70s). So, not using recirculate mode requires getting into the habit of manually switching to fresh air mode every time the vehicle is started.

 

Yes, thanks! Just corrected it.

 

I've always considered using a cleaner like this to clean the coils.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/AC-Safe-A...-920/100599017 or
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Frost-Kin...19-oz/20703057

I've used similar products to clean both the condensers and evaporators in the home. I think they work well in that application. I have not used them to clean evap coils in a car though. I imaging it would work the same way. I don't have the cans in hand, so I cannot vouch for appropriateness of 'inside' use a car.

Richard

 

Mike 728, Thank you for reminding me! I had forgotten completely. I must be going senile. Anyway I had been putting the ac on fresh air 80 to 90 % of the time. This year my trips in the car were very short so I did not have the opportunity to shut the ac off and let the system dry out for a few miles before getting home. Also the weather here has been very very humid so the ac drains just gush water and make big puddles whenever the car is parked.

The car is smelling really bed now so I will have to do something. The joy of driving the Lexus has gone for now.

Thanks again for reminding me. I don't know how I forgot that.

 

I had this happen years ago in an SC430 - it was so bad that I had an allergic reation to the car.
I changed the cabin filter and picked up a vent cleaner spray (auto parts store). I sprayed into the intake, under the hood, in both directions in the venting when the filter was out, and into all of the cabin vents
Change the A/C filter annually to prevent it in the future.