Having my last complementary service on my '21 ES being done and I go this as a service suggestion. I didn't even know it was a thing. I've never had to deal with cleaning the evaporator case. I'm assuming if this really needed to be done there is a DIY for like 1/16th the price of the dealer. Anyone run cleaner through your evaporator case?

I declined it as well as the $235 alignment (crazy expensive) and $210 fuel injection cleaner. My ES only has 35k miles on it.

 

$210 dollar fuel injection clean is the biggest scam out there.

Cleaning the evaporator is a good idea but not for that much, since the kit for it is about 25 dollars and it is very straightforward.

 

Standard Stealer money grabs.

 

That sounds like the bend over and hold your knees service. Toilet paper extra.

 

Ahh, but it's premium toilet paper applied by a Lexus concierge! Speshulll.

 

The technician reported that your air conditioner smells bad. Most customer vehicles have a touch of "bad breath" during the summer months from recirculating dirty air.

The service kit for that procedure is shown below. Based on that dealer's price, the technician would get paid for 1/2 hour of labor. If a vehicle occupies my lift for 30 minutes, I expect 30 minutes of pay.

 

If the smell is so minor that you never noticed it, just keep the HVAC on outside air only. That will take care of it quickly and free. Sounds like someone trying to upsell you.

 

Does "outside air only" really prevents the smell?
To me the real solution is to turn OFF the AC completely.

By the way the Toyota kit is about $40.
I tried a third party one, but the plug was too small: all the foam blew back out of the drain pipe immediately.
So I now bought another Toyota with the intent of keeping the plug after using it, so that I can mount it on third party cheap cans.

But then I found out here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Toyota/comm...ator_cleaning/
That you can get a version that is cheaper and come wit the right type of conical plug.

@caverman: it seems that you don't need it. Cleaning the evaporator is something you know when you need it due to the bad smell

 

The fresh air stops the recirculating, high humidity air and helps evaporate the moisture that collects in the system. I know it worked for me when I first noticed the smell in my old Camry (‘04) and never came back after I forced it to stay away from recirc except when getting into heavy dust or other, industrial stinks. This odor issue is common when people keep using “Auto” on their system which keeps reverting to recirc (ostensibly to improve fuel economy by a tiny fraction) and you can find references to it in most Toyota/Lexus forums. If caverman has not noticed it prior to the service appointment then it must be pretty minor or even simply a service department money grab.

 

I see, it works in regions where the outside is dryer than the inside.

 

You aren’t wrong but I’d point out that it doesn’t cost anything to try it (outside air) for a while and see what happens. But, hey, if you want to leave the system in Auto and you’ve got the $175 every time it starts to get funky or someone says he can smell it, then go with it. Not worth debating.

 

From Lexus Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) L-SB-0003-20 HVAC, that's the procedure to try before the "conduct an A/C evaporator cleaning service" procedure:

 

Turning to outside air only gets you air that might be dryer than inside. It's not guaranteed depending on your climate.
I guess they suggest doing that because it's easier to sell to customer than telling them to turn OFF their AC

In the same way they wouldn't tell you to use a trickle charger for your 12V battery