I took delivery on my GS in July and notice a sulfur smell once in a while. I had it with my early production GX and Lexus claimed it was the brand of gas (Lexus later had a fix despite their earlier denials that it was not related to the Truck). I know that those on the West Coast will not have it because of your fuel, but there is little we can do on the East Coast. Does anyone else have the same problem?

 

i actually had a 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee that use to smell the same way....i took it in repeatedly to the Jeep dealership and the kept telling me that nothing was wrong.

Finally, at a different dealership, the addressed the issue and found that there was a leak somewhere (i think it was an oil leak) and as it was leaking it was burning away and hence that smell....

not sure this will help, but take it to lexus and ask them to check it over. who knows, they might end up finding something

 

My understanding is that it is the catalytic converter that makes the sulfur smell. This is common on many vehicles. You'll really notice it when climbing a hill.

 

all oil has a certian sulfur content and during combustion a certian amount of sulfur is created. This sulfur should be burned in your catalytic converter to the point where it is not noticable however if you Cat is not hot enough it will not burn rather it will build up on the inside of the Cat and cause this odor. Do you do mostly short runs? The cat will not get hot enough on short runs to burn this off. Take note that cheaper gas is just that and will have a slightly higher sulfur content, but not extremely high as it is regulated by EPA. My recomendation would be to try to get the Cat nice an hot with a long trip and use brand name gasoline. You will hopefully burn off what is there and prevent it from reoccuring.

-Pete

 

I think you will notice it on hill more because the of heavy load on the engine you will have more fuel / unburned hydro-carbons flowing through it and a higher rate of flow than the cat was initially designed for. As cats are so expensive they are designed to operate 100% under normal loads, short heavy loads will not harm the Cat but will decrease its effiency and cause the smell to arise for the duration of the load.

--Pete

 

20,000 miles had the smell and they claimed it is a valve cover gasket that requires replacement. In doing it now and I'm pretty pissed that this is the cause... can't wait to see what condition the exterion engine will look like...

 

Guess what?!

I suspect that it is going to get worse with the 4 point gas price relief plan announced today.

No special blends will be made this summer (reduced additives). That is supposed to relieve gas production costs.

 

I've also noticed the sulfur smell once every 1-2 months. I'll have to pay attention to how much I've driven the car the next time I notice the odor (usually when parking the car in the garage).