Hi everyone, my dad has a 2002 LS430 with 80 000 km; amazing car and almost trouble free. Recently we noticed that there's a smell from our AC unit ( humid'ish sand, we live in Saudi Arabia). Our service dealer cleaned our AC filter, didnt help, so they changed it, and the problem is still there. It only happens in the first 10 second when turning the AC on. No one smokes in the car or anything. Anyone know a fix???

 

It's caused by bacteria growing on the coil. That is why the AC filter replacment didn't help.

The only thing you can do is get used to it, or find some air conditioner treatment spray that helps to kill the bacteria that is causing the smell. You turn the AC on the "fresh" air, full fan, AC on, then spray the treatment into the AC air intake near the windshield wipers. It's not an exact science, but you will know you have the right spot by the air sucking noise and you will smell the treatment inside the car.

Should take a few treatments, then once every few weeks to keep it under control. I have used it on other cars and it worked well.

 

Thanks for the reply, I think that could be a solution. However as I mentioned, the smell is only there in the first 10 seconds when turning the AC on, then everything goes back to normal.

"You turn the AC on the "fresh" air, full fan, AC on, then spray the treatment into the AC air intake near the windshield wipers"
Is the air intake under the windshield wipers or up front right behind the grill?
Is there any specific "spray treatment" that you would recommend?

 

If its the first 10secs, then thats normal. Not sure which part of saudi you live in, (im from Riyadh). But here in florida, the A/C smells when i first turn it on at night, because of the build up while using the AC during the day.

If you reallllllllly picky, what you can do is... before you turn off the car, turn off the AC button, and let the air from outside come in to flush anything in the system. So when you turn teh AC on again, the smell wont return.

I do this after extended trips during the day, for the smell, and so i dont get any build up on my winshield. Good luck... and more good luck if your in riyadh in the lovely 115F+ weather

 

i've had that problem before - i put in those little jars of odor asorbers in my car - it seems to sort of work sometimes hehehe.

 

do what he said. its a commen problem on all cars

 

i have this problem too but it is only when i have the fan going or vent on.. when i turn the AC on it seems to smell fine. any fix for this?

 

GRAND_LS 4, I'm from Riyadh too and I love the heat there . No seriously! Maybe it's because I was born there and lived there for 19 years. I don't live there anymore tho coz I'm studying in Lebanon, but when I finish in a year or 2 or 3 , I'm going back. Saudi Arabia is like a "Lexus land" the place to go to if ones wants to see alota, and I mean ALOTA Lexuses or as they say, Legzis. It's like every other car, and when I cruise on Tahliya Street i always have a smile on my face, LS430s being driven by 18 or 20 year old guys rolling by quietly, or ladies sit in the backseat pampering themselves while the chauffer drives (LS430 gets the rear seat package as standard over there). I was there a month ago and wasn't suprised to see quite a few 2006 GSs, . I went to this infiniti dealer about a year ago when i was there, and he said: " A Lexus is like a costume for Saudis, it's part of their clothes " I laughed in agreement, at that point he didn't know he was talking to a Lexus freak, so I pull out my Lexus key out of my pocket and tell him "You mean like one of those" hahah , he laughed too, nice salesman . I could go on and on, but back to topic.

what you can do is... before you turn off the car, turn off the AC button, and let the air from outside come in to flush anything in the system. So when you turn teh AC on again, the smell wont return.

hehe, did your dealer in Riyadh say that, coz thats exactly what they told us; it didn't work tho.

 

SO you want a spray that only kills bacteria for ten seconds??? This is a confusing statemment. What difference does it make? Whether it's 10 seconds or 10 hours, it's the same problem..

No- NOT the engine air intake. The AC air intake is below the windshield, unless someone knows something I don't. Sorry, I haven't bought any in over 8 years, so I don't know any brands. Anything really good will not be cheap.

 

Genetically engineer bacteria that gives off odors while sitting on a 37 degree AC coil. Then you would get the smell all the time.

Near-frozen bacteria doesn't give off the same odor as bacteria sitting on a warm, moist coil.

 

Haha, your right man, I see LS's EVERYWHERE in Riyadh. The dealership there got an award for selling the most Lexus' in the world , and Toyota's son, (forgot his name) was there to give out the award. People there put reliability above everything, and that’s where Lexus shined. I haven’t been to Riyadh in about 2years. Will go after I finish school here in Tampa, Florida in December.

Oh yeah, about the dealer thingy, no, I just noticed it worked for me.

 

pop the hood and turn the air on high but set at fresh air intake. spray about a half can of Crisp Linen Lysol into all the ac intake vents outside of car in front of windshield. the problem is mildew in the coil and the lysol kills it.

from now on, when you have ac on and know you are going to shut down car, with ac on auto, push the ac button to turn off ac and then turn fan to max speed. let it run like that for a minute or two before you turn off ac everytime and the problem will stop.

I used to have the same thing happen to me and the difference now is night and day. no odor at all.

 

I took my 2001 ls430 to longo lexus and they pumped some anti-mildew stuff in there for $180 and now my A/C smells like summer's eve.

 

I saw a video on CNN of a conference taking place in Riyadh, and to my pleasant surprise saw an '04/'05 LS roll by the screen. I see now from our friends in Saudi Arabia that it's not uncommon!

 

Thanks everybody for the replies and I hope your solutions work. It's not incredibly annoying but we like ou Lexus to be perfect. Enigma354 I would've made a video to show you how many Lexuses pass by in 1min, (alot) but as far a I know, it's illegal to take pictures or videos on the streets/public without permision.