FlexnLexus

So I think I found out where the funky smell is coming from.

The most obvious place, in the blower motor fan where the cabin air filter goes into. I smelled inside of it and noticed right away the musty odor.

I removed the filter, and sprayed a bunch of Lysol in there to recirculate throughout the cabin. I opened up the floor vents too so any funky smells will be eliminated.

I won’t find out until tomorrow sometime if the smell is completely gone or not since I’m letting the car sit over night. Hopefully that’s what it was, especially knowing that smell is coming strongly from inside the dash somewhere.

FlexnLexus

Ive heard great things about spray nine. I actually have some, it’s a great degreaser and stain remover, but it’s a double whammy as it also kills germs, bacteria and viruses. Most degrease/cleaners do either one or the other, not both.

I’ll give it try if the Lysol hack didn’t work.

FlexnLexus

I’ll look into it if I’m still getting the musty odor.

THEunderPSI

I have the exact odor in mine as well. The odor is a cross between musty body odor and crayons. Having dealt with a water leak in other cars the cause is definitely not water. What's odd is the smell comes and goes. I've tried my best to pin point the source. I've switched the hvac from fresh to recirculate, fan low to high and no change. I have noticed the smell becomes most prominent when I'm on the highway or if I have the windows open. The odor is strongest if I'm on the highway (forced air into hvac intake), leave the windows up, but open the sunroof. That points me to the hvac cowl intake or blower motor. Any chance an off-gassing battery would smell like this?

FlexnLexus

I don’t think a off-gassing battery would smell like that at all.

Well after doing the Lysol spray inside the blower motor where the cabin air filter goes to, it didn’t work, as the smell is still there.

What I noticed this morning when getting in the car, was that the smell was worse after running the A/C and it sitting over night. This is leading me to believe that the A/C lines need to be cleaned out and disinfected.

I keep thinking it could be the interior panels off-gassing as well creating this weird smell, but I feel like now it’s definitely a A/C related problem. My car is an 07 and now has 156k miles on it, and I just started having this smell within the last few months, but has steadily gotten worse. I’ll try a A/C cleaning and see if that will fix it and report back with results at another time.

Vtallysx4

My 2011 had this smell, as did my 2013. It was always intermittent, but, I think it was worse in warmer weather. It would air out and be fine for weeks or even months. It was never disgusting but very particular- b/o is a good description, but not as disgusting.

Edit: if I remember right, it would be worse if it hadn't rained for a bit and was warm all week, so I never attributed it to water intrusion.

THEunderPSI

Mine is an '07 with 174k. What makes me think it's not a/c related is I don't get the smell if I make any adjustments to the blower speed, a/c on or off, fresh or recirculate, etc. If I drive with the windows down I will get the smell. I get the smell the strongest and every time I open the sunroof while cruising at 70+ on the interstate. My only thought is the airflow from the blower alone isn't enough to stir up whatever is causing the odor inside the hvac intake cowl at the bottom of the windshield. But the forced pressure from the air at highway speeds and the fact opening the sunroof creates a negative cabin pressure really stirs up what's causing the odor inside the intake cowl.

THEunderPSI

Well, my theory on the source is wrong. I had all the windows down but sunroof closed today and immediately the smell appeared. I turned on the fan and smelled the vent. Odor definitely not coming from there. Outside temps were mid 70's. All windows are tinted including windshield at 90% for UV block. Inside of car hardly gets hot at all. Dash and door panels were not sticky nor smelly. No idea what is the source of the odor. If windows are up and a/c on rarely will I get the smell.

Striker223

Are you guys just burning oil from a valve cover leak and smelling it inside?

THEunderPSI

Wouldn't that present itself all the time?

jmcraney

Maybe some related information here: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...-ac-is-on.html

FlexnLexus

Does anyone know where the evaporator drain hose is located under the car? I was thinking of shooting some A/C cleaner spray inside the drain hose to clean out the evaporator, or does anyone recommend another way I could do it myself?

The smell is definitely coming from behind the dash or inside the dash somewhere, at times it does smell like old plastic or some sort of old material smell. It’s really bugging me now, and uncomfortable to drive at times with this smell.

Gerf

They use to be directly under the evaporator just to the right of the hump under the carpet, I haven't checked on mine so can't say for sure. When installing ac at the dealership was a thing you'd swap out a bare piece of duct for the evaporator in its housing with the hose attached.

There is an LSB on the hose being plugged by bug nests.

Striker223

No, it's intermittent and speed dependent.

FlexnLexus

Interesting, never knew a bug nest could affect
drainage. I’ll take a look under the car next weekend when I do my oil change, I’ll probably shoot some A/C cleaner up in the hose while I’m under the car and see what happens.