LS430FL

Hello All, I am having s a frustrating problem with my A/c.

For a while now my A/c in my Lexus (2011 LS460) has been having an issue. Even while on "recirculate" settings I am getting outside smells coming into the cabin of the car. Depending on where I am driving sometimes it is so bad I have to shut off the a/c. For example if on highway and drive by landfill. It is so sensitive and so bad that if someone is smoking a cigarette in the car in front of me it will eventually come in through my a/c and I can easily smell it in the cabin of the car. While on "recirculate" I should not be smelling any outside smells and I can tell you the car was not always like this. Car has been to dealer a few times now and all they tell me is they plug it in and there are no error codes and the blend door is functioning properly and that the cannot get "any servos" to act up? I have verified blend door does raise and lower as intended when stitched between "fresh air" and "recirculate" mode myself. What else would cause this? I really want them to dig deeper but I am hoping to get some tips. I really appreciate any help or advice you can give me. It's getting to the point where I am ready to trade or sell car because I am so frustrated especially when driving others in the car and various smells are coming in.

LeX2K

Is the cabin filter fresh? I do know that some fresh air is always coming into the car even with recirculate engaged, otherwise you'd run out of oxygen.

LS430FL

It's a newer problem but it's been happening for about a year or so. I've changed the cabin filter a few times. I am 100% certain it's not normal. I've driven in several different brands of cars including other lexus vehicles past the smelly spots and do not have this issue at all. Even the lexus rental I drive home from dealer no issues. The smells coming into the cabin from the outside are as strong as if you were standing outside the car. It's bad......Drove home today men cutting grass on the side of the road. I'm going by 60mph on the road and I get full on fresh cut grass smell coming in as if I was the one driving the riding mower. I know it sounds funny but it's that bad.

It leads me to believe there is a hole somewhere or something that is supposed to be opening or closing to seal something off is not working or broken. I do not know anything about a/c for cars so I am not sure what it could be but somwhere along the line fo when teh air is sucked in to be processed and brought into cabin something is not sealed off or something.

LeX2K

There are a whole bunch of servos in your car
https://www.japan-parts.eu/lexus/jp/...&pa=8857850260

A challenge to check them all, maybe the dealer just looked at scan data didn't physically check. It's possible the mode door is not closing/moving correctly.

LS430FL

Thank you for that. Is the mode door different than the "blend door" that you can see going up and down when you open the cabin air filter trap door? If so, that is functioning properly.

LeX2K

I'm not sure, since there are so many servos it looks to me like the air mixing/directing setup is fairly complex.

LS430FL

That's the issue. I am worried its buried deep inside and lexus is probably not going to tear apart the dash to fix this...