I know the rest of you are freezing but today I had to turn on the A/C. It was 81 and after setting in the sun it needed cooling down.

I remember reading last year that a few people had a problem with an odor when the A/C was on. Boy did it emit an odor today and with a client in the car. All I could say was, It wasn't me! Stinky sock smell.

Has anybody had this problem resolved at the Dealership or any suggestions on what to do.

Thanks, Hot in Phoenix

 

once you have the smell now, its almost impossible to get rid of it. This is caused by condensation in the vents when you use your AC, and overtime, all that water begins to mold. So what you are smelling is basically the mold (I have yet to determine whether or not this is toxic). You can tell the dealer about the problem, but all they are going to do is spray something into the vents that will attempt mask the smell and also attempt to kill the microbes.

What you can do for now is turn on your AC at max heat. This will dry the vents and perhaps kill some of the mold.

From now on (and every new car that you buy), every time you turn on the AC, remember to turn off the AC compressor (but leave the fan speed on) about 8-10 minutes prior to reaching your destination. Do not just leave the AC on until you turn the car off. This will allow the water inside to dry up as the air going through will be warmer. Another solution is to have the AC on all the time, which isnt for everyone, but works

 

We run with the AC on all the time never have had the smell and hope never to find it. On the Gulf cost of Alabama run the house AC 8 out of the 12 months and the car AC all year.

 

I have noticed that after running the A/C for a few days the smell has cleared. Very odd, I have never had that happen with any vehicle I've owned. In AZ not a lot of humidity to be growing mold with. At least the odor is gone.

 

In my car you can smell the odor after turning the AC off but leaving the fan on. If I turn the AC back on the smell goes away. So I don't know what to do about that. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

Its because you already have mold (bacteria) in the vents so you will most likely suffer from the problem from now on. Only at the start when you buy the car new and the vents are clean will my advice above work. Every time you turn on the AC now, you are re-wetting the vents and the areas with mold so that is why you smell it when you turn off the AC compressor and just get air

 

I saw these cabin filters this morning when I stopped by Wally world to pick up some Mobil 1 for my truck. The one in the pic is the one for the 2010-2011 RX-350. I have no idea if this would help with your problem, but a few web hits seems to indicate that does help to reduce odors, but some say that the air flow is reduced, so you may have to bump the fan higher. This one was $18.95.

 

RXSF, Do you recall having the smell this year? I didn't and I'm wondering if it's because I keep it in Auto operation AND Auto recycle. I'm thinking that maybe on our hybrids that keeps the compressor (electric) working year round and cuts down on the seasonal on/off cycling. What do you think? Anyone else with a hybrid working it that way and no odor ???

 

oh yeah if you keep it on auto all the time, you bypass the problem...

 

Gary, the Fram filter is denser than the OE one. I tried it but wasn't impressed. For the same price I'll go with OE. No need for A/C yet around here yet. Hopefully it won't stink too bad.

 

I know the defroster has the A/C on as a default. I turned it off. Wonder if Lexus did this so there wouldn't be a bad smell.

 

A lot of defrost modes use the AC to dry the air. I actually find that keeping the climate control in Auto mode helps both with keeping the windows clearer (less condensation even when not in defrost mode) as well as with the smell. Do this on both my '06 IS250 and the new '11 RX450h. No smell ever on either

 

Last weekend, I bought the Kool-It Evaporator Cleaner from O'Reilly for $13.
The included instructions worked out for the most part. I will explain what occur at each step.
- Get under the car and locate the evap drain hose under the front passenger floor. In my case, the drain hose was easy to find b/c the hose end was wet with water.
- Insert the Kool-It's white, slender hose up the evap drain hose until the tip enter the evap. In my case, it didn't work as intended. The evap drain hose had a 90-degree bend just before the evaporator, so the tip of the Kool-It hose could not get past the bend, but it was close enough for it to work (I think).
I thought of removing the evap drain hose and insert the Kool-It slender hose into the evaporator opening, but then I would have to disassemble the plastic tray under the car.
- Connect the Kool-It canister to the slender hose and pump the foam into the evap case. Then wait 15 minutes for the foam to expand and eventually foam turns to liquid which drips down the drain hose.
In my case, because the tip of the Kool-It hose didn't get into the evap case, liquid immediately dripped down the drain hose. Oh well !!!
- Turn on AC for 10 minutes to get more water to flush out the evap.
I could smell the Kool-It pleasant scent coming out of the vent. So some foam did get into the evaporator case to do its job. My kids told me it smelled like Windex.

Overall, the Kool-It should clear up the stench due to mold in the evaporator case. In my case, Kool It would work better if I could get past the 90-degree bend on the evap drain hose.

 

I wouldn't put a FRAM filter in my RX, I don't care if it's an oil filter or cabin air filter, they don't make there filter's like they used too. They're garbage now!

 

We used lysol spray through the cabin air intake (with the filter removed) to get rid of the smell in a Gm truck. Haven't had the issue with RX yet, but we change the filter quite regularly (like every 15k miles due to all the dust here) so that's 3 times already.