Posted this in the detailing thread, but felt this is is car specific, so I'll post this here. Let me know if you guys have any tips to help me detect and eliminate a certain odor in my car. A few of my suspected causes of odor could be....

1. Had a steady water leak in the interior floor board for a period of time. The sunroof drains were clogged and water seeped on the passenger floor board. However, the smell isn't very mildew like. Was always quick to dry up this area with spare towels, and made sure it was completely dry at all times.

2. A little less than two years ago, I purchased a very cheap faux TRD shift **** from Amazon. My hands always smelled like an oily gasoline type of smell, and my clothes started to reek. Got the feeling that the shift **** was borderline poisonous, so it hit the trash can.

3. Could be exhaust or power steering fluid burned under the hood and seeping in the cabin vents. Rarely smells in the morning, and usually sticks to my clothes a lot after the afternoon commute. Sort of potent when I get home which leads me to change out of everything. Commonly have to wash my hands, face, and wrists after my drive home. Doesn't mean the smell is completely gone even if I leave the car for months. Found myself garaging the car all winter, but it still kept the ratchet bombardier beetle smell.

Love this car, and hate it at the same time. Definitely not trying to get lung cancer over a vehicle that I drive once a week (sometimes twice a month). Part of me wants to find a donor interior and swap everything, or at least start at the carpet. However, replacing the interior is a pretty big job which would be regretted if the smell remained and it was something like an exhaust leak. I've sprayed everything in my interior with alcohol and windex, left the windows down for extended amount of time, etc. I have a spare black carpet that I've been meaning to install in case the smell is within the fabric. The headliner is a different animal as it's not as easy to ship or locate locally. Thought about spraying it with a 409 carpet cleaner mixture to help. If you wanted to know what the odor smells like, kind of a chemical/gas smell. Not really sweet, almost gives you a buzz like cigarettes on the longer commutes. Sticks to my clothes for hours afterwords. Air fresheners only mask it temporarily for less than a week, and have a combo effect of chemicals. Left baking soda on the carpet over the weekend, not sure if that did anything. Car does not have a cabin filter from the factory. A/C doesn't work and I rarely use the climate control. Keep in mind that I barely drive it. Was told from the FB group that it could be the charcoal canister which I'll inspect soon. Also got me thinking when I changed the fuel pump a few years ago, the seal might be leaking from the back seat. Either way, very annoying to have an interior that smells.

Guess I'm searching for help or a few tips on what to do at this point. Located in Northern, VA if a detailer wanted to contact me.

 

The way your car sits in the street, I wouldn't be surprised if a family of mice have made the car their home. Probably the reason why something is always broken as well.

I had a very slight smell in my SC400. Later on, I found a mouse nest along with a good amount of mice crap in the V of the engine. Though the scent was distinctive to that of rodent crap and easy to pin point.

 

I would deffinatly check for a fuel leak first, you'll never get rid of the smell if you dont find the source. After you get rid of the source, find a detailer who has an ozone generator to rid the interior of whats left.

 

If SC400side is right and its mice the places you want to look that we found nest are the below. Fortunately none of ours where active nest.
1 - take off the plastic cowl in front of the front windshield and on the pass side is a big area where they can build a nest about the size of a shoe box.
2. Take inner tire fender liners off and on the firewall side are big areas where we found nest. on each side.
3. Take the walls off in the trunk and under the spare tire there are areas all around gas tank and on sides where you can find nest.
4. Interior - take out the glove compartment and behind there is a black plastic vent hose that is easy to pull out and you may have stuff jammed up in it and mildewing also around the back side of this area you could have a nest built up. Mine is a 92 so no pass airbag and was easy to do.
5. Interior - under both front seats is a ac/heat vent that I actually found a rusted shot gun shell stuck in. The back side is completely open so anything from the back can be pushed under the seats and into the vents.
6. Interior - check under the rear back seat if you had water leak you may have the underside of the seat mildewed.

Also, if you had leaks you may want to completely pull the seats out and the carpet and take and pressure wash and spray some mildew remover and shampoo. Mine was so nasty it took ten dollars of quarters in the pressure washer before it stopped running red and then took two cans of SEM to make it look decent.




Also in this one you can see the vent I mentioned earleir

 

Pretty sure this is an exhaust leak. The really funny smell is power steering vapor being sucked into the intake, mixing with exhaust fumes, and leaking thru the exhaust manifold. The fumes are entering either from the air vents or shifter tunnel area. Put the climate control to recirc, but the fumes still enter after 30+ minutes of driving. I get a bit dizzy when I get home, smell sticks to my clothes, hands, and wrists. Stopped driving the car until it's looked at. Installing new motor mounts at my friends garage, and at that point this will be evaluated.

Definitely cleaning the cabin filter area and changing out the carpets once the exhaust leak is fixed. Appreciate everyones suggestions and notes.

 

Found the exhaust leak. Believe the fumes are entering thru the front vents and shifter area. I don't think a new gasket is going to solve this issue. Need to find a new set of headers that won't cost me an arm and a third leg. Might as well replace the factory midpipe as well. The only package deal I've found is on OBX, which is a path I'd like to avoid. My friend is selling Megan headers from his IS300 for a few hundred which is probably the better option. Need to look into a midpipe that would work with my current TopSpeed Pro axle back exhaust

 

I had no exhaust leak or power steering leak, but had a very stale smelling interior. I replaced my front seats with nice cloth ones, removed the rear seats, and got a whole new headliner. Smells 92% better.

 

If you end going the Megan headers route can you please tell me if they bolt right up? I have a 98+ sc300 and just want confirmation that they'll bolt up no problem. Thank you.

 

Did lots of research, they don't bolt up. Going MVP route, including cats, and will get a custom midpipe.

 

Yea I've done a lot of research on it too and in multiple different threads/forums they say it'll bolt up to the block no problem but will need some work done to where it connects to the midpipe/rest of the exhaust.

Maybe it's just the Megan headers in particular that don't bolt up as I haven't seen any people on CL/Lexusownersclub or my.is talk about them on an SC or GS thanks though

 

Starting to think the smell is actually the heater core. Haven't found any signs of a leaky floorboard or missing coolant, but the smell is a rich, syrup aroma. Doubt the exhaust leak is coming thru the vents at this point. However, still going to proceed with a new exhaust system. Obviously the heater core is a serious challenge to replace, and I'm not exactly sure if it's the big issue.