Rotten Egg Smell In Ls-460 And Break Noise

[Mercury Chariot]

I've had my LS-460 since Dec 07 and complained out the gate of a rotten egg smell during heavy acceleration (like turning the air off and hitting the power inject button and flooring it to 120) and got a really bad smell in the cabin with the air off (No! was not from the passenger or the driver!) Even get it with the air on. Dealer told me that the 5 catalytic converters and the gas contribute and to Run it in 4th or 5th for a couple of hours and the heat should burn off the smell. Also try Chevron or Shell gas only. Tried it all and it still smells bad. I think it is vortexing from the exhaust into the trunk seals and into the cabin. Any one have any suggestions?

Also, the breaks have been replaced 3 times by the dealer at no charge. Seems like at low speeds (creeping) at lights or stop signs that I get a noticeable Clunk Clunk noise with a little feed back from the break peddle. The car speed itself is not affected at all. Dealer said that it is loose break pads and is ready to put in a fourth set. It sounds almost like an electrical arc / servo Clunk. Any suggestions?

Looking forward to responses.

Greg R.

[TA in KC]

The rotten egg smell is normal. Lexus released a TSB about both a while ago...here is the one about the brakes. I'll try and find the other one.

data.asp.pdf

[cobber1]

I now agree about the rotten egg smell. It only happened during heavy acceleration while I was chasing down another BMW but the dealer showed me the TSB. My only concern is that the floor board appears to get hot as well.

[ED.]

My moms 4Runner got that rotten egg smell ALL the time. It was terrible. She always said it was the cats and being however old I was I agreed. Weird it is still happening.

Hope you get it all worked out.

[ihatekimch]

I can't help you on smell problem, but I may can help you on brakes. ;)

I had same issue like yours. First, I took my car down to Newport Lexus and they performed

TSIB, which was replacing pads. It didn't help any.

After that, I took my car down to Westminster LExus. I talk to guy name Peter, I think he was tech manager.

He was very helpful and he really cared about my problem. He was very smart and also cool fellow.

Anyways, he replaced ABS actuator assembly and it helped, no more clunk clunk noise. :D

Well, talk to your service guy and if he feels fish about it, then tell him to call Peter at Westminster Lexus. 714-892-5500

Good Luck and let us know.

[460LEX]

You must be Leasing the car, sounds like your out to beat the hell out of it. I am curious when did you get the first oil change?

[malibudoc]

I've had the same break problem w/ my LX460 as Greg. The TSB posted has no impact on remedying the problem. First dealer tells me they cannot reproduce the problem. At my insistence they drove the car for a couple of days and confirmed noise and pedal feedback. They put the plates behind the pads, which did not fix the problem. After numerous visits, they claimed it was some pump. They ordered a part (?don't know what?) and the noise abated. After 6 months the noise now recurs. Dealer claims they ordered new parts but after a month they still haven't arrived. I'm frustrated.

Doc C.

[NicLX470]

There is nothing wrong with any of your cars.

that smell is a byproduct of the sulfur that is in the fuel............all fuel. Changing brands will not do one bit of good.

For a little knowledge of how a modern ecu in a car works... 99% of your driving is done in whats called "closed loop" mode... the ecu looks at airflow from the mass air sensor, estimates the engines fuel requirements by plotting airflow, rpm and engine load on a preset fuel map and opens the injectors for that set amount of time... it then looks at the data from the oxygen sensors to see how completely burnt the fuel was - the more burnt it was, the leaner the mix, the less burnt, the richer the mix... it measures the oxygen content in the exhaust to do this, and it is looking for stoichiometric, which is 14.7 parts air to 1 part fuel ratio... anything below this is rich, anything above is lean - lean is good for fuel mileage, but not so good for keeping an engine healthy... once it sees how good the map was at estimating fuel requirements, then it modifies it... typically it will shoot rich, see if it was rich, then it will shoot a little leaner, see how well it does, then rich, then lean - its almost impossible to get it perfect every time, so it bounces from rich to lean pretty consistently... this is why an air/fuel ratio gauge bounces back and forth while at idle or cruise...

Now....for those times when you want to smoke the Beamer or Benz next to you, (1%) of driving is done in whats called "open loop" mode... this is reserved for high amounts of throttle or wide open throttle... here, the computer abandons the oxygen sensor readings and only looks at the airflow and its preset map... because oxygen sensors are only accurate at stoichiometric (unless you have a wideband, which most cars do not come with from the factory), the programmers of the ecu decided that to save the health of the engine, they would shoot for somewhere between 10:1 and 12.5:1 for high loads on the engine....ok, so, open loop, no feedback from the oxygen sensors because we are operating outside of their accuracy range... also, a byproduct of this is that unburnt fuel makes it through the engine, sometimes to be somewhat reburnt in the catalytic converter making it get real hot... so, real hot catalytic converter plus sulfur in the unburnt fuel equals bad smelling exhaust, rotten eggs, to be specific...

It is not bad and it is not going to hurt anything - high temperatures can actually help keep a catalytic converter free from contaminants.

[mann777]

here is the copy of the TSB given by lexus for all models. Also dont break your head into this, I had exactly the same problem, they replaced it under warranty.They replaced the Catalytic Converter assy within the exhaust pipes, It was replaced under the Major Emission Control Component Warranty that is 96 months or 80,000 mile coverage, whichever occurs first. All the crap about fuel change was bull story. There was a defect within the CCs. Which I think Lexus realised it late as intially they had mentioned about Fuel change in the TSB

TSIB_EG001_03_Sulfur_Odor_From_Exhaust.pdf

[nc211]

Us V8 4runner guys have been stinkin' up the place with this issue for years! We have a TSB for new cats that are covered under the same warranty. Some have had the proceedure done, but the smell seemed to come back after time. I read somewhere that it is a product of the fact that these are exceptionally clean emission cars. Maybe I heard that from SWO? I'm not sure. But eitherway, you guys think your car stinks, try having one that allows you to lower the back window, and then stomp on the gas! HOLY COW! That smell will actually burn the inside of your nose!

But look on the bright side of this, which is why I won't mess with the new cats approach on my 4runner: It's a GREAT way to deal with tailgaters! One of my favorite things about the 4runner is the ability to pop that baby in neutral and give it a couple redline revs and watch those tailgater scramble to fall back or pass you! It's like dropping a !Removed!-bomb in their lap! It's one of those little things in life that I enjoy! ;)

[XMarcoX]

The rotten egg smell is normal. Lexus released a TSB about both a while ago...here is the one about the brakes. I'll try and find the other one.

Thank you for the update on the brakes. I had my LS since march of 07, but now I just started to drive it everyday since a change in my work pattern. The brake noise is really a pain. Now I know it was me?

JOE :D

[nal]

here is the copy of the TSB given by lexus for all models. Also dont break your head into this, I had exactly the same problem, they replaced it under warranty.They replaced the Catalytic Converter assy within the exhaust pipes, It was replaced under the Major Emission Control Component Warranty that is 96 months or 80,000 mile coverage, whichever occurs first. All the crap about fuel change was bull story. There was a defect within the CCs. Which I think Lexus realised it late as intially they had mentioned about Fuel change in the TSB

The smell is H2S a very toxic dangerous gas.....

[motu9]

I've had my LS-460 since Dec 07 and complained out the gate of a rotten egg smell during heavy acceleration (like turning the air off and hitting the power inject button and flooring it to 120) and got a really bad smell in the cabin with the air off (No! was not from the passenger or the driver!) Even get it with the air on. Dealer told me that the 5 catalytic converters and the gas contribute and to Run it in 4th or 5th for a couple of hours and the heat should burn off the smell. Also try Chevron or Shell gas only. Tried it all and it still smells bad. I think it is vortexing from the exhaust into the trunk seals and into the cabin. Any one have any suggestions?

Also, the breaks have been replaced 3 times by the dealer at no charge. Seems like at low speeds (creeping) at lights or stop signs that I get a noticeable Clunk Clunk noise with a little feed back from the break peddle. The car speed itself is not affected at all. Dealer said that it is loose break pads and is ready to put in a fourth set. It sounds almost like an electrical arc / servo Clunk. Any suggestions?

Looking forward to responses.

Greg R.

I know this is an old thread, but I'm currently struggling with the same issue on my 2007 LS 460. Under heavy acceleration, I'm getting a potent rotten egg smell inside the cabin. I've narrowed it down to coming in from the trunk and/or behind the back seats. If I have the air re-circulation on, it comes up to the front of the car much faster. I understand that some people think it could be the gasoline or the catalytic converters, but no exhaust should be getting inside the cabin, regardless!

I though it might be the trunk vents, but they look normal. Just in case they were flapping at high speeds, I taped them shut, and i'm still getting the smell. From what I can tell, there are no other places in the trunk where the smell could be coming in. I took it into Lexus and they put it on the dyno and everything is normal (apparently they run very hot on the LS 460). It's clear to me that the issue is exhaust getting into the cabin somehow, and if I can find out where, I'd like to try to stop it.

My last guess is that the smell is coming in from behind the back seats. Does anyone know where it might be coming in? BTW - I was rear-ended about six months ago, and the smell seems to have started after that. I used a top-notch body shop and everything looks well-sealed in the trunk. Thoughts? Ideas? Your help would be much appreciated.

[Jeff in TX]

The human nose is able to detect odors in infinitesimal quantities. I think you need to give more thought as to the cause of the odor and less thought as to how it gets into your car.

Check this link for some possible insight:

http://www.lambros.net/LexusTechInfo/2007LS/L-EG001-03.pdf

[motu9]

Thanks for the reply. If this were just a hint of odor I wouldn't be spending my time on this forum. It's strong enough that I have to roll all the windows down. Even then, it's not the odor that bothers me. It's the fact that there is apparently exhaust entering my cabin. I'm afraid there may be odorless exhaust entering the cabin all the time.

As an engineer by trade (electrical), I figured we could solve this problem like we solve EMI problems. We break them out into sources and receivers. That is, there is a source of EMI, and then something has to receive it. For this problem, there is exhaust coming from somewhere, and then it's getting in the cabin somewhere else. That means that I need to check two things: 1) that there is no exhaust leak, 2), that the car is properly sealed.

Since I don't have a lift at my house, I decided to probe deeper into figuring out where the exhaust is getting in. I ended up taking out my trunk lining, and then riding in the trunk while my wife accelerated the car. Interestingly, when the car is turning or on the freeway, the trunk vents are flapping a bit. I'm wondering if this is allowing exhaust in? I put my face right next to the vents, but I couldn't really feel any air entering the cabin. If anything, they were working the way there were supposed to, letting air out. And then, when she turned on the outside air vent (it was on internal circulation before), then fully opened and air was clearly escaping through the vents (again, seemingly normal). I thought about taping them off completely, but after witnessing what they do with the outside air vents on, I was skeptical whether that would do anything, and that it might cause other ventilation problems. Instead, I'm going to take it back to the shop at some point and have them do a more careful exhaust leak check so see if we can pinpoint the source instead.

Any other ideas?

[djambo]

Hello all,

even though that is an old topic ( sulfur smell inside the vehicle), I would like to know whether a solution has been found by any of you.

I found the leak on both sides of the center console ( between the front seats), and Im sure of it because there are white residue prints on both side of the plastic side cover and the carpet under it smell the same.

In my case, I dont drive above 2000rpm, and mostly is noticeable when I park the vehicle for some time and close the windows.

 

What is strange is that no smell is present when you stat next to the vehicle, but once you open the door, it is hitting you in the nose directly.

 

Thanks in advance! 

[Vertski]

Recently had this same issue, the odor was horrible. My car battery was leaking, had it replaced