The Continuous Sulfer Smell And Lexus Denies It Threa

[acoldstarnolds79]

I have a 2008 ES 350. I turned 5000 miles today and took it in for the service. Since I drove it off the lot I have had the catalytic sulfur smell after an aggessive acceleration. I have tried Chevron, Shell, Mobil, off brand, Exxon, every gas there is available here in Houston. I get the bad smell with all of them.

My concern is that I only get the smell in the cabin when the air system is on recirculate. If it is on circulate I can accelerate hard and I never smell it. I sometimes keep the air on circulate so that I don't have to deal with the smell.

Here is my concern. That tells me that the exhaust gasses are getting into the cabin.

I brought this up today for my 5000 mile checkup at Westside Lexus in Houston. They checked it out and of course told me they could find no problem. Went so far as to patronize me and tell me that I must be smelling a car in front of me.

I stated my concern was not so much the smell but that the smell indicated the exhaust gas was getting into the passenger cabin. The service writer agreed with me but had no solution.

I know others have this problem. My wife drives a 2006 Avalon and we had the same problem with it. Took it in under warrenty and Toyota acknowledged the problem and replaced the catalytic convertor. Never had the smell again.

[tex2670]

I have a 2008 ES 350. I turned 5000 miles today and took it in for the service. Since I drove it off the lot I have had the catalytic sulfur smell after an aggessive acceleration. I have tried Chevron, Shell, Mobil, off brand, Exxon, every gas there is available here in Houston. I get the bad smell with all of them.

My concern is that I only get the smell in the cabin when the air system is on recirculate. If it is on circulate I can accelerate hard and I never smell it. I sometimes keep the air on circulate so that I don't have to deal with the smell.

Here is my concern. That tells me that the exhaust gasses are getting into the cabin.

I brought this up today for my 5000 mile checkup at Westside Lexus in Houston. They checked it out and of course told me they could find no problem. Went so far as to patronize me and tell me that I must be smelling a car in front of me.

I stated my concern was not so much the smell but that the smell indicated the exhaust gas was getting into the passenger cabin. The service writer agreed with me but had no solution.

I know others have this problem. My wife drives a 2006 Avalon and we had the same problem with it. Took it in under warrenty and Toyota acknowledged the problem and replaced the catalytic convertor. Never had the smell again.

You have the wrong forum.

[smooth1]

Moved to the correct forum

[PEG460]

Moved to the correct forum

He said he has a problem with a 2008 ES350. Is this not the ES forum?

[smooth1]

Moved to the correct forum

He said he has a problem with a 2008 ES350. Is this not the ES forum?

It was posted in the IS forum. I just moved it to the ES forum.

[acoldstarnolds79]

Moved to the correct forum

He said he has a problem with a 2008 ES350. Is this not the ES forum?

It was posted in the IS forum. I just moved it to the ES forum.

Guess I clicked the wrong forum link. Thanks for moving it.

I must be the only one with this problem?

[smooth1]

Theres a technical service bulletin out that I think covers the issue you have. It's TSIB EG001-03 excessive sulfur odor.

Here's a link, so you can look it up yourself and if you have to, show your dealer the link so they can see the TSB for themselves.

Lexus TSB listings

[SW03ES]

This is a pretty common problem with ULEV (Ultra Low Emission Vehicle) Toyotas and Lexuses. I had the issue way back when my car was new and met the same issue, finally Lexus did replace my CAT with the understanding that with the new CAT the car was no longer ULEV compliant...I haven't had the smell yet.