Bad Exhaust Smell!

[bazzle]

Also Check under the rear guards for the air relief panels. The rubber flap can perish letting in exh from the low pressure area under rear of car.

[ghee]

Oh bazzle you are so on the money!!!

so the problem I had been having with the Lexus IS250 exhaust fumes permeating the cabin was caused by these stupid trunk vents located behind the wheel arches.

 

I found it hard to find a step by step out there so thought I’d go into a little bit more detail on my dodgy backyard handywork even though I’m a ballin’ Lexus driver who only wears linens and alligator undies I’ll stinge on those replacement parts and chop up a shopping bag cheers here goes:

 

The vents have a perishable rubber flap that is designed to let air out but not so much in. The reason why I described these vents as stupid is because once this rubber flap hardens, shrinks, cracks etc they allow exhaust fumes to be pulled into the trunk and then with the vacuum created by putting a window down the fumes will then fill the cabin and fill the inside of your chest with farts. This is some serious stuff not to be taken lightly as this design failure would likely cause health problems for the occupiers of the vehicle ranging from mild headache/irritability to carbon monoxide/H2S poisoning. These gases result in blocking oxygen absorption/utilisation in your body which has its obvious and not so obvious ramifications short term and long term.

 

To keep on track, here’s the ghetto fix:

 

Open trunk, lift up both trunk floor liners behind the wheel arches. There are four simple plastic V clips that keep the vents attached to the body. Two on the top and two on the bottom. Simply push GENTLY on these (you need them intact) and allow the vents to pop out of the exterior between the body and the bumper. Reach up between the bumper and the body and rotate and free the vent unit.

 

Inside your trunk, one side may have what I assume to be an audio system amplifier in the way (I successfully removed both vents and refitted them without removing the audio amplifier).

 

As you can see from the pics one of my vents had a very perished cracked old potato-chip piece of rubber left on it and the other vent had no rubber flap in it at all. Say hello to why you have been choking on hydrogen sulfide and damaging your brain. Momentarily feel rage and betrayal towards a Toyota engineer. Deep breath out, forgive that overworked engineer,  remembering that Lexus are the best and that’s why you own one. Everyone makes mistakes.

 

I used a total ghetto piece of plastic from the bottom of one of those green shopping bags, cut it to size about 192mmx62mm rounded corners by eyeball, superglued it to the vent then got heavy on it with silicone considering how much it probably vibrates etc and that I never want to do this job again. I also cut off the extra snazzy bits where the rubber flap would usually attach. Those clips be so 2007 anyway.

 

I left them overnight to dry. When refitting to the vehicle they require quite a firm push to compress the seal and get the V clips to come back out into the body securing it. Make sure all four clips on each vent are properly secured.

 

Now go for a drive with a window down and breath fresh air and wonder why you’ve put up with it for so long, being it full exhaust stank or the egg notes that others describe after “I was just cleaning my injectors officer” and the subsequent advice to swap your cats for dogs, and wonder how Lexus hasn’t been hit with a class action for this proper safety issue where the little rubber flap that protects you and your family from gas poisoning only lasts a couple of years.

 

Me and my passengers had been getting gassed in my car for years, and I don’t mean that in a good way. In hindsight I should have had more self respect and remedied the problem sooner.

 

Pics attached, all pretty self explanatory.

 

I hope this helps many others out there who just get told to delete their cats and opt for dogs instead.

 

Cheers

 

Ghee

Edited August 21, 2021 by Atlantis

[bazzle]

Well done 🙂

 

[zaneiken]

I've been telling folks in Facebook groups to replace these cabin vents for a while, but others keep insisting on replacing or removing the secondary cats.  These flaps are cheap to replace, certainly compared to getting cats removed.