Egg Smell... I'm Not Alone?!?!

GreyhoundGuy

GreyhoundGuy

New member
I've been driving my new-to-me '10 LE since November (except for the time it's been at the body shop... a month, total) and have loved it. Under hard acceleration, though, I've noticed a smell of rotten eggs or sulfer. I assumed it was just in my mind.

Tonight on my commute home, I had a guy cut into my lane. I turned quickly into the next lane and hit the gas to get away from him. WOW! The smell was AMAZINGLY strong. (It reminded me of the first time Maya, our first greyhound, farted while she laid on her bed the first night we brought her home. My wife and I were dying of laughter... but plugging our noses because the smell was so retched!)

I assumed that it was just my car, but I decided to do a search for "rotten egg smell" and "sulfer" here on the forum. Low and behold... I'M NOT ALONE!

From what I can see, this has been going on in Toyotas for years. How has this not been fixed yet?

I'm going to check out my air filter tomorrow. Do I need to be worried about my cat converter? My '10 has just over 45,000 miles. It's still covered by the 12 month / 12,000 mile certified warranty, and it has the remainder of the 100,000 mile certified power train warranty.

-Joel
 
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Normal exhaust smell.

If it's only a problem when you have the lift-gate window open, it's the exhaust is being drawn back in through it. If it happens with all the windows closed you might have an exhaust leak and should talk to your dealer.
 
I haven't looked into this but I wonder if TRD makes a high flow cat or even a cat delete. That would be something I'd be interested in. On my past car I deleted all three cats and received unbelievable power gains.
 
sounds like its normal. I have no information on this, just wanted to say I like your dog and you should post more pictures of him/her. Greyhounds are pretty cool.
 
philsey said:
We all have this issue, but I only have it under hard acceleration IF the rear window is open, even a crack.
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^This.
I normally drive around in the summer with my driver's side window and the rear window down a bit, instead of blasting the AC all the time; both in my 2003 and my new 2011. If I'm on an incline, or if I step down on the skinny pedal, that smell enters through the back window every time. Perfectly normal.
 
It shouldn't be normal though... not one of my previous 7 toyotas did this... and i cant believe the epa lets them get away with it.. i think it has to do with a combination of strict exhaust regulations and not enough R&D... anytime i smell it on the roadways.. i look ahead.. and sure enough theres always a toyota not far ahead as a possible culprit.. i cant enjoy driving thru the mountains under load on uphills with the back window down either.. eventually ill probably have my exhaust exit from the side
.. but toyota should have done that for us...
 
adam2562 said:
It shouldn't be normal though... not one of my previous 7 toyotas did this... and i cant believe the epa lets them get away with it.. i think it has to do with a combination of strict exhaust regulations and not enough R&D... anytime i smell it on the roadways.. i look ahead.. and sure enough theres always a toyota not far ahead as a possible culprit.. i cant enjoy driving thru the mountains under load on uphills with the back window down either.. eventually ill probably have my exhaust exit from the side
.. but toyota should have done that for us...
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Every vehicle does this. The 4Runner is one of a few vehicles that can have a rear window down so the smell could get sucked in. Get over yourself. I have driven 200 miles through the appalachians with the rear window down and the sulphur smell, a by product of the catalytic converter and in no way harmful, was produced only a few times during the trip and not lasting long enough to bother anything. BTW methane is colorless and odorless and it will kill you. By your analogy if something smells bad it is bad for you.
 
1engineer said:
Every vehicle does this. The 4Runner is one of a few vehicles that can have a rear window down so the smell could get sucked in. Get over yourself. I have driven 200 miles through the appalachians with the rear window down and the sulphur smell, a by product of the catalytic converter and in no way harmful, was produced only a few times during the trip and not lasting long enough to bother anything. BTW methane is colorless and odorless and it will kill you. By your analogy if something smells bad it is bad for you.
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a by product since when? toyota's pre 2002 didnt do this.. i first noticed it on 02 camry's when i worked at toyota.. .. we should be making advances in life, not going backwards.. i'd rather smell the gas fumes of a classic car than a rotten egg smell when i'm on my way to the beach and have to pass someone.. it literally makes everyone face scrunch up in disgust.. you cant sit there and say that this HORRIBLE smell is NORMAL? you're a smart guy.. something in you has got to understand where i'm coming from. 75% of cars on the road, DON'T make a sulfur smell when under harder acceleration.. let alone under load w/o the vehicle shifting down a gear when you go up a slight hill.. otherwise you'd smell it through your air vents on every up hill... think about it..

It literally makes me keep my rear window up at times when i want it down.. and have found myself rolling it up pre-pass or just as i pass someone or go up a steady long hill while maintaining my speed. Toyotas 4.7 and 5.7 engines don't do it.. whats the secret?
 
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Seriously, anybody reading his thread don't worry about it. I remember seeing and participating this exact thread on a Sequoia forum years ago, one guy even went to a dealership for a diagnostic and got laughed off.

Toyota trucks (especially ones with a slightly open rear window) make a bit of a sulfur smell at WOT or near WOT it's just what they're like and if you put it out of your head you will be so happy because its totally normal.
 
adam2562 said:
a by product since when? toyota's pre 2002 didnt do this.. i first noticed it on 02 camry's when i worked at toyota.. .. we should be making advances in life, not going backwards.. i'd rather smell the gas fumes of a classic car than a rotten egg smell when i'm on my way to the beach and have to pass someone.. it literally makes everyone face scrunch up in disgust.. you cant sit there and say that this HORRIBLE smell is NORMAL? you're a smart guy.. something in you has got to understand where i'm coming from. 75% of cars on the road, DON'T make a sulfur smell when under harder acceleration.. let alone under load w/o the vehicle shifting down a gear when you go up a slight hill.. otherwise you'd smell it through your air vents on every up hill... think about it..

It literally makes me keep my rear window up at times when i want it down.. and have found myself rolling it up pre-pass or just as i pass someone or go up a steady long hill while maintaining my speed. Toyotas 4.7 and 5.7 engines don't do it.. whats the secret?
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This is what I wrote about the rotten egg smell eight months ago (if I knew how to link to it I would):

That smell is generally characterized as a "rotten egg" smell. Is is caused by the closed loop catalytic emissions system. The job of the oxygen sensor is to measure the amount of free oxygen in the exhaust stream and communicate with the control system to adjust the amount of fuel being injected into the engine for combustion, closing the loop. The whole intent is to keep the stochiometric ratio (mass of air and fuel mixture) as close to even as possible, leaving a minimum of unburned components in the exhaust stream. Too much fuel (rich) and you get high hydrocarbon output; not enough fuel (lean) and you get a high oxides of nitrogen output. The oxides of nitrogen - it is referred to in this manner because the combination of oxygen and nitrogen molecules varies - is the source of the rotten egg smell. That means the closed loop emissions system is running a little lean.

It is normal and also depends on the sulfur content of the fuel you are using, which varies, but is controlled by the EPA. This tells me that Toyota has tweaked the system to run a little on the lean side. High hydrocarbon output is much worse that high oxides of nitrogen. Probably Toyota being conservative in this area.
 
Glad I found this thread the other day because today I had my rear window cracked a couple of inches and soon started to smell a sewage odor. I though it was the area I was driving thru in town. Then I remembered this thread and closed the rear and just left the sunroof open. No more smell. Amazing how that smell gets sucked into the back. Makes sense tho because dust gets sucked in that way also. Must cause a vacuum.
 
Yea.. i know its tuned to be this way.. its just sad that not one american car out there does this.. you'd think toyota would refine it before they used it in their vehicles.. especially 10yrs later and having models that have an opening rear window..
my rental 06 tundra (had for 3weeks)that the rear window went down.. never made that smell for it to come through the rear nor have they been known to do it.
 
cbreze said:
Glad I found this thread the other day because today I had my rear window cracked a couple of inches and soon started to smell a sewage odor. I though it was the area I was driving thru in town. Then I remembered this thread and closed the rear and just left the sunroof open. No more smell. Amazing how that smell gets sucked into the back. Makes sense tho because dust gets sucked in that way also. Must cause a vacuum.
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Yea.. just sucks we have such a nice feature that the smell causes us to not use at times
 
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