Outside smoke smell entering Innova's cabin through back aircon

[number001]

Take note the smoke being referred to in this thread are exhaust fumes esp. from diesel engines (bus, jeepney, surplus vans, etc...) and gasoline engines (usually old cars spewing white smoke,etc., also included are motorcycles).

It is not limited to exhaust fumes/smoke from other vehicles. For example, if you traverse along payatas, smokey mountain, etc... you will get to smell the overpowering fumes from the trash outside.

In my case, the front a/c in recirculation mode will not allow any kind of smell from outside to enter. If yours allows outside smell despite in recirc. mode then that is not normal and you need to have your system inspected.

Only the rear aircon allows outside smell (overpowering trash smell, exhaust fumes, seaside smell, etc...) to enter the vehicle.

This kind of system (allowing outside smell in) might work in places with very little or no pollution but certainly not in pollution infested Metro Manila.

[oj88]

Given that the Innova is not really a luxury vehicle, I guess they had to cut some corners. To me, not having a cabin filter for the rear A/C is a sure sign of that fact. Like everyone, I am also interested in the methods on how to fix this issue permanently, even though I don't have the problem now (1 month old vehicle).

May I ask the community to post detailed pictures of the rear A/C components and the area where they think outside air is getting through? There seems to be very little information available on the Internet about it.

[jch888]

HI. Mine came thru front ventilation. I had posted my experience in the previous post. I made my complaint thru Toyota Phils and their dealer. Even my car is over 3 yrs warranty, they had the responsibility to fix it. The several times they've tried to fix it, it cost me less than P5000 (they changed many of the rubbers). They dare not charge me a lot esp on labor. I am willing to pay the amount to prove to them that it is their design and "cutting corner" as mentioned above that is the root cause. The problem is that a lot of owners remedy the problem instead of forwarding the complaint to the dealer. Do not be afraid to have them fix this issue. You can email your complaint to Toyota Phils and the dealer (this cost nothing). Or you can bring it to dealer to file a complaint and have them quote the repair. If your car is less than 3 trs, then they have no right to charge you for this. They have turned a blind eye on this issue. They know there is a problem, but having few solid complaints, they just ignore the issue.

[oj88]

Note: Cross-posting this from the Innova owners' sub-forum as they're more relevant here.

==========================================

Part 1:

Nobody seems to be posting pictures about how they solved their rear A/C outside-air leak so I took it upon myself to at least, TRY getting to the bottom of things.

After removing the bumper, some of the few things I noticed immediately was the number of holes there are on the body. Now, I don't know if these actually go through to the double-wall area where the rear A/C is, but aluminum tape is cheap so I taped them all up.

Before:


After:


I also taped up the four (4) underside holes:

Before:




After:

[oj88]

Part 2:

I also noticed that the lower flap on the RIGHT vent does not close properly, as evident with the rubber flap not lying flat and the dirt accumulation on the filter where dirty air is leaking in. I just pulled on the rubber tabs where the flaps are attached so it lies flat:

Before:



After:


I'll test this out on my next drive and give feedback.

[Horsepower]

AAA+ for effort Oj88!

[dr. d]

errr...
aren't we worried, where all that CO2 from our breaths, and CO from the engine, will accumulate in the passenger cabin, now that we closed the holes where they usually exit?

[dr. d]

errr...
aren't we worried, where all that CO2 from our breaths, and CO from the engine, will accumulate in the passenger cabin, now that we closed the holes where they usually exit?

[oj88]

errr...
aren't we worried, where all that CO2 from our breaths, and CO from the engine, will accumulate in the passenger cabin, now that we closed the holes where they usually exit?

I don't follow.

I just prevented outside air from getting in. I left the vents fully functional so these should still alllow the cabin air to get out.

Anyway, I'm sure that no car is truly sealed. even if you have the front A/C recirculation mode turned on, the recirculation flaps have foam material along the seals to deliberately allow a little bit of outside air into the cabin to displace the stale ones (which incidentally, goes out the rear vents).

[oj88]

Duplicate.... Nobody gives a damn about the forum software, I suppose.