Festus the stinky Lexus, a love story. (1 Viewer)

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Doc

Joined
Apr 26, 2004
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Location
Utah
The GX470 in my garage shall henceforth and forever more be known as FESTUS.

Festus is a "barn find" in the truest sense of the term. I found it in my dad's barn. My parents bought festus new from Lexus of PDX in 2004. Festus has always been my mom's pride and joy. However, in 10 years she has managed to only put 98k miles on him. Approx 2 years ago she quit driving festus entirely because of knee problems that made it difficult to get in and out of Festus. Festus was replaced with a Suby Outback. Which quickly went under the knife to get additional sound deadening because the Suby was so loud when compared to Festus.

Dad kept trying to give me Festus- mostly (I think) because he knew I was the only one in the family that knew anything about keeping a vehicle nice. Well, Festus didn't really fit into my stable very well. I've got 3 kids, and you already know you can't fit 3 kids in the middle row of a GX. No rear seats in Festus. The wifey and I already had a family hauler with the Escalade anyway, plenty of room for hauling kid stuff and kids in that beast. The 93 FJ80 was my weekend play toy/mountain goat- and still is. I also had a commuter car for my 120 mile daily commute. Festus didn't really fill any niches, so festus sat in the barn. My dad kept a trickle charger on the battery, and a car cover over him- but festus languished. Too loved to sell, but not the right car for mom to drive. Not the right car for any of the kids either, it seemed. So festus festered, and floundered, and fought off the onslaught of time.

3 months ago my mom was scheduled to get those knees worked on, a pre-op blood test seemed awry, more blood tests. Acute Myloid Leukemia. Months? Tears. Chemo. More tears. Then weeks.

I took a trip up to Oregon for a visit and a talk, before the words wouldn't come anymore.

Dad kept trying to get me to take Festus home. I felt conflicted, like a vulture. Dad had a list of things mom wanted me to have, to take back to Utah. Every other trip to Oregon was with the family in tow, the escalade brimming with kid accoutrements, no room to take anything back. Now, he said- was the time. I was by myself- with only a return airline ticket to cancel. It all made sense, perfect, horrible timing.

Then something occurred to me. I won't re-write the entire story here, but when my moms mom died she left me some money, I used that to purchase my first landcruiser (read the story in my sig line). I still have the FZJ80 that we bought that day. Too hard to get rid of that beast. The GX being essentially the same thing- a landcruiser (prado), this time from mom.

Festus will always be known in my house as "gradma's car". I have been very careful to not refer to it as 'mine', especially around the kids. I want them to remember it as grandma's.

It was loaded with all those things that mom wanted me to take home, and honestly- there wasn't much room left after that. After some really, really good talks with mom it was time to head back home. Of course Festus made the trip just fine. It's a damn landcruiser after all!

Festus, however, stank. A dead mouse was found in the engine bay, but a trip to the car wash and lots of spraying did not remove the stank. Back in Utah I began to really dig into Festus. A full handwash from top to bottom, inside and out to familiarize myself with any dings or dents. None. Again with the hose in the engine bay- to no avail.

Stink, stank, stunk. everytime the A/C kicked on- Ah-ha! maybe a new cabin filter? Where is that darn filter anyway- not in the engine compartment... oh, behind the glove box. Pull the glove box out and I saw what appeared to be a chicken nesting back there. Some photos for your amusement.
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Um, honey.... grab the shop vac!

Oh, and the filter itself.
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Yeah, time for a new filter.

The new activated charcoal filter has really helped out alot, but I still get a small puff of au' de mouse when the HVAC kicks on. Where is the outside air intake located so I may spray some febreeze in there or something.... ?

Thanks for your time.

PS, don't store your vehicles in a barn.
 
I would also very much like to find the OEM bug deflector for the front end. If I am going to use this on my commute at all, it will need bug/stone protection.
 
Maybe one day man....
 
Good read, try spraying some bleach into the exterior inlet vents and it should help with the smell
 
Can you tell me where those vents are? The cowl? Engine bay?
 
Did you find any mice nests or eaten wires in the dashboard? Found tons of mouse poop and mice had pulled sound deadener to make a nest behind the radio of 4th gen 4R we had. I understood it was stored in a barn too
 
No chewed wires, yet.
 
If the smell continues, since recirc pulls air from behind the dash I would disassemble as much as possible and clean.

I would also check behind the radio and under the center console. In those two areas, I found nests that stunk pretty bad especially when the weather warmed up.

I believe the air inlet for the cabin is under the cowl just behind the engine bay.
 

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