HELP! 2007 Excessive Sulfur Dioxide Odors

[smackman]

My 2007 Avalon is in the shop as I speak. Exhaust odors are entering my cabin.
It seems to happen most frequently upon hard acceleration(passing another car) and initial start of driving from a cold start.
For instance, when we leave for work we drive 1 mile to the main Hwy. at slow speeds. When I get to the Highway and accelerate to 60 mph the odor floods the inside cabin. After this, the problem goes away and lays dormant except sometimes it happens upon hard acceleration.
I take this to The dealership(4th trip). They drive it and cannot smell it!
DOES THIS TBS APPLY TO MY 2007 AVALON? EG039-05 SEP 05 Exhaust System - Excessive Sulfur Dioxide Odors

Can someone help me here? My car was left at the dealership to be driven from a cold start this morning. IS THERE A RECALL OR TBS TO COVER MY 2007 AVALON ON THIS MAJOR ISSUE?

[MikeS.]

I bet the dealer comes back with change gas brand. Good luck with this. Last week when I test drove before buying my new 08 I purposefully did a hard acceleration onto the freeway. No smell.

[smackman]

Originally Posted by MikeS.

I bet the dealer comes back with change gas brand. Good luck with this. Last week when I test drove before buying my new 08 I purposefully did a hard acceleration onto the freeway. No smell.

Hello Brother(noticed your Aviator, so mote it be);
Well I lost round 4. They could not find the smell. They deodorized my ac coil thinking it might be causing the smell.
I did get TSB EG029-07(Reflash ECM). Transmission much smoother.(Thanks to this forum)
I was hoping there would be a TSB for my 07 Avalon concerning Excessive sullfur odor. There is for 05 and 06.
We love our 07 Avalon XLS but this sulfur odor is a issue. They never mentioned changing gas brands.

[MikeS.]

Hello back to you Brother.

Several posts on the Edmunds forum about this problem and that seems to be the dealers attitude. Change gas brand. I rarely had the problem in my 05 Avalon and don't ever remember it in my 96.

I only have about 200 miles in my 08 and like I said I punched it hard while doing a tst drive before buying.

If you're not aware Edmunds.com has a pretty active Avalon talk area. A bit more traffic there then here.

By the Plumb.

WVa Grand Lodge A.F.& A.M.

[smackman]

I appreciate the info. MikeS. I think I will be traveling to Edmunds to see if I can find any more information.
I do appreciate you and I know we have met on the level, acted on the plumb and parted on the square.

Lodge#53 F.& A.M. North Louisiana

[dolomite613]

Hello Smackman:
There is in fact a TSB for the Sulphur smell as well as the transmission. That would include the 2005 and 2007 models(with the 2007 transmission TSB being slightly different. I have one of each and have had them both done. The TSB will in fact get rid of the smell under hard acceleration but you will take a slight hit in fuel economy. As the TSB includes a redesigned front exhaust pipe with a different Converter/Sensor in it. If you would send me your email address, then I would be more than happy to scan and email you a copy of the original service order. That way the dealership can contact the dealership here in Fayetteville N.C. (Rick Hendrix Toyota) if they need any further guidance. Stay on them to fix it, because if you wait until the warranty expires then it will hit you in the wallet for $1800.00. You have till the end of the emissions warranty(80K Miles) to get it repaired for free. Some of the service writers have not seen this before and are actually ignorant to this fact. Let me know what I can do to assist you.
Dolomite613

[lbroer]

What you are smelling is the commonly called "rotten egg" odor that is H2S or hydrogen sulfide. It collects on the catalyst at low exhaust temperatures and is driven off under high engine load operation when the exhaust temps go up rapidly. I have not noticed it on my 07 avalon but I had an 86 Olds that would almost run you out of the car if you did a hard accel. Not sure if you tried a different source of gas but you might be buying from someone who is selling gas with a higher than legal sulfur content.