UPDATE in Thread and OP. Burning eyes, really bad smell, and hard to breath

Spam, fried egg, Chipotle sauce in Hawaiian Rolls makes the best sliders. Thank me later.

 

Ok, quick update. Sorry everyone for not responding quickly. It has been very busy. We have not had much of a downtime till today, so I am finally able to catch up with everyone on this. Then I will go through all the notes.

I did take it in to the Toyota dealership and they were very kind to slide me in quickly. Ran a diag on everything, and nothing came back bad. They tested the exhaust. Nothing. They checked for leaks. Nothing. Bags. Nothing. Dead animals, or nests. Nothing. I pulled my own cabin air filter and while a little dirty, I was impressed with how clean it was still. So no go there.

After two hours and some odd, they came in and said that everything they found checked out good. Their recommendation was to just drive it and see if I could isolate where it might be. Knowin where it was not has helped.

Therefore, we begain our journey (no, no coma or passed out, LOL!). Didn't smell it for the longest time but after about two hours of driving, the smell came back. It was not as bad as before, but still there.

It was then that my wife said she had enough and it was too much for her so she, thinking it was the outside air, turned off the vents.

The smell went away!

We tried it a few times and I believe the smell is absolutely coming from the AC. This is a new AC box as the old actuator that switches from cabin and defrost broke. So this is a new unit!

I am just glad it was not toxic, or something that would kill us silently.

Now...what could this be? I don't know. We got to our stop, unhooked the camper, and as we have been going without the camper, the AC running, and probably not as many hills, the smell has not returned.

I am at a loss now. I tried to see if a vacuum line was doing it, but everything seemed in ship shape. I know it is a 14 year old truck, but I am trying to keep this going as long as I can.

 

Kinda Resolution update. But now a different lead. Sorry for the delay.

 

Thank you. I did look for a leak and the only dripping I saw as the AC unit (water. But I have been looking to see if I had anything on the Cam tower, but I am not sure where that is at. I thought I found it, but then not so sure. Is it the part that has the three or four bolts going through, right above the shocks?

 

I have had my fair share of those type of blow outs. I know that smell anywhere. Right now, that time of my life is over

 

I looked but didn't see anything. That is a great thought though. I will check again when I can get under the truck.

 

I cannot say I have ever had Spam. But I have seen it cooked, and I have looked at the packaging. I do try to watch my salt content! LOL!

 

Sorry for the delay. Traveling as I do, I run very hard all day, almost every day, except for the last day and a half on a trip. We are in KY right now, and in a couple days will be traveling to the boarder of WV and KY.

 

Updated.

 

No. If it were me, I would have claimed that. Besides. my family knows when it is me as the descriptions are amazing what is brought up. Needless to say, the truck still works, so I know it wasn't me. And my family were not reduced to skeletons!

 

No. Still hear. Just been running each and every day since being here. Finally have some downtime.

ETA: I don't usually get on any forums or social media, so I am sorry if I don't respond right away.

On a more awesome news, the pond at our location is rich with bass and I have caught two 3-3.5 lb bass in two days.

I heard tell of a 15 lb here in the pond, and I believe it. We were fishing the other night and I saw the tail fin of a fish that was bigger than most blue gills.

Been hunting that one for a while now.

 

I believe they make a low sodium version...

Edit: Found it!!!

 

Thanks. While I am sure it has less salt, I believe it will still have a lot in it.

 

@ColoradoTJ

I do run it with the recirculating going. I will look at getting that cleaned out, but a question, why would it smell when under stress (like pulling the camper) but nothing when I am just using it for my day trips?

 

Planned on doing that for sure. Thank you for the advice.

 

Ok. Glad to know it was not just mine.

What was the 50/50 mix you recommend? I am sure there are many different cleaners, but I have not had a chance to look yet.

 

Surely this has been mentioned earlier, but there is a cabin air filter that can trap stuff and needs to be changed every so often. It's very easy to access from the glove box. It filters new air coming in to the cabin, but if it's only ever run on recirculate, it can get grody. Also, small animals like to make them in to nests or hoard dog food, nuts, fibers, etc and stash them there. I would change that out ASAP.

 

They have cleaner that you can spray into the intake of the fan that will deodorize and clean the system to an extent.

could be trapped moisture causing your issue.

 

Thank you. Yes, I did pull that because I wanted to make sure there were no little critters there. It had a little dirt, but it was not too bad. Perhaps some deodorizer would help.

 

I'll look into it to do this. I know I can find a video to help me with this. Thanks!

 

Ha! My lazy neighbor cat has been slacking. Somebody must be feeding it... If only I like cats I might get one. No, nevermind. Don't tell anybody I said that.

 

Didn’t read it all. But indeed carbon monoxide has no smell. However the things that can produce carbon monoxide can smell. So you can certainly be exposed to high levels of CO and have a significant odor as a distractor.

 

You're smarter than most. I'll eat Spam, but it's survival food, not daily.

 

@TRDGoodness this thread got away from me, so I can't figure out but I think you are able to work on the truck?
Sounds to me that you have leak in a refrigerant line. If it's small and maybe when the system gets hot it opens up.
If you have residue inside the ducting in the cabin then it's going to be an issue intermittently. I've removed the entire
dash of an '07 to replace the entire heater assembly - once. I don't ever really want to do it twice. But the dash
removal itself isn't that big a deal. I suggest having an HVAC test for leaks. Pull the dash apart and remove ducting
and just wash it with simple soap and water. Never know what you might find along the way.
I hate air fresheners etc, just because they 'cover up' issues but don't solve them. And because they
are just chemicals I'd rather not breathe