Smells

Hey Guys,

 

Have an 06 Lambo G. Runs like a champion.

 

Recently, however, I have noticed an odor -- best way to describe it, it smells like someone took a deuce in my car-- emanating from my driver side air intake vent. It's at my tuner now. I thought it was a differential or transmission fluid leak; but there is no leak. My mechanic thought it was a dead animal; but they pulled the bumper, etc (not the engine) and found nothing.

 

I have read the coolant thread, but my issue begins and ends with the driver side smells.

 

Any help is appreciated.

maybe some stagnant water somewhere

maybe a dead animal is up in there

If it smells like sulfur could be the cats.

If it smells like sulfur could be the cats.

 

I was just about to say the same thing...my money is on the problem having to do with the cats.

 

If its the cats... get rid of them!!

If your deuce smells like sulfur, run and see your doctor!

 

Coolant post is mine.

 

Can you describe the problem in more detail? Which driver's side vent? Defog, dash vent, or floor vent? No smell from the passenger side? The air intake for the car is at the center of the windshield, in that plastic meshed-off area.

 

Animals can NOT get in there, so not an animal.

 

Do you live somewhere you get a lot of air conditioning use? That causes condensate which can smell like bad aluminum after a while. There are sprays that are somewhat at least temporarily effective.

 

Cats do tink like S, but will not draw air into the passenger compartment. At least not while you are driving with windows up. When exactly do you notice the smell? Heater on/of, windows up/down, stopped/rolling, engine hot/cold? Need more info to diagnose.

If your deuce smells like sulfur, run and see your doctor!

 

Coolant post is mine.

 

Can you describe the problem in more detail? Which driver's side vent? Defog, dash vent, or floor vent? No smell from the passenger side? The air intake for the car is at the center of the windshield, in that plastic meshed-off area.

 

Animals can NOT get in there, so not an animal.

 

Do you live somewhere you get a lot of air conditioning use? That causes condensate which can smell like bad aluminum after a while. There are sprays that are somewhat at least temporarily effective.

 

Cats do tink like S, but will not draw air into the passenger compartment. At least not while you are driving with windows up. When exactly do you notice the smell? Heater on/of, windows up/down, stopped/rolling, engine hot/cold? Need more info to diagnose.

 

 

Absolutely no cats -- no cats in my house or garage (no wild cats in our community). They took off the panels and went into the air vent; nothing.

 

No leaks whatsoever. It does smell like someone took a shit in my car and it only comes around when the engine heats up. (not a sulfur smell.)

 

Will get the final results from my mechanic today.

If your deuce smells like sulfur, run and see your doctor!

 

Coolant post is mine.

 

Can you describe the problem in more detail? Which driver's side vent? Defog, dash vent, or floor vent? No smell from the passenger side? The air intake for the car is at the center of the windshield, in that plastic meshed-off area.

 

Animals can NOT get in there, so not an animal.

 

Do you live somewhere you get a lot of air conditioning use? That causes condensate which can smell like bad aluminum after a while. There are sprays that are somewhat at least temporarily effective.

 

Cats do tink like S, but will not draw air into the passenger compartment. At least not while you are driving with windows up. When exactly do you notice the smell? Heater on/of, windows up/down, stopped/rolling, engine hot/cold? Need more info to diagnose.

 

 

Absolutely no cats -- no cats in my house or garage (no wild cats in our community). They took off the panels and went into the air vent; nothing.

 

No leaks whatsoever. It does smell like someone took a shit in my car and it only comes around when the engine heats up. (not a sulfur smell.)

 

Will get the final results from my mechanic today.

Absolutely no cats -- no cats in my house or garage (no wild cats in our community).

 

 

What about the one's in your exhaust system?

Sorry that its at the OP expense but that is a funny mix up on the words! ON another note, I hope the shit smell goes away.....nobody likes a shitty smelling ride....

Sorry that its at the OP expense but that is a funny mix up on the words! ON another note, I hope the shit smell goes away.....nobody likes a shitty smelling ride....

Yes but at least he will be telling the truth when he talls people it is as fast as shit.

Absolutely no cats -- no cats in my house or garage (no wild cats in our community). They took off the panels and went into the air vent; nothing.

 

No leaks whatsoever. It does smell like someone took a shit in my car and it only comes around when the engine heats up. (not a sulfur smell.)

 

Will get the final results from my mechanic today.

 

 

I meant your "Catalytic Converters" (aka - cats) - When they start to become clogged, they smell like rotten eggs, i.e. sulfur.

Pollen filters ever been changed?

Pollen filters ever been changed?

Yep

 

I meant your "Catalytic Converters" (aka - cats) - When they start to become clogged, they smell like rotten eggs, i.e. sulfur.

 

 

What Cats -- its called straight pipes; hence, no cats in the house, garage or community.

 

 

 

My Turbo also has no cats

Either heater core condensation with maybe mold growth (Which you did not answer my question about) or heater core or air leak.

 

I almost guarantee this is what it is, from your description. Not shit, but likely a rubber/coolant smell. And maybe, just maybe you have green coolant or some other non-OEM coolant in your engine, instead of the correct blue stuff?

 

There is a coolant hose right under the drain hose to the heater core. The heatercore has 2 drain points there. The heater core housing is a clamshell made of 3 pieces. There are huge holes where it snaps together. When you turn on the heater, fumes get sucked up through there. The coolant hoses under the heater core on the G are stinky when they get hot. Even brand new ones.

 

Solution: Attach long drain hoses to the 2 drain points. Seal up all the cracks under, behind, and around the heater core housing with stay-soft caulking (black window putty work well). Remember, there are 2 wrap-around sections that you need to seal. That is a lot of sealing. Do not use silicone, as you need to be able to remove said putty during heater core service work.

 

Presto, smell gone!

 

Tell me what you find. Likely your mechanic will find.....NOTHING!

I was thinking about this the last few days.

 

On my 04 Coupe I had, they have those water drain hoses that go from where the wipers reside to the bottom of the car (drain tubes). There are two - one on each side of the windshield.

 

On my 04 one of them got clogged. During one of my maintenance trips to the dealer, I mentioned that it smelled like S*&^, or a cross between something dead or rotting.

 

Sure enough when they cleared out the the right side tube - it was clogged with leaves and had stagnant water in it - really bad smell.

 

I think they made some corrections to that draining system in 07 (made it a little wider). I have not had any issues on my Spyder.

 

I would be curious to see if that may be it. Easy fix - you can actually disconnect it, pull it out and see if it is clogged. It is more tricky to get back down through the car, but not that bad of DYI. (I watched them do it at the dealer, in case I needed to do it myself later).

I would check the windshield drains- on the lower corner of the windshield. Those tend to get clogged up- leaves and bug guts lodge in there and it's a no-go on water seeping out. Bug's decay, water helps rot, and if the drain isn't open you've got a deuce right next to your driver air vent.

 

Though, the most likely culprit is the pollen filter.

 

Either heater core condensation with maybe mold growth (Which you did not answer my question about) or heater core or air leak.

 

I almost guarantee this is what it is, from your description. Not shit, but likely a rubber/coolant smell. And maybe, just maybe you have green coolant or some other non-OEM coolant in your engine, instead of the correct blue stuff?

 

There is a coolant hose right under the drain hose to the heater core. The heatercore has 2 drain points there. The heater core housing is a clamshell made of 3 pieces. There are huge holes where it snaps together. When you turn on the heater, fumes get sucked up through there. The coolant hoses under the heater core on the G are stinky when they get hot. Even brand new ones.

 

Solution: Attach long drain hoses to the 2 drain points. Seal up all the cracks under, behind, and around the heater core housing with stay-soft caulking (black window putty work well). Remember, there are 2 wrap-around sections that you need to seal. That is a lot of sealing. Do not use silicone, as you need to be able to remove said putty during heater core service work.

 

Presto, smell gone!

 

Tell me what you find. Likely your mechanic will find.....NOTHING!

 

With the exception of the RSC LP 560 bumper, stereo and straight pipes, my car is pure stock; the coolant is OEM (saw the bottles they poured in myself when the did a flush.) My guy did a complete check of the G, front to back.

 

The smell was isolated to the air vent on the driver side. They checked everything; no leaks, no mold. (Don't know if the heater core and hoses are right there.) Apparently, some substance was placed on one of the plastic parts and they pulled that part out, stunk to high heaven. They cleaned it and no scent of the smell as of right now.

 

We will see if the stink returns. I am sending your post over to my tuner in case it does return.

Glad to hear that the stink is gone.

 

For the benefit of other forum users, can you elaborate? What plastic part stank, and how the stinking substance actually get on it? don't understand your explanation. Which vent was affected? The rotating dash vent on the extreme left (driver's side) of the dash?

 

What was it? Did something get spilled into that dash vent opening that was causing the smell? I ask because it is hard for a driver to spill something into that vent due to its angle. So if nothing was spilled into it, how did the "Substance" get there? There is an explanation.

 

If nobody put it there, it leaked there from somewhere.

 

Was it antifreeze (coolant) that they wiped off? If so, you have a hose or heater core leak and the goo will come back. What color was the substance? What coolant color did you see them pour in? Correct Coolant is blue on early cars, or if upgraded, it will be red. The newest G12++ is purple. So if one of these colors, it is coolant.

 

Please ask your mechanic for the answer. If they are any good, they will know what it was.

Glad to hear that the stink is gone.

 

For the benefit of other forum users, can you elaborate? What plastic part stank, and how the stinking substance actually get on it? don't understand your explanation. Which vent was affected? The rotating dash vent on the extreme left (driver's side) of the dash?

 

What was it? Did something get spilled into that dash vent opening that was causing the smell? I ask because it is hard for a driver to spill something into that vent due to its angle. So if nothing was spilled into it, how did the "Substance" get there? There is an explanation.

 

If nobody put it there, it leaked there from somewhere.

 

Was it antifreeze (coolant) that they wiped off? If so, you have a hose or heater core leak and the goo will come back. What color was the substance? What coolant color did you see them pour in? Correct Coolant is blue on early cars, or if upgraded, it will be red. The newest G12++ is purple. So if one of these colors, it is coolant.

 

Please ask your mechanic for the answer. If they are any good, they will know what it was.

 

 

Will do. For expediency (I usually go to Mitch @ Famous for service), I went to Fast Cars in Los Angeles -- they do restorations of all exotics (at any given time, they are doing about 10 F-Car restorations from the '60s to the present). They do alot of the prep for classic italian race cars for such events like the Monterrey car week. They are pretty meticulous, without me having to ask. I will have Craig give me a break down of that he did and report back.