So my gf and I have noticed that AC in my car smells stale. The smell is most comparable to when you run AC without the engine on. What could be the problem?
View 24 RepliesMy oil smells like gas, and the truck isn't running right. Sounds like a cylinder isn't firing...but no error message in the MFI. Crap. This is not going to be pretty. Should I have her towed to the dealer or just drive it?
View 7 RepliesThis is a 2005 GX470 with 125k miles. We've had this truck for 3+ years and this is the first time we're experiencing this issue.
2 days ago, i noticed that there is a strange moldy smell inside the cabin when i drove the car around town. Not too strong, but definitely noticeable. It was not the usual musty/humid smell that all cars have after you drive them with the AC on for awhile and then you turn it off. This usual smell is common in a lot of cars, i've had it in the Lexus too, and it usually goes away after 10 mins or so.
What i have in our car is a different smell. It smells like there is a piece of old moldy wood or moldy piece of cloth left under the seat for a long time. The smell does not go away. I am 95% sure it comes from the vents on the dashboard.
Today i checked the entire cabin and all floors for leftover food, wet clothes, stains, spills and i found nothing. The car is clean. Carpet appears dry and very clean for a 10yr old car. No strange stains. Nothing inside the car smells like mold, especially when it is not running.
When i start the engine, the smell creeps up. It appears to be coming from the vents. I checked the cabin air filter. It is not brand new, about a year old, but it DOES NOT smell like mold at all. I ordered a new filter but i doubt this will fix the issue. The current filter is not wet or smelly. It's not the source. What else should i check?
There must be an AC condenser drain hole somewhere under the car. Not sure if this is obstructed or not. Where is the AC drain located exactly? Any pointers will be useful.
I've had the car for 130k/2 yrs, and been very happy with it. Will definitely buy another. That said, I'm puzzled. Yesterday and today, after it had run for 10-20 minutes at surface-street speeds (so was warmed up), I got stuck at a lengthy traffic light and noticed a distinct smell of gasoline - not other cars' exhaust, but a fuel smell coming in on the blown air in the cabin. I have done no mechanical work on the car, or spilled gas into the glove box.
View 6 Replies1990 Ford Aerostar. When I start runs really rough and has excessive fuel consumption and the exhaust smells like gas and has a misfire my friend says its the coil pack going bad im not sure. I love my ford aerostar dont wanna get rid of it.
View 5 RepliesI have a ´96 Honda Odyssey. For over nearly 3 years I´ve smelled a stale smell when the heater is on. Slight smell with a/c. For the first year and a half it wouldn´t defog, just the bottom part of the windshield. But in the last year or so it´s been defogging pretty well, but the smell has gotten worse. I turned on the heater this summer for the 1st time in a while. Visible white fog poured out of the vents, along with same stale smell. Have taken it into 2 mechanics. They tested coolant lines and found no leaks. Said it´s not the heater core b/c the heater would have stopped working by now. What´s the smell? How to fix it??
View 1 RepliesI have a 2012 GTI, and yesterday when I got in it I noticed it smelled like chocolate, it had been raining all day.
There has been no food in my car so it wasn't from a outside source. Are the GTI's known to have this smell?
I ask because I know the mk4 jettas smelled like crayons.
Its a 2001 jetta vr6, 5 speed, electronic seats all leather with wood trim panels, and I am having quite the issue. When you turn on the car it has a rough idle around 600rpm but doesn't die out. it smokes like a banshee, white smoke. if you come back later and start it, no smoke until you give it gas. some times it doesn't smoke at all. misfire cyl 6 and 5, used to have 4 misfires but spark plugs did me justice, maf sensor low voltage output, bank 1 sensor 2 02 something or another, when i first got it, it would just chug and not smoke at all. the better its running, the more smokes it produces it seems. none of my coils have the rubber graumet around them anymore and all seem to be pretty shot regardless. I have no leaks underneath the car, coolant has no oil mixture in it all all, no visible leaks on the headgasket, and most of the time the smoke smells like gas, but its purely white. I am just wondering what could cause it, im trying to feel out more options before getting drunk and doing a headgasket. no oil loss, no coolant loss.
[URL] .....
video of the smoke.
After a 70km trip stop in the road and outside the car smell like sulfur and its from the passenger side not in the engine bay not in the exhaust behind not a/c. why is this?
View 2 RepliesHere's the story: was on my way downtown last night to get a new suit (I'm in Savannah, GA so it's hot) and AC was working great. The Jetta (2003 AWP) is a stock-everything-1.8T that has never had any AC work done to it from the day I bought it new. I figured it was doing just fine so just leave it alone. Anyway, leave the suit shop (bought a gray three-piece) and go back to the parking lot, start up and get ready to leave, no cold air from the vents. I get it home and do some reading on here and also in the Bentley manual and get into some preliminary troubleshooting. Here's what I have so far:
- Engine running/AC button ON/Blower on "3"/Recirculation OFF/Engine at operating temperature
- Turn blower ON - visually verified that clutch is not engaged and compressor is not spinning
- Shut car off, compressor does turn by hand easily
- With AC button on and blower on, passenger side cooling fan (behind radiator) is ON but driver side cooling fan IS NOT on - I think this indicates a problem from what I've read
- Checked cabin fuses 5, 16, & 25. All have low resistance (good continuity) and are not discolored. Just to make sure I scuffed the contacts with a scotchbrite pad and reinstalled them
- Same deal for the top-of-the-battery power distribution block. All fuses checked okay and were scuffed and reinstalled
- Moved on to the pressure switch/pressure sensor. My vehicle has the 3-pin sensor so jumping contacts is not a possibility. I need to rent/buy a duty cycle meter to check it. Any good tutorial on how to do this? Do I disconnect the connector and check it right at the switch or must I break out the wires and check it in parallel with the connector attached to the sensor?
- I grabbed a flat-head screwdriver and gave the high-pressure and low-pressure service valves a poke and got a good blast of pressure from them so I don't think the system is empty.
- Did a little more reading and found I needed to check voltage at the 3-pin connector on top of the battery power distribution block. I did this with the key ON - no power at any of the pins. Repeated with key ON and engine running with AC button ON and blower ON - still no voltage. For these measurements, the connector was DISCONNECTED. Does this matter? Do I need to have it plugged in to get voltage there (i.e., read the voltage from the rear of the connector with it installed?)
- Finally, and perhaps most enlightening, I suspected I may simply be low on R134a so I bought a can with a pressure gauge on it. Connected it to low-pressure side with engine running, AC button ON, blower on "4", recirculation OFF. The gauge read ~150 PSIG. Yes, this seems high to me too; however, the compressor is still not turning at this point. Does it need to turn to get a good pressure reading from the LP service valve? I recall from everything I read that if pressure is too low, the clutch won't engage, and if pressure is too high, the clutch won't engage
So, as far as I can tell I have a few problems...
1. The driver side fan doesn't run when AC button is ON
2. No voltage at the 3-pin connector on the battery power distribution block Incorrect methods...there is voltage there.
3. Low-pressure side of the AC system is too high Called and checked with a local mechanic...I won't receive correct pressures if the compressor is not turning.
My next steps are to check the voltage at the compressor connector for 12VDC. I suspect I'll get 0V because it's clearly not turning. I'll do this once I can figure out how to get the dang connectors apart without breaking them. 11-year-old heat fatigued plastic is brittle...
Finally got the compressor connector apart.. there is 12VDC on pin 1 and 0VDC on pin 2 (it's a ground, so there shouldn't be..ground continuity check good). Ohmed out the clutch...from what I can tell, that circuit is open. However, I am not 100% sure I was on the contacts because of how the connector is positioned. I'm going to get a dummy connector from a salvage yard and connect it up and make sure I have good contact before I call it a bad clutch.
I had just picked my car up from the shop after getting a new 3" downpipe installed (welded to stock cat) and attached to stock catback exhaust. I mention this because I never had this problem before and have already had installed a TIP, boost hose kit, DV, larger intercooler, and breather hose kit, all for a Unitronic Stage 2 tune.
So I go to turn on the A/C and the idle drops to about 400 rpm, almost stalls, interior shudders, vacuum jumps from about 20 to 10 as the engine revs itself a bit, and then it settles back out and the car runs fine (awesome with the new tune) and A/c works great. I have used the A/C a bit since getting all other upgrades done and never had a problem, or I didn't notice, but I'm wondering why a new downpipe would make a difference. I tried turning it on and off a few more times and the same things happened at idle, but after that initial dip and near-stall the engine was just fine around town and on the highway.
I have an 01 Jetta 1.8t wolfsburg eddition and the AC won't blow cold air. The AC Clutch does engage when I press the AC button on the control unit The refrigerant pressure is good The fan blows, but its hot air. the condenser is working because the pipe is cold when the ac is running I am curious if any of you know what other possible problems could be causing this. It is currently 100 degrees with 100% humidity
View 11 RepliesEngine oil smells like gas when I pulled the dipstick today. I wiped it off and smelled the towel and yup... Its the smell of gas.
My '10 is 44,000 miles would warranty fix this?
How many degrees should cool the air conditioning? My Golf 4 has about 14 years and doesn't seem to cool as much as before. Measuring with the probe of a multimeter, the temperature of the air coming through the air vents drops 10 C below ambient temperature. For example at 28 C ambient temperature I can get 18 C through the air vents, but doesn't seem that low. After the air mixes inside you don't really notice a big drop.
View 2 Replies2001 jetta 4 dr. 2.0 gas
The other day I was driving and the air just quit. No screeches bangs or anything. I checked all the fuses and realized my main fan wasn't working.
I replaced both fans but still no air. When I push the button on the dash for recirculate my brake light on the instrument panel comes on.
I have recently purchased a 2003 Subaru Baja Sport, the car of my dreams! I purchased the car in NC and drove it where I live in SC which is over 250 miles. The car smelled of petroleum based fluid and/or cleaner. I just thought the dealership cleaned the engine or oil may have been spilled during maintenance. A few weeks later, I had it in the dealership and they checked out. The head gaskets were replaced and the problem was to be solved…Nope!
Every time the car is driven on a long trip and the engine/transmission gets hot the smell returns and there are other problems as well. The car will shutter from start through the gear change to 2nd (it’s a manual 5-speed). It also has a “bumping” sound coming from the from the front wheel area during a sharp turn at low speeds, again only after a long trip.
I am clueless to what the issue could be and my dealership/mechanic cannot determine the cause either because of the necessary drive time to get the car to present the issues.
Drove 40 miles took half hour then back in the truck and drove to lunch. When I got out of the truck you could smell burning. Opened the hood but there was nothing to see. Coolant level in the plastic hold tank good checked oil level, okay. No sign of smoke but the smell was real. Went in had lunch and came out and nothing. no smell nothing. Drove fifty miles home and nothing every thing working perfect and no smell. Oil temp. 197 to 203 all the way home.
Only thing that was done on truck was last Tuesday Ford did oil change.
Only had happened a few times in the last month. I start the car and it idles okay. drive down the road and then come to s stop and there's some blue smoke. It smells like burning oil. it only has happens 2 times in the last 2 months. only when its really cold it has happend. If I rev it when its happening I can see a big plume of bluish smoke and it smells like burning oil. after i drive after that no more smoke.
car has 95k on it
never been chipped
car has full turbo back and intake
car does not burn any oil between oil changes. oil stays at the same level.
did break an oil pan about 4 months ago. when I replaced it no signs on sludge.
turbo boosts fine
Car has had a rough idle for a long time. only when its a cold start and only last about 20 seconds. When I boost it or redline the car which is very rare no smoke at all. I have always kept the oil more on the high side of full. I usually fill it right to the high mark on the dip stick.
My sons 1998 nissan altima has engine coolant leaking from the air conditioning compressor my best guess is a leak in radiator has slugged the compressor and both are toast . I see there is separate cooler for ac is it possible to isolate that section while repairing so he can still drive to work (short distance less than mile) while I find replacement or is it not possible...
View 9 RepliesOk here is the issue, my girlfriend owns a MK4 '99 Jetta. Through the search I was able to figure out why she is having so many issues with her door locks and how they can be fixed on the cheap..thats awesome. But here is the problem. She was driving down the road the other day, A/C working...then suddenly it stopped blowing cold. Fan is still working, just blows hot air. She said it started blowing warm suddenly and hasnt been getting warmer through out the past days or anything.
With the hood popped and the a/c on, you can see that the compressor isnt engaging. The car makes a noise like its engaging the compressor, but nothing is happening that I can see visually. Seems as if the compressor is not getting the signal to engage. It sounds like its trying to make the compressor kick on about every 5 seconds or so. Basically that initial clicking sound that your hear RIGHT before the compressor comes on when its working normally.
We have checked the fuses and no luck with those, all look good. Seems like its an electrical issue to me. What this may be? Bad pressure switch? Low pressure in the system? I know the car has had the compressor replaced before...and the clutch seems to spin freely when the car is off.
I have a 2006 SAAB 9-2X, that I just bough used with 116k. The car rides great and I am really enjoying it. The one problem is that there is an intermittent smell of burning. Some days its strong, some days there is no smell at all. It is really weird. I took it to my mechanic for its inspection and he passed it and said that the care looked great. I havent seen a leak, the check engine light is not on and there is no smoke.
View 15 Replies