My car has a misfire shown by autozone codes. I changed the spark plugs so that's not it. A couple of days ago i went to crank it, it wanted to crank. The rpm's were VERY low (didn't really completely crank up...more like a stutter), and there was this really strong SWEET smell that started from the car outside. Should I be looking at the fuel filter as the culprit?...exhaust system?
View 3 RepliesI noticed a few months ago I wasn't getting much heat from my 99 Passat. I had the cooling system flushed and checked. Still no heat even after having all this done. Not long afterwords I started noticing that sweet smell through the vents, but couldn't find any leaks. I checked the expansion tank and it seemed to be slightly low so I added some coolant just to top it off and there it was. Steam started rolling up from the drivers side where the coolant had dripped on the exhaust and that's when I found the leak. I took the screws out that hold the tank to the bracket and discovered the leak coming from a short tube that appears to connect to nothing leaking coolant. Now here's my question, is the tank suppose to have a hole in it ? I thought it was suppose to be pressurized. What I don't figure is why didn't the shop notice it when they were refilling the system.
View 9 RepliesOccasionally I get blue smoke in the engine compartment with a sweet smell after a long drive. No malfunction lights, oil, brake, coolant, power steering fluids all are normal level. VW service doesn't have a clue, says just drive it until it breaks down. He also informed I should never use Tiptronic for braking since it could damage the transmission(we live in the mountains). What is it for anyway? We use Mobil 1 synthetic oil, and it is not overfilled. Car has 120k miles.
View 5 RepliesDriving a few spirited miles across the moors today to pay dutiful respect to aged parents... as you do on Sundays.. probably fairly stung by inappropriate remarks on this forum about my driving, ESP and V6s.... when after having left a couple of midly sporty looking bicycles for dead on the Blackburn ring road I smelled a rather appalling smell... a sort of sweet hot oil smell. Seemed to be getting worse. However power delivery seemed OK still - no strange behaviour from the box.. or steering come to that.
Parked up carefully on my parents pristine drive... spent about 90 minutes with them sorting out their iPAD woes again.. and as I left scrutinized the drive for signs of any fluid that might be associated with the smell. But the drive was as clean as when I arrived. Came home - and gave it as much welly on the A56 road in the sky as fog and Sunday morons would allow... smell still strong, but performance pretty much what I'm used to.... ESP light not on at all of course.....
Get home (about 30 minute drive)... and start looking under the bonnet and under the car for the source of the depressing smell. Nothing. So.. maybe I'll scan it and see if anything's complaining. Went in the back to get the laptop (which I'd taken to my parents so that I'd have proper access to the interweb rather than via the silly iPAD thingy)... and found that a bottle of Miller's Diesel Ecomax -which some fool had persuaded me to try - was stuck under the driver's seat just where the heater for the rear passenger's feet discharges. The bottle was swolen and at about 30C... with a miasma of Ecomax emanating from the neck.
So, fairly relieved... and I've stopped looking. Moral - don't put bottles of anything on the back passenger floor unless you turn off the AC in the back!
I have a 2011 Elantra Limited. No nav. I really like it. But I often smell the sweet smell of hot anti freeze/coolant coming from the engine area. I see no visible signs of anything wrong. My past experiences with this smell usually indicated overheating or a leak.
View 14 RepliesI have a 2001 Lincoln Towncar (178,000 miles) with a heater core leak. I was on the highway and got some smoke out of the ac vents and ever since then I've smelled the sweet smell of coolant in the air coming from the AC. I haven't had any more smoke or vapor since the one time. I did my research and asked around and understand this to be the tell tale signs of a heater core leak and that it's one of those fun jobs that's going to be a high price tag at the shop because of the amount of labor (8-9 hours).
Since the dash has to come out, I thought it would be worth it to pay a little more and have a dealer do it since they'd be more accustomed to taking out and reinstalling that particular dash. So I describe the problem to the dealer over the phone and they want to diagnose it before giving me a quote on replacing the heater core. Why? No clue, I even asked the guy if there was any other possible way for coolant to get into the vents and he said not that he could think of.
Anyway, I took it into the dealer and low and behold they found a different coolant leak. It turns out for a while Ford used intake manifolds with a plastic part that is known to crack and leak coolant. The dealer wanted to replace the intake manifold and clear the condenser drain before we even got into for the heater core.
So here's where I get to my question. I ordered an intake manifold and replaced that myself, I still haven't addressed the heater core. The first puff of smoke and the coolant smell happened almost 5 months ago. I've been driving around with antifreeze in my trunk and my eye glued to the temp gauge and it has not budged at all. I started thinking if I could get through the winter months I'd just bypass the heater core and buy myself another 7-8 months where I don't need the heater and I could save up some cash to have a pro replace the heater core.
Now that the warmer weather is here, I'm left wondering--could the heater core really leak for 5 months without me ever having to add coolant and with the temp gauge never going above it's normal level?
I have a 2003 F150 with a 4.6. Exhaust is pouring out white smoke with a sweet smell. I have replaced upper and lower intake gaskets. Compression test on all cylinders are at 145. Confused and don't know where to go from here.
View 1 RepliesMy 2000 Toyota MR2 started to act up a bit lately.
I noticed that the car cranks fine, but turns over very weak. almost seems like it barely starts. This happens ONLY when the car is already warmed up. This does not happen when car is starting from cold start. Like, starting first time in the morning is fine, but after 10 minutes of driving, then turned off, the subsequent starts are weak as a fart from a butterfly. But it does start, and when it does... it seems to drive okay.
Now, I've been hearing it can be leaky fuel injectors, or... Mass Air Flow sensor, .. or .... bad fuel pressure..(which may be part of leaky injectors?)
BMW's have a special way to bleed the system, does the VW passat have on too? Seems like I can't get the air pocket out and heat is barely coming in. I just put a radiator in and all the coolant obviously is gone, so I put new coolant in and the cars been idling for about 30 with the cap off letting air out and heat is barely coming in, am i missing something? Engine temp is NORMAL, in the middle, so NO overheating issues.
View 7 RepliesCar is burning through a higher than usual amount of oil? I just went to the dealer to do an oil change because the oil was so low I could barely get a reading on the dipstick, no leaks were found, and the car does not smoke.
View 6 RepliesThis morning my brakes seized up on me on the freeway. I noticed it when I pressed the brake pedal and I it would barely go down. Then, I could smell the brakes. I pulled over and there was a strong smell from the brakes and I couldn't press the brake peddle down any. I waited a while and let the brakes cool off and then they were fine. I got the rear brakes replaced at the dealership earlier this year.
View 5 RepliesWhen I put on the cold air in my 2003 Mitsubishi Galant, after it's on for a while, I start smelling something sweet like syrup. I haven't noticed it when the air's not on and I don't know how long it's been happening because my sister's been using my car since 2008. It seems to be coming from the front, but I'm not really sure. what this is (is it coolant?), is it dangerous, and how much it should be to fix?
View 5 RepliesWe have a 2001 passat 1.8T It has had problems starting up for over 1 year. My wife drives the car so I only notice issues with it when we go together in her car. When I first noticed the problem, it was that it took a couple more cranks before it would start and didn't always happen. Now I notice that it won't start on the first try no matter how long it cranks, try again and it starts right up. The only thing I have not done as far as tuneup is the PCV valve that I have not figured out where it is.
View 1 RepliesFirst time ever, my Passat has stranded me. Won't start. 120K. Cranks fine. Fuel pump fuse is OK. Almost new plugs. New fuel filter. No codes. Almost a full tank of gas. No smell of fuel in engine compartment. Disconnect MAF, no difference. This started over a week ago. The car would not start on the first try. Always on the second try. Once started the car ran fine, did not stall or hesitate. Then, just once, it almost did not start; I think it was the fourth try it finally started. After that I replaced the fuel filter, just in case. It's been fine for several days. Now this morning, no go
View 6 RepliesMy wife has a 00 passat . The car cranks but wont start. Has new battery.
View 3 RepliesWhen I turn the key to start the engine, it makes the sound (I don't know what to call it) that it makes before the engine actually starts but it just keeps doing that. The dash has the battery light on in red so I think that might be the problem. It also flashed "STOP" at me on the dash so I stopped fiddling with it.
The dealership is only a few blocks away but they are closed until tuesday. What is usually the problem in this case? I know almost nothing about how cars work.
a 2004 passat 1.8t 5spd came to the shop, cranks but does not
fire/run..i through the vas 5051 on there - p0688 - open circ. main relay...located this power supply relay and tested it - she had an open winding...replaced it runs excellent
My cousin has a 99 1.8T passat and its been sitting for a bit so initially I thought it was the battery but it is fine. The car cranks and it turns over but it will not start. It was fine than it was left for a few days when it was cold and has not started since.
I am not too farmiliar with the 1.8T .... I pulled out the dipstick and found the oil to be a little cloudy, that got me worried but last time it was driven the car was fine. It also looks kinda green but I am not sure if its the coolant since the coolant in the reservior is red or maybe orange.
1999 Passat turbo with a little over 100K miles. Car ran fine last night. This morning, the engine/starter cranks well, but no fire. And it has gas in the tank.
View 1 RepliesI went to start my car this morning it cranks and nothing it is not firing at all, and I do not hear the fuel pump when I open the door like I usually do. It just happened all the sudden. Is there a way to check fuel pressure in these in the W8? Also any known problems to make them do this? So irritating...
View 4 RepliesI've been fighting several problems with this car (1998 1.8t aeb 5 speed manual) I replaced the icm and coil packs just recently to fix an ignition problem. At least i thought the problem was fixed. Car was running good but still had an occasional loss of power and bucking.
Today I installed a new fuel filter and went for a drive to see if that fixed the problem. I get about a mile from my house and the car died at a stop sign. I tried several times to start it back up and nothing. I pushed it off to the side and left it there for the night, I'll go back in the morning to try to trouble shoot it.
Symptoms: I noticed that when I turned the key to the on position, the fuel pump relay would click and doesn't stop unless i turn the ignition off. The throttle body is also actuating at the same time, idle stabilizer? But its doing this with the engine off and key in on position. Also there is fuel pressure at the rail.
What would cause this? My only thought would be a failed ecu or possibly fuel pump relay (though I don't see how that would effect the throttle body).