Phaeton :: ESP Came On - Sweet Oil Smell?
Feb 12, 2012
Driving 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!
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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?
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I 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.
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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.
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I 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?
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Occasionally 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.
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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.
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When 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?
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From time to time, i get some exhaust smoke smell in the car, when driving slow or standing in a queue.
90% of the time everything it's perfect, but at a sudden moment, the rpm is rising with 50 or so, the instant consumption rises from let's say 1.4l/h to 1.8-2.0l/h when in gear and standing, i get a small vibration and then the exhaust smell appears.
If i'm closing the recirculation, then no more smell.
After 15-20 min, everything get back as it use to be, 1.4l/h consumption, no vibrations no smells no nothing.
This i think happens when the dpf is cleaning and i cought with vcds of a friend when it happened and the exhaust temp was 350 celsius or something. Usually is 200 degrees celsius, so it is a dpf regeneration. Also the car is running smoother after this.
Still..the smoke smell... it's annoying and quite strong. There is no sign of smoke from the exhaust pipes, flexible pipe or whatever. There is no sign at all anywhere.
I have a small theory but i don't know from where to start. Usually the catalyst temp is 200 degrees. When it's 350, it expanding more, or at least the cracks are expanding and smoke+smell is from there...but there is no sign anywhere.
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Driving along last night and suddenly slightly oily smell in cabin. Then notice oil pressure drops from normal 82 ish to about 25. Recovers to about 70 by time I get to Waitrose (about ten mins). Park up and do shopping. Move car and check for oil patch - none found. Drive home and pressure still lower than usual - but recovers to just under normal. No warning lights - open oil filler cap and seems to be some in there. No oil leak found.
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After I start the car, warm up a bit then drive, there are exhaust fumes that get into the cabin as you can smell them.
It's happening more often now. I have spoken to my Phaeton tech who said that the car has a sensor that goes off and shuts down external air if it notices exhaust uses getting in.
I have been hearing a little bit of road noise on the driver side so I'm thinking some fumes are coming in from the door seal (although it looks fine).
Sometimes it's bad enough that you have to open the windows or you will feel sick. It passes within 5 minutes or so and the car is fine after that. It only happens right after ignition for a few minutes.
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My Phaeton had the typical burning oil smell so I suspected the Camshaft cover gasket. However when I looked at the service history the gaskets were only just changed in 2012.
When I inspected the car closely I found the RH EGR vacuum line was disconnected (pipe cracked through).
Unlike the Audi A8, the VW 4.2 looks like it has 2 EGR valves, and not one. So I reconnected it, and so far, the burning smell is now gone!!
I am a newbie on the VW 4.2 but is a disconnected EGR a likely cause of oil leaks? (ie positive crankcase pressure). It makes me wonder if all the people whom are changing their cam cover gaskets, should be checking their PCV/EGR's instead??
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After replacement of the transmission, there is a distinct smell of gas/petrol, on starting the car after it has sat overnight. Other work done at the same time was replacement of all coils and plugs and air filters.
The car has 69K miles and is a V8. The dealer has checked fuel lines etc and found nothing. The car is in excellent condition and had no issues before the transmission failed.
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I have always had a occasionally burning smell in the cabin when I am using the heating system. Has never happened in summer. Only happens randomly in winter when I am using the heat. I don't think I have seen steam and stuff and definitely no water puddle in footwell area. This strongly makes me think that I have a leak in the heater core area, maybe not the core itself, just o-rings and things like that. Vw has checked many times and replaced the valve gaskets. But the smell is still there. This morning when the smell came, I opened up the hood immediately and I think the smell was around the passenger side plenum chamber area.
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My car smells like some plastic part is burning inside. The heat works just fine but for some reason i am getting this horrible smell. How to get to air filter of the fan.
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Yesterday I started up my Phaeton after it had been sitting for about almost a week. When it turned over it had a rough idle and also a fuel smell, as I drove it the idle went away. However I have never had this happen before and the fuel smell concerned me.
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Just got a weird chemical smell on my way back from lunch and the a/c stopped working. Pulled up to the garage and there was a smell of burning under the hood, plus a fairly loud hum, and also these weird noises that sounded like electrical discharges from underneath.
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We just picked up our brand new Prius v and there is this distinct chemical smell. It's not like the typical, rather sweet "new car smell" - this one smells more chemical. Our previous car was a 2011 Prius and I think there was almost no smell, so it surprises me even more that the new Prius v would smell that much.
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My wife has a 2008 turbo. She uses the A/C year-round here in southern AZ. She notices a bad smell when it's on-- she describes as similar to rotten cheese. I assume it's some kind of fungus or mold in the A/C, similar to a problem I had with an Accord, years ago. What about getting rid of the smell?
Other than that, the car is absolutely perfect --no problems in 2 years of ownership.
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Should I do an Oil change? I never noticed this before. I have 5897 miles on the oil now.
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Notice a smell of gas while sitting in your truck while it is idling?
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