Whenever the temperature is below 20 degrees F and am idling at a stop light, if I have the heater fan running I get a horrible exhaust smell inside my car. I have discovered that I can lessen the bad smell by turning off the fans when the car is idling and then turning it back on when I start to drive.
View 3 RepliesMy 2003 Subaru outback has a gas smell when i first start it on very cold mornings. I live in New England. It goes away after the engine is warm. Also, it never happens in warm weather.
View 3 RepliesWhy when I come to a stop with the heater on, the car smells like exhaust? I took in into our local Subaru shop and they couldn't find anything wrong. When I'm driving it's fine, but in town or in traffic, I have to keep shutting off the heater. If I forget, the car fills up fumes and I have to drive with the windows down or my daughter's asthma flares up.
View 14 RepliesHaving problem with an exhaust or fuel smell in the cab? i have had the exhaust checked & the seal on the back door, all have been fine. it has only happened in the really, really cold weather.
View 30 RepliesWhen the weather gets really cold (below 30) I intermittently smell a gas/exhaust smell in the cabin but also on the exterior. I have on two occasions had my mechanic check this and each time he has replaced an "old and cracked" hose.
He has to use the smoke tracer to find where it is leaking and replacing hose. On both occasions he urged me to make the repair immediately as it could be extremely dangerous. (Makes sense if I am smelling gas.)
I am wondering if this could be an exhaust/heating system problem. The car is 11 years old with 120K miles and I want to keep it running a few more years. I am due for front brakes and new tires soon...
My Forester blows freezing cold air sitting in the driveway idling or at a stop light. As soon as you get out on the highway, it blows about 10-15 seconds of cold air and then 10-15 second of warm air. On a really hot day it is borderline uncomfortable. Already had the freon checked and it is fine. What this could be? I've searched all over the internet for people having a similar problem, but everyone else who has intermittent A/C has like ten minutes of cold and then it blows warm until they stop.
View 11 RepliesMy Subaru Outback is dying on me when I come to a stop and has happened when just idling. I have been told it is the torque converter and replacement is 2 thousand.
View 7 RepliesI have a 2005 Subaru Outback XT with turbo. I have had a strange problem the last two winters and have stumped two mechanics, so far.
At this time of year, it is necessary to warm my car up for a few minutes in the morning. Last winter, when I warmed my car up, I would smell gasoline outside of the car and in the cab. It only happened when it is about 25 degrees or less outside. After about 10-15 minutes, once the car was warm, the smell would go away. I figured smelling gasoline was bad news, so, I took it to my mechanic who said he found a loose clamp in the engine. He tightened it and it fixed the problem. I didn't have any other issues that winter or through the next year.
But, this winter, the problem is back. I have moved, so, I took the car to a new mechanic (recommended by friends) and told him the issue. He said that he found a loose clamp between the engine and the turbo and tightened it. He said other than that, he can't think of anything. Well, that worked for a few days. But, now, the problem is back and with a vengeance. The smell is a bit different. Still like gasoline, but kind of like exhaust, too. And it is strong. I have to open the windows for a few minutes to air the car out before I can drive it. I took it back to the mechanic, but he is stumped and not sure what to do next.
I think my next step is to take it to a Subaru dealer, but with a 10 year old car, I'm hesitant to go that route. Though, I love my car and want it to last AND be safe to drive. What is going on?
Need to determine the cause of a strange high-pitched squealing noise coming from the engine compartment of my 2008 Subaru Outback 2.5l automatic. The squeal happens only when the temperature is cold (below 32 degrees) AND I hit a bump. It happens more often the colder it is outside. The noise is definitely coming from the front of the car and seems like the passenger side but I can't be sure. It happens with the blower fan/AC both on and off so I don't think it is caused by that. It happens when the car is cold or driven for a while and warmed up.
It occurs at both high & low speeds. I checked all my fluids under the hood and everything is filled as it should be. There are no lights (check engine or ABS) on. Recommend any troubleshooting that I can try? I have not taken it to a mechanic yet as they might have a hard time reproducing the noise since it has to be below freezing and hit a decent bump. I attach a video that I took while driving last week on a 16 degree day and heard the squeal when I hit a bump. I had been driving for about 30 min when it occurred. I have more videos of the noise if needed.
I'm getting a gas smell when I start the car in the morning-especially if its cold. I typically blow the defroster which only makes it worse. It seems to be worse when its colder out and does not happen as the day goes on. My mechanic has checked for leaks-none. I thought it might be an oxygen sensor(?), he does not think so.
View 2 RepliesSo every once in a while, probably a dozen times, over the winter I am idling at a stop light and smell a bad burning smell. It doesn't matter if I have my heat on, or if I switch the temp all the way to cold. It smells like burning rubber or plastic. So far there doesn't seem to be a common factor involved. Doesn't matter the temp outside or how long I have been driving the car. Haven't noticed a loss in fluids, no puddles under my car. And it's not a sweet antifreeze smell.
2004 Ford Escape
My otherwise fine-driving 2003 Subaru Outback with 155,000 miles offers an odd, rapid, click, click, click, click directly from the engine while idling. It goes away once you drive off and then returns when you go back to idle. Not loud, not knocking, just click, click, click, click...My mechanic had no idea...and while it hasn't overheated yet (knock wood!) the engine always smells like its threatening to whenever I idle for more than few minutes, even on a cold day.
View 1 RepliesI recently bought a 1997 Subaru Outback. There is a burning smell sometimes and can't quit put my finger on any specific time that this occurs. Also, I find the heat is really crummy. Takes a very long time to heat up and never gets really warm. I might add that when I bought this car the air conditioning "condenser" was not hooked up. It came with the car and looks like a small radiator. Could this have anything to do with either problem?
View 2 RepliesI recently rebuilt a 97 Subaru Outback Legacy, and everything was fine however, whenever I've taken it on the highway, I began noticing a distinct odor of burnt oil. Last night I got home and I actually began seeing smoke. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that oil was running down the differential, dripping onto the power steering and then onto the exhaust. When I looked at the flywheel it had no oil on it so I'm assuming it's not engine oil, however the oil that is dripping looks like engine oil (Im using mobile 1 full synthetic). The fluid levels are all ok, transmission levels ok, engine oil is a little more than full( I added 1 gallon before starting it up for the first time) and there is differential oil, but I know the smell of differential oil, and the oil that was dripping down the differential was not differential oil.
View 3 RepliesWell, my saga continues on my intermittent AC problem on my 99 f350 v10. As before, the AC blows cold but mysteriously stops working on occasion when climbing a grade or stopping at a light in warm weather. I bought a gage kit and runs ~ 45/250psi on the low/high gauges. Clutch is stopping and the metal tube from the accumulator tank runs warm when this occurs.
Seems like the problem occurs when the under hood temp reaches a certain level. Thought it might have been one of the switches but the pressure seems to be OK when these problems are occurring. What/how to check to find the problem? some of my thoughts are:
1. Wire a light in the clutch engagement circuit to see if the problem is in the compressor clutch coil not working when powered up or some heat related failure of the wiring continuity.
2. Check the Hi and low pressure switches for continuity when this is happening. to do this I need to know a few things- location of the high pressure switch low press in on the accumulator) and whether the switch should be open or closed in normal operation. Also can the switches be replaced without losing the charge in the system?
05 outback xt ... I bought this car last October and don't know the history of what has been replaced and what is oem. That being said I have had a horrible smell (imagine a skunk eating rotten eggs) when I back the car up. I also have a problem with my car hesitating when i accelerate but it goes away once the car is warm. The check engine light has never come on when driving but I know it works.
View 6 RepliesI have a 2004 subaru outback that smells of gas when the tank is filled. The smell persists for a couple of days after the tank is filled. It started in the spring and I brought it to the dealer but they couldn't find anything. It seemed to go away during the summer but now that the colder weather has started the problem has returned.
View 6 RepliesI've got a 2000 Subaru outback with 170k miles on it. I recently pulled a code for a bad line pressure solenoid and replaced it. About 500 miles later the oil temp sensor light started flashing so I turned the car off and when I turned the car back on it wasn't flashing and hasn't come on since. No CEL. I'm now about 2k miles after changing the line pressure solenoid and now whenever I drive over 10 or so miles my car smells like the clutch is burning. He idle is a little rough, i.e. it vibrates a little more than usual and the car is a little slow to respond when I gas it.
View 19 RepliesHave an '03 Subaru Outback Ltd. 184k miles. Great car all in all. Has been burning 3-4 qts oil between changes every 3-4k miles. Stated idling rough after warms up [intermittently], slight 'shimmy' at stoplights. Check engine light on always, flashes at times when warms up but even then doesn't flash all the time. Took it to dealer for upcoming smog check, have a bad oxygen censor and possibly bad catalytic converter, but also said low compression no.2 cylinder--which is what I'm wondering about.
Without further diagnostics they're talking about perhaps new pistons, and/or valve job and/or short block rebuild. My questions are 1-is there any more diagnostics possible to narrow it down without pulling it apart? and 2-is it worth a rebuild or should I sell? Great car otherwise, they're talking 3-5k range for repairs, blue book on the car is 4-6k rough estimate? Been a great car all in all, aside from clutch replacement this is the first major repair issue.
The car had no accelerating power and it was well overdue for new spark plugs and wires. I just replaced them and it's doing much better, however, the engine seems to be shaking a bit when I start it/idling, which is making the entire car shake some too ( the seats, car shifter, etc ) . It's been awhile since I've also replaced the air filter too, which I obviously should have checked but haven't yet. When I replaced the spark plugs, I noticed there was a minor amount of engine oil on the spark plug wires, where they connect to the spark plugs; more notably the front 2(of 4), left and right. I also just changed the oil and there was no oil loss really, other than any minor amounts that get burned off through the miles.
The exhaust manifolds ( y-split ) are okay, but one of the nuts seems to loosen over time, causing a minor air leak there and makes it a tad noisy. Near the back half of the exhaust system, there some water dripping at one of the connections, and at the tail pipe the exhaust smoke is chugging and isn't consistent sounding.
What is still causing this engine shaking and the chugging noises from the exhaust system. The 'Check Engine' light is on, due to other repairs I know I need to make, such as an 02 sensor and fuel level sensor; however, lately it has started blinking too.
I have a 2000 Outback, 80K, and I've been having brake issues. The first thing I noticed was a burning brake smell. I pulled over and found that my two front wheels were very hot. I pumped the brakes a few times and let them cool down and drove on. Pulled over in a bit to check them and they were fine. Took the car to the dealer who said, "We can't really find anything wrong with the fronts, but the backs are sticking a bit and we fixed that." So, off I went. Of course, it happened again. Left front seemed the hottest, but this time I noticed that the rear wheels were warm as well. Took it in again. Again, "We don't know." "Could it be the calipers or the lines or the ABS chip," I asked? "Well, yeah, maybe the front calipers." So they replaced the front calipers.
Picked it up and noticed two things of interest on the print out: "Rear brakes hanging up," and the front pads are a 8mm and the rear at 3mm! Hm... Seemed fishy to me. I had all the pads replaced a year and half ago. The last set lasted 75K, so this is odd, as is the discrepancy between back and front. I had the dealer pull the service record. In May the rear were at 5mm. Two weeks ago they were at 3.5mm. Yesterday they were a 3mm. I asked, "What would cause that?" They said, "Well, probably whoever did your brake job didn't clean the brakes up well so they are getting stuck and wearing down." I took the car and drove 60 miles, mostly on the highway. Fronts wheels were cool. Rear wheels were warm to hot.