Have you ever stepped into your car and smelled a smell? A smelly smell? A smelly smell that smells…. smelly? Okay, I kid. But really, have you smelled anything odd in your car and then somehow, some time later, you need to take your car in for repairs? There’s no mystery involved - smells in your car can indicate that there might be something wrong with your engine. Read on to see what five of those smells are and could mean!
You Smell: Sulfur
What It Is: When you smell sulfur in your car all the time, you can pretty much assume that it’s gear lube leaking from the manual transmission, transfer case, or differential housing. There are sulfur compounds in the oil that serve as extreme-pressure lubricants for the gears in these parts, and after being in use for a few years this stuff can get kind of gross. Look for stinky puddles of oily, viscous stuff under your car. If you see this, you should take your vehicle into the shop.
You Smell: Rotten eggs
What It Is: Your catalytic converter is having some issues and is putting hydrogen sulfide into your exhaust. It could either be a fuel injection problem, or your cat is failing. This is, unfortunately, a pretty expensive repair. But if you smell the rotten eggs when your car is not running, you should probably check for something inside the car. Like a rotten egg.
You Smell: Maple syrup
What It Is: Coolant! Coolant has ethylene glycol in it, which smells sweet but is definitely toxic. If you’re smelling it, that means there’s a leak somewhere in your system. You should take your vehicle in to get looked at, though this is a pretty easy fix.
You Smell: Hot oil
What It Is: Well, it’s hot oil. But the oil is getting hot because it’s leaking onto the exhaust manifold, which is hot when your engine is running. It’s not a pleasant smell by any stretch of the imagination, so take a look around your engine and keep an eye out for smoke. If you can find the leak, try to stem it, then take your car into the shop ASAP.
You Smell: A gas station
What It Is: Unless you’re at a gas station, you shouldn’t smell this. It’s literally straight up gasoline, which should be inside your car and not outside of it. If your car is older (i.e. before 1980) then you might smell this pretty much every time you turn your car off, but if your car is newer than that, the smell of gas means that you’ve got an issue. This could be a leak from a fuel injection line or a fuel tank vent hose in your engine.
The nose knows, as they say, but if you don’t know exactly what it knows you’re out of luck. Hopefully, this list helps you know what your nose knows, which is the first step into saving money on car repairs. If you have an issue that you can’t fix yourself, take your vehicle to Fiore Toyota - our professionals will be more than happy to help you figure out what’s going on and fix it for you.
