Bad smell in car, HELP!

theclick · Post by **theclick** » Thu Sep 25, 2008 10:06 pm

Hi all

Recently I've been getting a pretty wierd smell in my L. Basically, it smells like stale cig smoke, but have never had anyone smoke in the car. It also seems to be giving me pretty severe headaches.

I'm worried the headaches are being caused by carbon monoxide, however i am told it doesnt smell. Could it be at all possible that an exahust leak would cause a smell similar to cigarette smoke?

Other than that, there is some water coming in onto the carpet, i spose tha to could be stirring up old smoke from previous owners.

Suby Wan Kenobi · Post by **Suby Wan Kenobi** » Thu Sep 25, 2008 10:27 pm

The stale water in the underlay can give off a pretty bad smell if its let too. You havent got a power wire earthing under the dash? would be another suggestion but by now it should have stopped something from working.

Fang · Post by **Fang** » Fri Sep 26, 2008 5:43 am

Hmm for any smells in the L Series, I'd check -:

- Blocked blower fan - on the passenger side underneath the dash. You can get this out with just removing one or two plastic panels. An amount of crap can accumulate in there

- Rubber boot around gearshfit - This has perished on my new L and a new one is on its way from Japan to me. This was letting in some funky smells. If you remove the gearshift console, you will see the rubber boot underneath that.

- Wet carpet gives off a gag worthy smell. I recently had the dash out of one my L's - and I think water could come in around the heater pipes (if you submerge your L Series in water like I do). If you have air conditioning, you might water to check if you have got blocked water outlet. That would make your carpet wet as well I would think.

They are the only other options I can offer. Some of those may not give off a cigarette smell but it might not hurt to check.

theclick · Post by **theclick** » Fri Sep 26, 2008 9:23 am

Thanks guys, i'll look into those things when i work up the courage to go near it. Couldn't believe how bad it smells.

Cheers

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Fri Sep 26, 2008 9:29 am

Worse still it could be a cracked heater core that's seeping coolant to the floor - that'd make the funkiest smell!

Not good either way.

Bennie

Fang · Post by **Fang** » Fri Sep 26, 2008 9:44 am

El_Freddo wrote:Worse still it could be a cracked heater core that's seeping coolant to the floor - that'd make the funkiest smell!

Not good either way.

Bennie

Ugh - good point Bennie

Subyroo · Post by **Subyroo** » Fri Sep 26, 2008 10:18 am

theclick wrote:Other than that, there is some water coming in onto the carpet, i spose tha to could be stirring up old smoke from previous owners.

The water isn't leaking out of your A/C - heater core under the dash is it?

theclick · Post by **theclick** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 1:03 pm

Subyroo wrote:The water isn't leaking out of your A/C - heater core under the dash is it?

Had a look and cleaned it up. I couldnt identify where the water leak was coming from, but the car lives outside and when it rains i often get a slight leak from around the top of the window sill. It smells kinda like coolant, but cant really tell so will have to keep an eye on it to see if it pops up again.

Cheers

Andy