There is a lot going on. If you had your dealer look at it, I would hope they would recognize the smell of antifreeze, engine oil, transmission/ gear oil, etcetera which may be leaking.
Also as some mentioned, what if there was water damage, did you do a car-fax? Does it have a clear title??
Replace the cabin air filter. There is a thread here.
Another thought. I bought a used car once that had a "freshener" smell that was bugging the crap out of me. I finally located about 30 christmas tree air fresheners banded together up under the dash.
To this day, I can not stand the smell of any fragrance, regardless.
Good luck.
strange odor, and how to eliminate it
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matt_gold99
- Posts: 37
- Joined: Mon Apr 08, 2013 2:44 am
Nice. Don't blame you, I don't like fresheners either.gmkizashi wrote:
Another thought. I bought a used car once that had a "freshener" smell that was bugging the crap out of me. I finally located about 30 christmas tree air fresheners banded together up under the dash.
To this day, I can not stand the smell of any fragrance, regardless.
Good luck.
So, there's been some progress. First off, I removed the filter and cleaned it with soap and warm water. (didn't have to remove glove box...taking the filter out was really, really easy!)
I then became pretty convinced that it was coolant I was smelling. That coolant was leaking onto my heater core. Did an experiment...the vents seems to emit the smell with the car on and heat on full. However, with the engine off and the blower on, with no heat, no smell. Thus I thought coolant on the heater core.
Do I took it back to the dealership on saturday. (bought the car three days previous)
Told them what was going on. They looked at it and an hour later, they called me and said "your car's ready!"
So I went back. They told me that there was NO LEAK. They said "somebody filled up the coolant too much and it spilled quite a bit." (onto the heater core maybe?!?!)
Then they said they cleaned it up, corrected teh coolant level, and I was good to go.
Leaving the dealership, turning on the heater, I could still smell it.
I am guessing that they are right...there was some coolant spilt onto the heater core, and the smell will dissipate in time, as there is no leak there is no new coolant being spilt.
At this point, checking my coolant levels....they really haven't changed since saturday. Also, the smell is truly getting less and less pungent. I don't understand how overfilling the coolant tank could possible cause spilling, I thought it was a closed system. I read something about a puke tank or overflow tank but I don't understand it.
I am keeping an eye oh my coolant levels. They looked me in the eye and told me there was no leak. I have excellent grounds to stand on if I find my coolant levels to be significantly down in a weeks or so.
In the mean time, the smell IS actually dissipating.
Edit: sorry one question...the level in my coolant reserve tank is lower when the engine is cold (it's about 0 degrees celcius outside) and higher when the engine is totally warmed up. Is this right?
You should check the coolant level when the engine/coolant is cold. Coolant expands and will flow into the over flow reservoir with the engine running due to expansion with heat; then as the engine/ coolant cools (after the engine is turned off) the overflow is sucked back into the cooling system.
By the way, the heater core is inside the cabin under the dash board- not in the engine bay. So over filling the coolant (in the engine bay) would have no effect on coolant spilling over the heater core.
By the way, the heater core is inside the cabin under the dash board- not in the engine bay. So over filling the coolant (in the engine bay) would have no effect on coolant spilling over the heater core.
David
Wanted to add that if it is paper and not re-usable, that you should not wash your cabin air filter or other air filter either. You should replace them. I'm fairly certain that they are not meant to have water run through them. Go to DIY and get part numbers for cheap cabin air (one is NAPA/Wix 4685-just break the tabs off)
I replaced my regular air filter with a K&N air filter which you can clean with a solution, re-oil and re-install.
I replaced my regular air filter with a K&N air filter which you can clean with a solution, re-oil and re-install.
2010 SLS FWD CVT-Azure Grey
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matt_gold99
- Posts: 37
- Joined: Mon Apr 08, 2013 2:44 am
Point taken. Interestingly, even though I had washed the old one, I really don't smell anything coming from the vents anymore with this new one!!! (I bought a new one and installed it)
That almost rules out the vents.
Buddy of mine is sure that the smell is something used to clean the vinyl, in too high quantity. Hope so, that would mean it's going to totally go away with time.
Also, it was really warm and sunny the other say, sun was beating down on the dash for several hours. The smell was extra strong when I came back to the car. Tells me my friend might be right.
That almost rules out the vents.
Buddy of mine is sure that the smell is something used to clean the vinyl, in too high quantity. Hope so, that would mean it's going to totally go away with time.
Also, it was really warm and sunny the other say, sun was beating down on the dash for several hours. The smell was extra strong when I came back to the car. Tells me my friend might be right.