BY KEVIN SAWYER – It has happened to us all. We have been driving our vehicle as we normally do when, seemingly all of a sudden, you can smell something that just doesn’t smell right at all. There could be any number of reasons that your vehicle is smelling like something is wrong. Here’s a few of them:
- If it is an acrid smell, your clutch or your brakes could be about ready to break down on you. If you are prone to riding the brake, they could burn out quickly or you may have a caliper that has frozen up. A clutch that has burned out may smell like the brake pads have burned out so it could be either one.
- If you are smelling something sweet, it is likely your heater core. It’s the coolant that smells like that. There may be a coolant leak on your floor or you may find some fog on your windshield when you turn the heater on.
- If it smells a bit musty, you probably know what that is. It means that water is ending up where it isn’t really suppose to be. The moldy smell is the water just making puddles somewhere in your car. It could also be the air conditioning evaporator but if you check around, you will probably find some wetness inside the vehicle somewhere.
- If you are smelling that oil smell, then you have a leak somewhere. It would be wise not to drive your vehicle until you find the leak because, without oil, your engine will seize and die. Also, if you are smelling that really awful sulfuric rotten egg smell, your catalytic converter is likely gone.
- Smelling gas is never good. If you have a carburetor you car will smell like gas a little bit sometimes. If your vehicle has fuel injection, however, there is something seriously wrong. The gasoline is not getting to the engine somehow or there is a leak somewhere. You should never smell gas with a fuel injected engine.
One of the challenges can be that when your car is smelling, it usually means that there is a breakdown somewhere. Not always though. Sometimes it could be coming from the outside or there may something trapped in the trunk or under one of the seats.
PHOTO CREDIT: Carsguide.com