Smoke in cabin - any ideas?

[primary colours]

Not much more to say really, when the car's up to temperature I get smoke in the cabin, it lasts for a few minutes and then clears. It appears to be coming from the passenger footwell, but there's no apparent effect on the fusebox and everything is working OK. The central locking has packed up and the control box has been removed while a new one is on order but I'm still getting the smoke. I've got a bit of water in the footwell which is mostly soaked up by the carpets (annoying as I had the floor re-sealed a few months back) and corrosion seems to be the cause of the central locking failure, but as the fuses are OK I can't see that this is linked with the smoke.

Anyone got any idea of what might be causing this? Thanks in advance.

[Gadgeroonie]

is is smoke or possibly steam ?

what does it smell like ?

[primary colours]

Certainly smoke, too 'solid' to be steam and no internal condensation. There's a slight burning smell, I can't put my finger on it but it's not immediately identifiable as either an electrical or mechanical smell, that's what bugging me because there's bugger all else in a car! Sorry - can't be of any more help than that.

[Blu3R]

Radio?

[primary colours]

It's a thought, but would it stop after a few minutes (I haven't used the radio or CD player for ages)?

[wessexrfc]

If it was me, I wouldn't drive it until I'd called an auto-electrician to have a look. The last thing you want is for the wiring

to catch whilst driving along some dual-carriageway, lots of oxygen, mixed with burning wiring, mixed with an epoxy resin

based body work not worth the risk IMO

[lotus160sport]

Mine was doing the same but appeared to stop after having my new exhaust fitted, but the smoke I was getting seemed to be more like exhaust smoke in the passenger footwell??

[JLSELAN]

wessexrfc said:

If it was me, I wouldn't drive it until I'd called an auto-electrician to have a look. The last thing you want is for the wiring

to catch whilst driving along some dual-carriageway, lots of oxygen, mixed with burning wiring, mixed with an epoxy resin

based body work not worth the risk IMO

+1 -- could lead to something very unpleasant.

On a lighter note, however, you'll find some interesting thoughts on auto electrics here:
http://www.peizhang.com/forfun/forfun_writings_smo...

[Jim O.]

Had a Noble in the shop with a bad front turbo (it would put out puffs of smoke intermittently, usually at idle or under decel), and a leaky downpipe. Once the engine got hot, you'd get oil smoke in the cabin sitting at idle. Smoke would go away when you started moving. Replaced the turbo, fixed the downpipe, and the smoking problem went away...

[primary colours]

Thanks for the thoughts. The central locking should get sorted this week so I'll get it checked out then, difficult to leave it standing as it's my daily drive but I think it's the sensible option. The exhaust is something I'd not thought about (would any smoke feed into the front of the cabin?), I had a crack in the manifold welded a few months back as a temporary measure with the intention of replacing with a stainless steel option and I would have hoped that I would pick up on the smell, but years of smoking........ who knows?

Appreciate the help chaps.

[Rob_W]

primary colours said:

(would any smoke feed into the front of the cabin?),

If you have the windows open and are moving air/exhaust gasses get sucked forward up the tunnel and escape wherever they can (through a hole in the gear gaitor in my case)but quite possibly into passenger footwell. It seems most people are right about turbo/exhaust issues but the symptom can appear at the front.

[northnoble]

Totally agree with above post - when I bought mine the "smoke" would come through the tunnel - now sorted by refurbished turbos and the tunnel mod !!

[primary colours]

Thanks gents, the exhaust seems to be the prime suspect as I'm seeing all the symptoms described. As the search function is still down could you enlighten me on the tunnel mod?

[Rob_W]

primary colours said:

Thanks gents, the exhaust seems to be the prime suspect as I'm seeing all the symptoms described. As the search function is still down could you enlighten me on the tunnel mod?

At the front of the tunnel there is a solid aluminium blanking plate. The mod is to cut one or two circular holes in this and redirect one or two of the air intake pipes into the tunnel, this allows a front to back air flow which stops the symptom of air being drawn back up the tunnel and also helps cooling flow to the front turbo. (3 months of ownership and I'm already an expert! )

[primary colours]

Thanks for that Rob

[lotus160sport]

Mine was doing the same but appeared to stop after having my new exhaust fitted, but the smoke I was getting seemed to be more like exhaust smoke in the passenger footwell??