Smoke coming through air vents on DB9!

[pmckean]

We just got back from a 10 mile drive in my 2014 DB9, which I've owned for about three months. All went great and the car felt and sounded as wonderful as always.

However, I temporarily parked on my inclined drive and left the engine idling whilst we chatted, engine in 'park'. After about 4-5 minutes, I could smell a change in the cabin and see smoke coming through the middle console air vents. We immediately switched and engine off and the smoke stopped. After a few minutes I fired it back up again and drove into the garage. The engine was only on for 30 seconds more and I saw nothing more. I don't think the air con was on.

I'm ever so slightly worried, obviously. Is it a case of TADTS, or is imy lovely car about to go up in flames? Got about 9 months warranty, so could make the trek to the dealer if need be, but I wondered if any other members of the forum have come across similar issues in the past?

[RobDown]

They definitely don’t all do that!

[M5MarkM]

new one by me! I'd get it back to the dealers to look at ASAP.

[roughrider]

Possibly an oil weep onto the exhaust manifold???

[Manx V8V]

Could you distinguish the type of smell which accompanied the smoke? was it burning oil or an electrical (burning plastic) smell.

I would lift the bonnet and run the engine again to see if you can see or smell anything.

[rovcallum]

Do you have a mouse problem in your garage?
Something made a "nest" in the engine bay?

[Wacky Racer]

Manx V8V said:

Could you distinguish the type of smell which accompanied the smoke? was it burning oil or an electrical (burning plastic) smell.

I would lift the bonnet and run the engine again to see if you can see or smell anything.

Keep a hose pipe, fire blanket and extinquisher handy though.....

Seriously, I would get it trailered to your AM specialist, not worth the risk driving it in case the whole car goes up in smoke.

[pmckean]

All great advice, guys. I will lift the bonnet and have a look, then get the thing towed to my nearest dealer. Hopefully nothing too serious! It was bought from an Aston dealer, so had gone through all the Timeless checks.

[V8LM]

Possibly the a/c drains blocked and it’s not smoke but water vapor.

[tgclowes]

What type of smoke is it? Is it lingering, is it blue is it white?

As mentioned above, oil leaking onto the manifold could be a shout, I had something similar with my old C63 when the gasket on one of the manifolds failed and allowed a small amount of oil to leak out.

[Wacky Racer]

Update??

[pmckean]

Sorry for the lack of update. The car has pretty much been garaged over the Winter. I took it out one more time and once again experienced smoke coming into the cabin.

Today, I got the recall notice through the door that affects DB9, DBS, Virage and Vanquish (2013) models. It mentions exactly this issue; smoke in the cabin. Apparently if the right seat is fully rearward, the seat runner can cause damage to the insulation of the battery supply cable and cause a short circuit.

So, I'm definitely affected and to the nearest dealer I must go! At least the engine isn't going to go boom.

[pmckean]

So, to provide a little close to this thread for future reference, the smoke coming through the air vents was traved to the cam cover gasket leaking oil onto the exhaust.

The car was trailered to Grange Aston Marting Welwyn, who replaced the cam cover gasket under warranty.

[Rappa]

Glad it's solved and that you took the time to let us know what it was.

Sean