Egg smell from car = Not always Catalytic convertor
Discussion
This last week I've noticed a bad egg smell in the car. My first
thought was "broken catalytic convertor". However what puzzled me was that the smell only
occured when I was turning right. Turn left = no smell. Turn full right lock when not moving = no
smell. Turn right whilst moving = bad egg smell Stronger on roundabouts. I checked under the seats
and in the boot, thinking perhaps there was a bottle of stagnant liquid spilling over every time the car
leaned over. Nothing found.
No smell at all from outside the car, nothing from exhaust. Fuel consumption normal.
This morning I decided I might as well clean the inside of the car, hoping the smell of cockpit
shine and leather care cream might mask the bad egg smell, and whilst bending to remove the
carpet behind the driver, I caught a good whiff of it. Following my nose I found a dead snail,
stuck to the underside of the driver's headrest, next to one of the silver metal supports.
Turns out the thing had got in there when I took some stuff to the tip the week before, and
died some point after. The steering right wasn't mechanically connected to the smell - it was
because I was turning my hear slightlyto the right and into the line of smell.
Weird. Glad I didn't take it to the garage first - how stupid would that have looked?
Michael.
thought was "broken catalytic convertor". However what puzzled me was that the smell only
occured when I was turning right. Turn left = no smell. Turn full right lock when not moving = no
smell. Turn right whilst moving = bad egg smell Stronger on roundabouts. I checked under the seats
and in the boot, thinking perhaps there was a bottle of stagnant liquid spilling over every time the car
leaned over. Nothing found.
No smell at all from outside the car, nothing from exhaust. Fuel consumption normal.
This morning I decided I might as well clean the inside of the car, hoping the smell of cockpit
shine and leather care cream might mask the bad egg smell, and whilst bending to remove the
carpet behind the driver, I caught a good whiff of it. Following my nose I found a dead snail,
stuck to the underside of the driver's headrest, next to one of the silver metal supports.
Turns out the thing had got in there when I took some stuff to the tip the week before, and
died some point after. The steering right wasn't mechanically connected to the smell - it was
because I was turning my hear slightlyto the right and into the line of smell.
Weird. Glad I didn't take it to the garage first - how stupid would that have looked?
Michael.
I had an eggy whiff from an old car I had that wasn't equipped with a catalytic converter. It was a bit of a poser but the smell was getting worse and worse, and I was totally at a loss as to what would make it stink so badly!
Had a bit of a root around the car and noticed my passenger rubber floor mat swimming in acid based wheel cleaner. Bingo! The acid was dissolving the rubber (it hadn't eaten all the way through thankfully) and the resultant smell was very pungent "Oeuf"
Binned the mats and all was well!
Had a bit of a root around the car and noticed my passenger rubber floor mat swimming in acid based wheel cleaner. Bingo! The acid was dissolving the rubber (it hadn't eaten all the way through thankfully) and the resultant smell was very pungent "Oeuf"
Binned the mats and all was well!
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