Car question, not audio related, but odor related

[hellohello]

As some of you know, I have a 2001 sentra, its a nice car overall, but theres one thing ive noticed since ive gotten it and i cant quite explain. Let me paint the scenario. Youre on the highway, stuck behind an old lady barely doing the speed limit when the lane next to you opens up. You step on the gas to speed up and pass the old bag in the aforementioned open lane. Standard driving procedure. Now heres something I noticed in my car, about maybe 30 seconds after i initially hit the gas to speed up, i get a faint odor of gas or exhaust in the cabin. Its kinda like a combination of the two. I cant think of any other time ive smelled this in anyone elses car. It seems to eminate from the front of the car, through the dash... It doesnt make me light headed or anything, but its there for a good 2-3 minutes and i cant think of what it could be. I looked at the manifold, it looks fine, and its only when I accelerate hard. Any ideas as to what this mysterious odor could be?

[Mike B.]

With a 01 car , I'd hit a Autozone and take advantage of a free odb2 scan. This will rule out a sensor or electrical switch in the emmissions system. I'd carfully look over all hoses/vacume lines for frays,or wear.
For example; Vw's (VR6) have a breather hose off the valve cover that would weep a drop of oil under hard driving, in turn it would drip onto the hearder and burn off,smell. Adding a regular clamp fixes it.
With a fuel odor , take care to look over the fuel lines, injector rail, injectors, and evaprative(sp?) system.

When I work on friends cars the 1st thing I usally do is give the engine bay a quick wash. Warm the engine(NOT HOT) ,spray it with a mist of water,mist it with simple green, rinse lightly with water after 5-10 mins.

I'll add more when I'm fully awake, :o

[hellohello]

uhhhh... ive never had luck putting water on an engine, usually makes things worse

[audiobliss]

I don't know how different engines handle it, but I can't wash the engine in my '95 Cherokee; it'll mess it up. It could be ok in a 2001 Sentra, though - I don't know.

That's a good idea to get a scan done, especially if it's free.

[Mike B.]

If a little bit of water messes somthing up , the engines a hunk of crap, ;) .Do you think it stays dry when driving in the rain?
When I say mist , I use a plant mist tip,and dont soak it . I avoid spraying the dist/coilpack directly. You can leave the engine running , in fact thats how most dealers locate bad coil packs, wires,.... they mist the suspected part with water while its running.
A clean engine bay is MUCH easier to locate defective parts in.
Also if you dont regularly get on it , it maybe road grime burning off the exhaust.

[hellohello]

well, i need an inspection soon, il have my brother look at it, he's a mechanic, but he has a short temper when it comes to "stupid questions" i.e. if the car runs, wtf is ur problem lol

[audiobliss]

haha...nice brother, lol.

I suppose misting shouldn't be a problem; I meant get a water hose and wash it off. I was told I shouldn't do that to my Jeep. But like you say, misting certainly is no more water than will get in there when driving in the rain.

[hellohello]

well, he works in a not so glamourous place with sub-human clientele... i tried to make it sound nicer than the way he describes it. He wants his own shop, but he cant afford it, being a mechanic and all. :rolleyes:

[beardog03]

If you simple green your motor you can do it cold,
Or start it up and do it while running, but if you start it and then spray the green on then turn it off to soak, let it cool back down for a few minutes, as not to crack anything or f up gaskets..

It` better to use a low power / power washer...just be careful where ya aim it..

[hellohello]

be careful as to avoid what?

[audiobliss]

...stuff that it might hurt...



:p

[Jstas]

Wow.

DO NOT user a power washer of any sorts, not even a hose under the hood of your car. You can and will force water into places like electrical connections and such where it shouldn't be.

Go grab yourself a brush for washing your car from the auto parts store. Get the Simple Green or other degreaser. Regular car wash soap has a degreaser in it too. Dump some soap in a bucket and then fill the bucket with warm water. Use the brush to scrub down the greasy parts of the engine. To rise, use a bucket of clean cold water and just dunk the brush in and brush off the stuff you just cleaned. You are alot less likely to damage anything or cause a problem. You can do it the other ways that have been suggested but it has been my experience that that is quite a bad idea.

As for the fuel smell, I doubt anything is bad. Most Japanese cars, especially Mitsus and Nissans dump a ton of fuel into the engien when you go from a crusing RPM to a high RPM under WOT. This is to prevent the engine from knocking and/or leaning out and having disasterous consequences. If it only happens under WOT like when you are passing someone and you smell it after you let off, it is usually because the engine is no longer running hard enough to burn all the fuel in the fuel rails so it is flowing back down teh return lines to the tank. It is not necessarily unsual and a faint smell does not necessarily indicate a problem. If it worries you, get it looked at.

[POLKOROLLA]

the main thing to avoid when washing an engine is the distibutor. many people will wash their engine's while they are not running and then they will not start afterwards. this is usually caused by water in the distibutor. a quick fix is to remove the cap and spray the inside with wd-40. as far as the fuel odor if there is any leak in the fuel system or evap emissions system it should cause the check engine light to illuminate, but it still may not be a bad idea to have it scanned for any fault codes.

[Jstas]

What happens if your car doesn't have a distributor?

[hellohello]

thanks Jstas, even tho i have no idea who you are, lol, ur words are reassuring. I always thought engines and water didnt mix :p

[POLKOROLLA]

usually newer vehicles with individual coils instead of a distributor are not as easily harmed by water. either wat the safest method is to have the car cool and at idle to wash the engine

[Jstas]

Sorry, no more playing around here.

Water and electronics simply do not mix. If you are using high pressure water from a garden hose or anything more forceful in your engine bay, I will implore your to please stop this as soon as possible.

Not only will water work its way into electrical connections and cause corrosion but it can also short out the electrical system and blow fuses and breakers. The problem is that if there is enough water to bridge a fused connection, even if the fuse blows, current can still make its way down the line. You can end up not only frying coil packs, alternators and other expensive stuff but you can fry ECMs, drivetrain control computers, OBD systems and a slew of other parts that cost thousands to replace.

I have personally witnessed people wash thier engine bays with pressurized jets of water and caused anywhere from 200-3,000 bucks worth of damage. Not something you would want to mess with. Having the egnine warm or running will not prevent this. Also, shooting cold water onto a hot or warm intake or exhaust manifold is a good way to crack or break it. Forced water can also make its way into combustion chambers and oil resivoirs which is bad. Water doesn't lubricate like oils do. It doesn't handle the pressure that hydraulic oils like ATF and power steering fluid do and if in the combustion chamber, it can cause serious engine failure in enough quanities. Water is a liquid and liquids do not compress. Shoving something in the combustion chamber that doesn't compress is not a good thing considering the pressures that your typical engine operates under.




If you really want to degrease or detail your engine compartment, light solvents like what are found in automotive detergents or spray degreasers will work fine. Cheap alternatives that are less likely to harm seals and other soft parts are things like Ether (starting fluid) or napthalene. Do not user cleaners like brake cleaner or carb cleaner. They are very powerful and will melt plastic and rubber and cause glues that hold paper and cork gaskets together to deteriorate.

What I do to clean an engine is I get a few brushes. One is a big tire/wheel brush with soft bristles for a clearcoated wheel. This will not marr or scratch parts that shouldn't be marred or scratched. I also get a few nylon and natural fiber detail brushes. Metal bristle brushes will remove paints, damage seals and scratch softer finishes like aluminum or plastic intake manifolds and fuel injection systems. I also have a few old toothbrushes hanging around. They don't work so good for your teeth after a while but they still have use. For a detergent, I user regular car washing soap. If the grease is heavy and/or caked on I will get Gunk Engine Brite. Stuff works better than anything I have used yet. Probably because it contains a certain amount of kerosene which is a light oil and also a solvent. Then I use a little elbow grease. Let the degreaser do its thing and it will be easy to remove dirt, grease and grime with the brushes.

To rinse, I will either use the same wheel/tire brush or a clean one and a bucket of cold hose water. Dunk the brush in, pull it out, stick it right in the engine bay and rub the soap/cleaner/degreaser right off. Don't worry about any small amounts of residue, the engine gets hot enough to evaporate/burn it off. Don't leave degreasers and solves on paint, they will damage it. Let the engine air-dry. You will get small pools of water in places. If you are worried about looks for a show or something, use a rag to clean them up. Otherwise, they will go away eventually but leave water spots. The only issue there is that water spots on things like aluminum can cause nastly looking discolorization, especially on polished parts. They can also cause pitting which isn't good so use your best judgement. The reason you let it air dry is because standing water or water spots can cause the myriad of electrical connections under the hood to arc and short out. That's bad. Just let it dry off and it will be fine.

It would be best to disconnect the battery during this cleaning exercise not only to protect the delicate electronics in your car but for you own safety too. You'll also probably want to wear eye protection. Many surfaces on an engine are unfinsinhed and as a result they have a coarse texture which can cause brush bristles to get hung up and flick stuff everywhere as you scrub. The solvents, greases and dirt are not good to have in your eyes or near any other bodily soft tissue so take precautions as you see fit.

[POLKOROLLA]

wow dude, that was a good book and you have a lot of free time. i will agree not to use high pressure water, and i will also agree with your other comments. however engines by design do get wet and if you are going to wash your engine it seems to work better with a cool not hot running engine.

[Jstas]

wow, dude, did you even read my post? I didn't say to wash an engine running or even hot. Why would you want to stick your hands next to a hot engine? Engines may get wet but if you look at your engine bay, there are things put in place like wheel wells to limit the amount of water entering the engine bay. An engine bay will stay much more dry than you think even in a torrential downpour and driving down the highway at 65 MPH. On thing though, give me one good reason why you think engines are designed to get wet?

It didn't take long to write that post. Go ahead and keep disagreeing with me and putting words in my mouth. I can go at it all day long. I have tons of automotive experience under my belt and if I don't know the answer to something, I have resources to get the correct answer, quickly.

[CrBoy]

Go ahead and keep disagreeing with me and putting words in my mouth. I can go at it all day long. I have tons of automotive experience under my belt and if I don't know the answer to something, I have resources to get the correct answer, quickly.

WOW!!! Take it easy pal... ;)
Everybody is entitle to an opinion...

[Jstas]

The problem is not that people are entitled to opinions or that they even have opinions. The problem is when people try to pass off those opinions as facts.

[hellohello]

It sounds like you must work at the same place my brother does Jstas, lol :p

[CrBoy]

The problem is not that people are entitled to opinions or that they even have opinions. The problem is when people try to pass off those opinions as facts.

You got that right, but we all make mistakes from time to time... that's how we learn... :)

[neomagus00]

ah, but throwing your mistakes back in someone's face - when you've been shown the light - is an entirely different thing...

[Jstas]

It sounds like you must work at the same place my brother does Jstas, lol :p

Nah, 'cause if the owner of a vehicle says there is a problem, it is up to the mechanic to ask the questions and do the troubleshooting to determine if the "problem" exixts or not and if it does, to determine if the "problem" really is a problem. That's where knowledge and experience come in because they make the troubleshooting process easier. I'll listen to any problem you got, give an honest answer to any question and do my best to help out.

[POLKOROLLA]

jstas, i apologize and did not mean to offend. i have many years experience as a mechanic as well and i can tell you do also. my intentions were not to disregard your comments, rather i agree. i know you never said a hot engine also. i was just stating my opinion that i think washing the engine while it is running has always worked best for me. i know there are reasons not to do this, as there are reasons not to wash an engine at all i suppose. at any rate i was just tossing out my 2 cent and did not mean to offend.

[neomagus00]

YES! a confrontation has been avoided! polkorolla, i thank you for your honesty and you are always welcome to throw in your opinion... wrong though it may be... :D

[audiobliss]

I have new found respect for POLKOROLLA! Just so long as that 'orolla' in your name doesn't stand for a Toyota Corolla!

:D

[Jstas]

No harm meant, sorry if I came off too strong. It was not easy to see where you were coming from and to whom your posts were directed. If I came off too harsh, I apologize but I hate seeing advice given that has the potential to do serious damage in the hands of a novice without proper warnings and precautions being taken. Wouldn't want someone screwing up thier car and coming back and giving hell for it.

Then again, that is the beauty of advice, it's freely given and you don't even have to take it!

Opinions on the other hand, they are like assholes, everyone has one, some just stink worse than others! ;) The beauty of opinions are that they can't really be wrong or right. They can be inaccurate or lacking wisdom but never really wrong because they are based on personal experiences, ideas and feelings. All of those are subjective to a point but they cannot be substantiated in a factual sense. Therefore, if they cannot be proven right or wrong, how can an opinion be wrong?

Oh and don't mind neomagus00, he likes to cower in fear, practice complacency, avoid all forms of confrontation and is a lifetime member of the passive aggressive retort fanclub. :eek: :p

[neomagus00]

Oh and don't mind neomagus00, he likes to cower in fear (i prefer the chain of logic that, just as discretion is the better part of valor, so is cowardice the better part of discretion), practice complacency (aka apathy), avoid all forms of confrontation (only the frivolous ones) and is a lifetime member of the passive aggressive retort fanclub (hey, why don't you say that to my face!... ee! no, run away!). :eek: :p
ah, such happiness :p:D

[Jstas]

i prefer the chain of logic that, just as discretion is the better part of valor, so is cowardice the better part of discretion

We only fear what we don't understand and you can't understand if you don't question. Sometimes, discretion needs to be forsaken so that the questioning can take place.


aka apathy

Don't confuse indifference with laziness now. Just because you are lazy doesn't mean you don't have a vested interest in your ability to practice freewill. Complacency through apathy does not necessarily allow for avoiding confrontations and certainly can't exist if fear is the driving force in your life. If you don't have a desire to see an outcome go one way or another then that is indifference and not necessarily laziness.

only the frivolous ones

What would make a confrontation frivolous?

hey, why don't you say that to my face!... ee! no, run away!

Hey, you had the chance at PolkFest to meet everyone and you didn't even introduce yourself. No one figured out who you were until the end of teh day and you had left by the time anyone decided that if you were going to introduce yourself, we would "confront" you and commence the introductions.

If I am not mistaken, is this not you in the yellow shirt in the foreground?

http://www.polkaudio.com/images/showcase/238_3_big.jpg

[PoweredByDodge]

i didn't read the whole thread, but most of it - and i'm agreeing with Jstas completely...

YOU DO NOT WASH ENGINES.

even pre-computer motors ARE NOT HAPPY WITH WATER BEING DUMPED ON THEM... this is why we have such wonderful things are weatherstripping along the cowl and HOODS. in the rain, water is splashed up against the oil pan and the fenders, and between the two is usually a rubber shield... very littler water ends up on top of the actual engine.

stupid bastard.

some guys in here are very young and/or very impressionable. they may look at something said in these forums as "gospel", so be a little careful about what you reccomend --- if it has to potential to damage someone's equpiment or vehicle, watch your damn mouth, or at least explain yourself VERY thoroughly.

personally, i've never used simple green (but its like gumout engine degreaser right?). i have used gumout with a semi-stiff scrub brush ... i then removed the "icky stuff" with very damp, but by no means dripping at all, rags... then dried it with paper towels. i only did that once -- my 99 had gotten filthy inside and it was sucking "crap" into the 14" open eliment dish air cleaner filter.

what i have had done more than once, and have friends who have done, and have never seen a problem with - is steam cleaning an engine bay. one must be very careful to mask off any areas that may be prone to being hurt by semi-moderate pressures (not high pressure like a power washer, but something a little strong)... this would include the engine computer and associated harness, a piece of cardboard with a few strips of duct tape works great.

personally though, i dont think that's your problem.

either a) you are getting a little too rich mixture after dumping the throttle (gas pedal), which is resulting in unburnt fuel getting into the exhaust manifold (or headers). normally this is not a problem -- if your car was made before 1974. catalytic converters DO NOT LIKE UNBURNT FUEL. it fouls them up real bad... and makes them smell like rotten eggs and stinky doo doo. if you have mini-ox cats which are like not even a foot from the manifold, this would explain why it's coming from the engine compartment.

b) you just plain have a small exhaust leak probably in the front pipe or in the header/manifold... take a look... let the car sit till everything is nice and cold.. i mean REAL COLD. then push it up onto some of those ramp deals that get you about a foot off the ground... block the wheels, all that safe shit, and start it up... then get under there immediately and you'll have maybe 30 seconds to be able to actually touch the exhaust pipe and see if you can feel a leak. after that, it's going to be far too hot to touch without burning yourself. if you can't find it that way - wait till its cold outside - like say 30 degrees or something... do the same thing, but dont worry about pushing it - just drive the bastard onto the ramps... lay on the ground (not necessarily under the car, but just so you have a good view of everything) and have a buddy start the car... and slightly rev the motor... due to the cold air and the exhaust being hot, if you have a leak you should see "fog" (the exhaust vapors and shit) coming out somewhere other than the tail pipe (if you have a leak... if you don't - you won't).

[hellohello]

ok, so it may be a leak... the headers are rusty, dont know how bad, probably pretty bad. Ill probably do the "put it on ramps in cold weather" option since its gettin cold.

what could be done about the converters if theyre the problem?

[neomagus00]

jstas - yes, that is me in the foreground... you are correct, i introduced myself to few people at polkfest, because 1) i'm not much of a people person, i have a difficult time with people i don't know, which is just me and 2) i didn't go to polkfest to meet the people - note my lack of attendance at the party the next day; i went to see some of the technical stuff, because that is where my interests lie... i also left early because i had to get back that night, previous engagements and all that...

a frivolous confrontation is one like so many recent threads, generally with you in them - instead of a logical, calm discussion, there are personal attacks that have nothing to do with the subject of the discussion... until the comment you made about me, there was none of that in this thread, thus my joy at the lack of a confrontation here...

and the rest of it was massive sarcasm, apparently the smilie didn't get it across... and the valor-discretion-cowardice comment is a direct quote from hitchiker's guide, i wanted to see if anyone would pick up on it :p

[Jstas]

a frivolous confrontation is one like so many recent threads, generally with you in them - instead of a logical, calm discussion, there are personal attacks that have nothing to do with the subject of the discussion... until the comment you made about me, there was none of that in this thread, thus my joy at the lack of a confrontation here...

and the rest of it was massive sarcasm, apparently the smilie didn't get it across... and the valor-discretion-cowardice comment is a direct quote from hitchiker's guide, i wanted to see if anyone would pick up on it :p

Wow. You take some pot shots at me and then tell me I'm the one starting trouble. I guess it's ok because you are blowing it off as sarcasm.

I don't see confrontation as frivolous, ever. If I am going to confront someone it's because I see issue with thier statements or behaviors and I don't stand idlly by when I see such depreciations in character and behavior. I will always stand up for what I think is right and I will always give the best argument I can for why I think it is right. The problem with people today is that they are all too chickenshit to call each other on piss-poor behavior. If you do make an effort to straighten things out, your labelled as a prick, an asshole or just arrogant because someone else thinks complacency and tolerance is OK. Yet those same people will be the first to complain that they don't know why people get away with what they get away with in today's world.

I don't care if people have a problem with me. I know who I am and I am true to myself. I will stand up for what I believe is right and if someone is going to attack me, I will go right back at them. I learned a long time ago that honesty is the best policy and that you only get into trouble by not saying what you mean and pussyfooting around what you are really trying to say. What does that get me? Brutal honesty. The truth hurts. One thing though, people very rarely misinterpret where I stand on a subject. I get misinterpreted when I am trying to explain a concept but that is a different matter altogether.

So if you don't mind, I will take offense to your statement stating that confrontations that involve me are frivolous. I was only razzing you previously but now I starting to think that there was a truth to my statements that I didn't see before.

I also got the Hitchiker's reference and while the statement is there, the counter argument is presented in the book by questioning the logic. It furthers the thought that how can discretion be the better part of valor when discretion is based on cowardice according to that train of logic? The questioning of that statement exposes it's contradictory nature and shows that one cannot have discretion if one has not had the courage to go to a point beyond discretion and test that limit. Discretion itself does not imply a fear that would be possessed by cowardess but rather a wisdom of knowing where the limit is and where the threshold of acceptable behavior would be and then not exceeding that threshold rather than stomping right up to the limit and achieving a status beyond jerk.

[madmax]

I've always power washed my chevy engines with no problem. Other products probably vary. A REALLY big mistake is to wash with the motor running. The water will suck right down the intake. As for jeeps, so you can run them through streams with water up to the top of the engine but you better not spray a hose on them?? Very strange.
madmax

[neomagus00]

please, point out a 'potshot' of mine, because i don't seem to recall making any, and any percieved 'potshots' were unintentional; i really need to learn how to express sarcasm better online... as far as being brutally honest, i respect you for your ability to stand against whatever opposition you see, real or percieved, but i don't believe that honesty need be brutal to be effective... i believe that this is a difference in opinion, not one of fact, and i'm going to leave it at that...

you seem to be a stickler for people 'putting words in your mouth', and rightfully so, but i'll have to argue your statement that i said 'every confrontation that involves you is frivolous'... instead, i said that many recent confrontations involved you - i did not say that you caused them, the intended implication was that you tend to perpetuate them - this thread being a case-in-point - you took a bit of lighthearted sarcasm much too seriously (from my point of view) and ran with it...

as far as the hitchhiker's reference goes, i very much did not intend for anyone to read into the statement that much - i'd actually forgotten the context until you reminded me, though i've never been much of one to read into books like that, i enjoy them at face value and leave it at that... but that's just me...

[audiobliss]

As for jeeps, so you can run them through streams with water up to the top of the engine but you better not spray a hose on them?? Very strange.
madmax

Yeah, it had something to do with some of the electronics in my Jeep. I'm not sure what exactly it was, and I'm not even sure if I was told what exactly it was. But, my dad is a Snap-On dealer and has quite a few reliable connections, so I'm not gonna question the advice.

[Dennis Gardner]

Now that we are back on track...............hellohello, It sounds like it is happening when you stretch your leg to push the accelerator to the floor during passing, so my suggestion is for you to......"lay off the tamales".

This is no doubt the source of gaseous smells in the cabin.

Send 10$ my way, since I my trouble shooting took all of 15 minutes. :D

[hellohello]

...yeah i know what causes it, but i want to know what "it" is :p

[PoweredByDodge]

1 - if the converters are bad, and its the mini-ox variety that are actually "pre converters" before the "big" converter - they're a dealer only / direct replacement only type of item... there are aftermarket onces, but they're clones of the OEM stuff, no generics.

2- if its the "big" cat... then you can get a generic one for about 50 - 75 bucks, or grab the OEM for about 3 bills. Walker (owners of Dynomax, or vice versa) make a great "direct fit oem style" cat for various cars. www.partsamerica.com (advance auto parts)

3- jeeps can only go into water that's as high as the motor if you have a snorkel setup attached. and you cannot have the electronics mounted that low ... they have to either be relocated inside the cabin (upper dash) or very high on the firewall.

[hellohello]

cool

[audiobliss]

cool cool :rolleyes:

:D