What is your Smelly Car Engine Trying To Tell You?

What is your Smelly Car Engine Trying To Tell You?
What is your Smelly Car Engine Trying To Tell You?

Let’s not forget the fact that your car keeps giving you hints! It could either be the constant ‘check engine’ light blinking to alert you or simply strange odours that are often associated with some sort of malfunction. Sometimes something as simple as a weird noise or an odd stink can help you identify some of the core underlying issues your vehicle is facing!

If you keep wondering where that weird smell in your car keeps coming from, this ‘smelly guide’ to identifying car odours can help you understand what your car is trying to indicate!

Our mechanics in Sunshine West narrowed down the list of strange car odours to these five primary odour types!

Sweet ‘n Syrupy

If your car is filling up in a sweet, syrupy aroma, just know this means bad news for your engine! This smell is usually associated with coolant leakage from the engine, which can be dangerous not only to the engine but to you too! Lack of coolant leads to engine overheating and before you know it’s all black smokes and stranded on the road. A word of caution, do not stand too close to the radiator if you’re opening to check it.

Eggs Gone Bad

If you’re smelling rotten eggs in your car, your catalytic converter is to blame! Usually, this converter would take the gases brewing in the engine and process it in such a way that it gets released without any smell. So if you’re smelling bad eggs, your engine’s converter might need some tweaking.

Metallic Hot Oil Stench

Lack of proper oil circulation, maybe even a leak in the oil system could be the main reason why you smell hot metallic oil inside your car. Often oil leaks impact other functioning parts of the system, for instance, oil dripping in the heated exhaust system will not only stink up your car but also destroy the exhaust system in the process. The best solution? Drop by our car service in Yarraville and let us take care of it.

Smelling Gas

While older car models do have a typical gasoline stench to it, it’s usually not common in newer, improved models. Even so, if the stench of gasoline is way too strong than usual, you should immediately rush to your nearby auto repair shop! Mostly, in cases like this, we suspect a leak in the fuel tank or injector.

The ‘What’s Burning’ Smell

Now you can smell something burning, but you’re not sure what! There could be two instances- something that smells like a carpet being burnt which is what happens when your brake pad or rotors start overheating. If you’re smelling burnt rubber, simply check all the rubber parts and components in your car since burnt rubber smell only means rubber on metal contact and possible friction during the car running.

Want to know more about the different stink types and how to take care of it? Visit our auto shop or simply call us with your query!