"The Smell"

[expatriot98]

Here's the first of many questions. The new SC has just the right amount of oil leakage. Not too worried about that, it's probably just the return tubes. The thing I haven't seen mentioned on the forum much is the burned oil smell in the cab. I do plan to clean the engine, trans and heat exchangers thoroughly and chase the cause of the leak.

My question. After the cleaning, can I expect the oil smell in the cab to dissipate, or is the odor impregnated in to the upholstery. If so, are there any tricks to cover or hide the. Thanks in advance for your ideas.
Mark

[Planter91C2]

hang 15 pine tree air fresheners from the rearview mirror.









no, seriously, after time it should disapate slightly but still have that awesome aroma of a racecar.

[emcon5]

I love the smell of hot oil and leather in the morning. It smells like victory.

Tom

[Rick Lee]

No - it will not go away until you repair the leak causing the smell. It's probably leaking onto a heat exchanger, burning off and getting into one or both of the heater boxes, which you will always smell in the cabin. A tiny drop of oil can make a big mess. It will not get better by itself.

[Early_S_Man]

Mark,

As far as getting the odor out ... get a large box of 'Cheer' or 'Tide' laundry detergent powder and spread it out in 6 or so flat layer-cake pans ... to maximize the surface area exposure. In a couple of weeks you won't even detect any oil smoke smell, but make sure the detergent you use is one you aren't bothered by ... though after you remove the source, the 'aroma' will dissipate fairly quickly! I used this method in my Beetle, which had a gasoline leak in the tunnel ... and it did the trick!!! Gas fumes are REAL hard to tolerate!

[expatriot98]

Another fix from "Oily_S_Man". Thanks for the help guys.
M

[Decolliber]

Smells can take a long time to dissipate. The PO of my Carrera was a smoker and it took months and several boxes of baking soda to get the smell out. Leave the windows open. You can also get little spray bottles of odor killing stuff that is actually quite effective, for a while.

[targa4me]

Do you guys have Fabreeze there?

I used it to get the "old" smell out of the seats, carpets and roof liner.

[old_skul]

A thumb-sized chunk of carnuba wax, thrown under one of the seats, is a wonderful odor suppressant. Used by many a concours freak, I understand.

[sy308]

Get an ozone generator (typically sold for residential use). Put in the car for 24-36 hrs with the windows closed and turn the unit on highest output aimed towards source of smell. This is said to eliminate all odors, including smoke impregnated leather upholstery. I would suggest removal of the radio as the positive ions have been reported to cause damage to electronics in close proximity to ozone generators. I am told "used" car lots use this method to eliminate smoke odor from their cars and this is extremely effective. Good luck.

[Ted Stringer]

So that is where the o3 (ozone) like smell came from in my new (to me) truck. I didn't know that. It makes sense because my truck was smoked in.

[jlex]

Ozone causes rubber to deteriorate. Don't know how long the exposure would have to be to cause any harm, but I'd want to look into that.
Whatever you do, clean first. There's got to be a microscopic haze of oil residue all over the interior.
regards,
jlex.

[APKhaos]

Oil leaks can be fixed, and the odor slowly goes.......

I noticed a kinda oily/almost electrical smell in mine. Put it down to 150K miles of life. An old racer [& DE instructor] told me that the smell was caused by small quantities of CV joint grease that get flung onto the heat exchangers when the CV joints get really warm - long and/or spirited driving.

I've been looking for silicone rubber tubing large enough dia to cut a section to fit over the CVs. Should be compliant enough to stand up to the wear, and even if it fails it should show that CV grease does or does not extrude from the joints.

Anyone heard of this? Oily S-Man??

[TigerTrash]

Fabreeze works pretty well (if only temporary). Yes it is available in the US. Just ask the wifey and have her pick some up the next time down the laundry aisle in the grocery store. Hope this helps.