exhaust gas in cabin

[sugimotoma]

I drive '87 924s. Lately I am getting exhaust gas smell in cabin while driving a window down. I thought rear hatch gasket is the problem so I installed wetherstripping from Home Depot. I resealed tail light assys to body with caulking. Still I smell the gas. So I thought the job I did was not good enough, I used duct tape to seal off the gaps as a test. And STILL I smell gas. Does anyone have an idea ? I don't think the exhaust pipe is broken. If it was, I would hear a loud noise, I think. I will hoist the car this weekend to see the under side of the car. But till then, can anyone shed the light on this ?

Mark Sugimoto

[Obin Robinson]

check the rubber gasket that sits atop the firewall and separates the air intake plenum from the engine compartment. make sure that the rubber gasket is all the way across top and is not deformed, or broken.

also, double-check to make sure there is not a crack in the exhaust manifold or any other part of the exhaust system.

good luck!

obin

[1.2gees]

The 944 design nautrally draws air from under the hood, believe it or not, the little seal between the hood, and the fan (that seperates the windshield drains, on some models the battery, wiper motor. etc from the engine) on top of the fire-wall can possibly make THE biggest differance.

If this seal goes bad (and it does so on many cars) than you'll be able to smell EVERY little thing that's under the hood, from the usual "oil-change" smell, to the "a little hard on the clutch" smell...
Ahmet

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It's all the driver...

[sugimotoma]

Thank you for your comments. I have got an idea while I was driving yesterday. I thought the rubber boot and cover for the stick shift are the the porblem. Today I found holes on both of them, possibly bringing exhaust gas inside. I used tube tire flat fix kit and 3m 1300 glue on inner boot and simple duct tape on the cover. I hope this will cure the problem. I will also check the gaskets in the engine compartment.

Thank you, again, for your comments

Mark Sugimoto

[1.2gees]

Wow, Obin, I wasn't trying to be rude or anything, I totally didn't see your reply man, that's exactly what I was saying...

While the car's in motion, you shouldn't be able to smell exaust, unless there's an exaust leak anywhere in the system...

Actually, a failing hatch seal, or hatch not completely shut will have the same effect. To check, you can spray water all over the seal, while it's shut, and then open it up to see if any of it got into the interior. The little plugs on the two little storage bins (at the bottom of them) could contribute a little bit, but they mostly make the car fog up in the rain/after a wash...

Good luck,
Ahmet

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It's all the driver...

[Frank Schuster]

Sometimes if fill my gas tank, I get a stong gasoline smell in my cabin.

[nf1]

I had a fuel smell inside my cabin off and on and it turned out to be coming from the engine compartment. One of my fuel lines to the pressure damper was leaking. Fixed the leak and the smell has not come back. Car also drives much better.

Nick

[tri]

You can also get a gas smell if the cnaister under the drivers side fender is bad.

[sugimotoma]

The duct tape and the glue worked. I do not get that exhaust smell no longer.
In my past experience with hatch back type cars, the gasket in the hatch was the problem. But it wasn't the case this time after all.

Mark Sugimoto