wthalliii

Driving home yesterday in traffic, I kept smelling a pungent smell. I thought it was coolant, but I checked the coolant level, and it's okay. This morning when I first started the car, I smelled it again. Could it be my catalytic converters? Or something else? It's kind of a sharp, acrid smell. I have almost 5K miles on the car now. The oil was changed at 3K miles to Castrol 5W-20.

mustangman2424

I was about to say that you may have burnt the clutch because you were slipping it too much in traffic, but I see in your sig that it's an Auto, so I don't know what the problem is.

howarmat

You burnt a critter!!

wthalliii

I failed to mention that I did shower that day, and was wearing deodorant. And I had my shoes on, too. Also, I haven't found any animal remains in the car. Besides, it's not that kind of an odor.

The only thing I can think of is my catalytic converters. Has anyone else noticed an odor from their cats?

offrdmania

Cats smell like rotton eggs if that was the smell

wthalliii

Yeah, you're right. This doesn't smell like that. Like I said in my first message, I thought it was coolant.

Shaman

Check the entire exhaust system for anything that could have dropped onto it either from the bottom of the car, like rubber, or even something like a plastic bag you picked up in your travels. I've seen plastic stick to a header and really stink until it's all burned off. There's no reason the car should just spontaneously start to smell, unless a substance meets a heat source.

wthalliii

I didn't think of that, but that must be what it was. I must have run over something that flipped up or splashed up into the engine. I haven't smelled it for a couple of days now, so it must have burned off or something.

I was really worried about this because the last time I smelled this kind of smell in a car, it was in my 1995 Crown Vic several years ago. I remember smelling coolant and thinking I needed to check it when I got to work. Before I could get there, though, all of the coolant had gone out of the engine through a hole in one of the hoses. There was no indication of an abnormal temperature on the gauge, BTW. The first indication I had of any trouble was when the engine started acting like it was really hot. I pulled over, and it quit running. Had to have it towed, and paid several thousand for a short block. It has 200K miles on it now, BTW - 70K of it after the overhaul. The engine is an earlier version of the 4.6L modular that's in our cars.

Anyway, thanks for you help.

HMUSN

you might want to check your diff for a leak.

gear oil smells like ***