My '00 Outback stinks.

Some oil may have gotten on the engine, and is burning off when the engine gets hot.

My old Loyale has developed a couple of bad smells over the years. One was from coolant seeping out of the heads and dripping on the exhaust. Smelled kinda like burnt coffee. The other from an intermittent leak in the power steering pump--if it leaks enough to run down the front of the engine onto the exhaust, it creates a "hot" smell but it's hard to describe, not quite like regular motor oil on hot exhaust pipes.

An acquaintance developed a horrid smell in one of his vehicles that wasn't leak related. Seems his wife was driving the truck and had a plastic bag fly in front of her on the freeway and, naturally, thought nothing of it as she drove over. But it blew up under the truck, got stuck on the catalytic convertor and cooked. Took a while to find that one!

Naturally, these smells get into the vent system, and seem to last a long time even after the cause was eliminated.

If you can give the whole bottom of the engine and the exhaust system a good bath, it may help save you time trying to see what's causing the problem. Good luck!

Rick

Is it a musty/moldy/mildewy kind of smell? Then it's the a.c. - these kinds of smells tend to happen at seasonal changes, and there are ways to get rid of it.

If that's not it, then you need to determine what kind of smell it is: burning oil, hot coolant (antifreeze), burning plastic, etc. Knowing that can help narrow it down considerably. If you aren't familiar with the distinct types of smells various automotive fluids give off, then take it to a mechanic you trust who at least can tell you if it's antifreeze or something else - like I said - these types of smells are usually very distinct.

Bill Putney (to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with "x")

I had problem - could be same thing. A front wheel seal was leaking grease onto the exhaust system. I determined by putting my Forester on ramps and crawling under. It was fixed under drive train warranty. Frank

If it has a swamp type of smell or a very musty odor, it could be mold in your A/C system. Run the blower on vent and recirc off, make sure the A/C compressor is off, then spray Lysol or similar bacteria killer in the air intake for the car, usually the grill at the base of the windshield. To keep the smell from coming back just turn off the compressor about 5 minutes before shutting the car off, this allows the system to dry out. If it's not a musty odor then you just wasted your time reading this.

No shit... Greg, thanks for the cool tip there. I have had the dealer do this for me before and they "disinefect intake system" or whatever they write it up as, but I always wondered what was involved.

-- Todd H.