Quote:
Originally Posted by yakudi
Thanks so much for the replies, both.
The smell goes away with the manual mode, still there with automatic - which tells me that the car is pulling in fresh air intermittently on A mode.
You're absolutely right. It's cold here in Mass and we're running the heater. Fresh air is being drawn in through the cabin air filter (which I just changed as I was trying to diagnose).
My surprise is that the cabin air filter box seems to be separated from the engine compartment by gaskets. And there doesn't seem to be any outlet/inlet in that box (that I can see) which could pull in the exhaust gas other than the opening on top. I'm talking about the Box that the filter mounts in, not the snap-fit+plastic cover. Unless there is a weep hole in that plastic box that I'm missing. Very strange. By my logic we shouldn't be getting a smell at all. Anywho...
Is there an area on this forum where we recommend good shops/garages where I can get some recommendations for Massachusetts?
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My point was that in order for you to smell any exhaust, there has to first be an exhaust leak. My guess from reading your description is that its up front, maybe in the engine bay or at least in the front part of the exhaust system.
One other thought, might sound nuts but....it is winter and exhausts from other cars stays lower to the ground so if you're at a red light in traffic, its common to suck in exhaust fumes from the other cars. Could it be as simple as that and there's nothing wrong with your car? Running the recirc on Auto allows the car to detect pollutants and shut out the outside world. So maybe there is something wrong with its auto feature or the smell isn't enough to trigger it to close the outside entry.
Try this, take the car for a ride and let it warm up, then sit in your own driveway with it running, away from other cars and turn off recirc with the windows up, heater on and see if you detect it. If so, put the recirc in manual mode (on) and see if you smell it and then try the auto mode and see if you smell it.
I don't know if there is a certain forum section for recommendations but no harm is just making a separate post and asking for them.