Another Passat smell question

[Samalga]

I have a 2003 Passat 1.8T. I have a on and off odor that strongly resembles a stale cigarette ashtray – we don’t smoke and the ashtrays are clean. It started faintly about nine months ago but is getting stronger. It is always present when I first get in the car and only if it was in the garage, though it sometimes goes away when I drive off. I had the dealer look at it during an oil change but of course neither of us could not smell it that day! They changed the pollen filer to no effect. I can smell it in the car and sometimes faintly near the front grill area. Unlike other odor postings, it does not smell either sweet, like motor oil or like any electrical issue I have experienced. I have cycled the heated seats, the AC and all the electrical equipment I can and can not influence the odor; it appears to be independent of these issues. Any ideas as I am concerned about a vehicle fire?

[sleeperscoob]

I am not familiar with VW, but i know the smell you are talking about. My old car started smoking one day, and i just couldn't recognize the smell. It smelled like cheap smokes, or like an ash tray. I have smelled all kinds of fluids burning, and electrical melt downs. It turned out to be the smell of solid state electronics burning. In my case it was a control module for the electric climate control in my pontiac. Its been about 2 months since i replaced the bad part, but the smell remains. If you bought the car used the smell might be from a problem the previous owner had fixed. I would go through and very closely test the operation of options on your car. Make sure the blower runs at all its different speeds, although these are not the only systems that use similair "control modules". like i said though, this was on a pontiac, and i may be wrong, but i'm just telling you my experience with the phantom smell.

[Will12]

Also, the smell of synthetic oil is pretty strong too, could be leaking onto the exhaust manifold.