smell

[suprajustin88]

hey i was wondering what burning coolant smelled like? is it kind of a rotten stinky egg smell? because i have smelled that a couple of times while i wsa driving, but it might have been something from the outside. i hope it is nothing wrong with my car. by the way its an 88 automatic 7mgte. thanks!

[flyinMKIV]

I probably is coolant, check the levels in it to make sure. If it's not that you need an oil change most likely then.

[suprajustin88]

Someone told me that my engine might not be running properly and thats causing the catylatic converter to overheat or something? does that sound like a possible cause? I have only had the smell emitted twice so far. I have also not noticed the check engine light on either while i am driving. But i will change my oil and see if it fixes anything. Thanks!
p.s any replies are greatly appreciated

[Brian R.]

Burning gear oil or chassis grease smells really bad (like when it gets on an exhaust pipe or cat. converter.

[suprajustin88]

so there could be gear oil of chasis grease leaking from somewhere? that definetly does not sound like a good thing. or is this something that just happens and could go away soon? thanks

[projectsupramk3]

You are correct, rotten egg smell is most likely from your clogged cat. Coolant is very distinct, especially for us 7M owners. It's a very sweet smell, open a jug of antifreeze some day and take a sniff. Also grease or burning oil will smoke alot, one drop on a exhaust manifold and you'll see what I mean. You would probably notice the smoke before the smell if it was that. If you think it's leaking fluid jack up the car and look around the bottom of it, take the plastic undersheild off to inspect. It's really easy to spot oil on the chassis, block, exhaust, ect ect.

[Brian R.]

Alot of times, grease will fly off the driveshaft and burn on the exhaust pipe or muffler.

Now that I read your first post again, I see that you don't claim it's from your truck. You are probably right. If the vehicle in front of you has a cat. converter problem, they will stink to high heavens and you will smell it really strong through your ventilation system. If it is the rotten egg cat. converter smell, it is probably a late-model car or truck with the newer catalyst that you smell. Your truck is probably too old to have this problem. I have smelt this in other vehicles also, particularly when they are accelerating or using alot of power like in the mountains.