Help? Very bad Odor after Track
 

My car just came back from track at Thunderhill. It was 110 degrees but nothing bad happened there aside from hitting Fuel Starvation twice.

It's been a week and my car still smells really really bad - if I park my car in the garage it would instantly stink up the whole room in less than 15 mins.

Initially I thought it smelled like brake fluid mixed with differential fluid. I took it to the dealership and they thought it wasn't any kind of fluid they recognized and thought it smelled more like a dead otter. :ugh2:

I can smell it in the interior, and more obvious if i use the vents from circulating from outside. So it's been several of days, I've washed my car, engine bay and outside. I initially thought it was the GT Mat I installed in the trunk melting but it doesn't seem like it's the car. I still cannot pin point exactly where it is - it seems like it's coming from the rear but that's all I know. So frustrating. :mad: No fluid leak, now it smells more like fuel mixed with something.

I started taking stuff apart...it seems like it's coming from the rear passenger side exterior near this area.
http://i358.photobucket.com/albums/o...psa9cfc63e.jpg
http://i358.photobucket.com/albums/o...psc3055470.jpg

Can't be sure though, anyone with this experience? What's this part? could it be from this unit?
http://i358.photobucket.com/albums/o...ps28fe48a0.jpg

My guess so far is:
-it's not from the GT Mat (I'm gonna rip it out just to be sure, but I'm very sure it's not it since I got the Onyx which supposedly said no odor).
-It doesn't seem like it's from the engine bay, I've swapped out the Test Pipe with my Berk HFC (doesn't seem to be related to that).
-Not from Brake pads nor Rotors since I've swapped those back out to stock, smell still very very strong.
-There's no fluid leak from brakes nor clutch. Car still drivable.
-There's no coolant leak, no engine oil leak.

Could it be related to fuel starvation? Like my fuel pump broke? Please help guys, I'm taking this car apart and cannot identify the problem. I will most likely bring the car into a Z car mechanic but I would at least want to help identifying where the smell is coming from so I don't get charge up the @$$. Thanks!

.. that's a first. check the air intake? or .. i think the vent/filter for interior is in the area where your windshield wipers hinge? i'd just start looking in crevasses for dead animals..

Thats what i was thinking...even a mouse will smell really bad. :ugh2:

Did you have an off road excursion and $hit your pants? JK

I would look into melted plastics

check for dirty socks :) jk. might be a dead animal like someone said

Check your IC filters as well maybe? If the smell is strong in the cabin when you turn on the air then perhaps something was sucked in.

Maybe a mouse built a home in your exhaust, haha.

This happened half way through track day. The smell got worst when I got home. You guys think a mouse could have somehow crawled into my car on a 110 degree day and build a home? haha. I doubt it. I still think it smells more like a chemical type of smell. Like fuel related, then again I could be completely wrong and it could be as simple as a dead animal. The bumper is out and it's still very hard to identify the smell.

i'm in the process of taking out my GT Mat just to be sure it's not that....I do have brake ducts which have no way of knowing of what went in it - I can always check later but I still think it's coming from more in the mid/rear. I went under the car and it smells like it could be coming from the gas tank.

Keep you guys informed.

Thats what I was thinking on a serious note :ugh2:

I don't think it is, because I took the TP shortie out and swapped it with a HFC now I took the Exhaust Canister out and smelled the pipes.

No dead rat smell there. I left the car with these pipe no attached and the smell is staying within the car though.

Also, I aired out the car, and garage. The smell definitely follows the car, the garage doesn't have the smell.

Look in the rear wheel well cavity or check the gas itself maybe it was topped of with bad or racing fuel?? :shrug:

Outside of that? Pretty much almost everything has been covered as what it might be.

"you forgot to flush!"... no? too late?

Joking aside, someone may have put a stink bomb somewhere?

My cousin had a squirrel in his wheel well and this happened. But you said its more chemical? Are you sure its not from the lack of cats? How long have you driven it around after the smell started to air it out? It seems like you say its changed odors from the beginning, from dead otter to fluid? If you have really cleaned it top to bottom, I don't really know what else it could be. A clogged A/C evaporator drain could cause mold and even bacteria to build up that can smell pretty rank

I place my bet on the overheated Diff oil that drained thru its breathing hose that connect into the rear surbframe. might not have much out but enough to have been cocked and it can smell so freaking bad...

I got that problem on my 350z after my first track days in one of hottest summer day.

Good possibility!

yeah, diff oil is very stinky

^This is what I'm thinking of too. I did one time smell the diff and it seemed like it's coming from it. I did track my stock diff pretty hard that day and it was hot as hell. Knowing diff oil smelled the worst...I think it's closer to that than anything. As for everything else, i'm not sure. The smell didn't change since the track day. It incrementally got worst throughout track day from 3/4 of the day. Then when I parked it in my garage it just got really really bad.

As for my CAT setup (Test Pipe or HFC) I've had it like that for a long time so I don't think it's that. It doesn't smell like what an old Muscle car that's running really rich. Like if I close the garage with the car inside, after 15-30 mins, the garage would be filled with this nasty smell.

funny thing was the first day i discovered this, I started cracking bottles of Motuls sniffing everyone of them....sigh. I might need to bring the car into a mechanic with all interior stripped. Definitely not the GT Mat, I stripped the darn trunk. Still stinking up the garage.

are you using the exhaust canisters as a rear lift point? :wtf2:

:icon18:　nono, his car is already on jackstands. i think he's using that to support the weight while he undid the flanges to the rear section.

It almost has to be the diff fluid... That stuff smells HORRIBLE when it's fresh. I can only imagine what it would smell like when its burnt. :eek:

i'd like to see that happen ...lol

Problem solved...

Just got a call back from the mechanic. Yep it's the diff oil being burnt after tracking really hard on a very hot day. They had to change it twice to reduce the smell of it.

Man, crazy! I even upgraded from Redline to Motul a couple of days before track.

You drive too fast!

Well,
The "real" Scruffydog knew where it was coming from, and tried to tell you but you wouldn't listen.....

Maybe it is time for a Quaife diff.

I have a friend with a 350Z who was burning his diff fluid every track day.
It was so bad that he was changing his diff fluid at the track before he went home.
(BTW he is a HPDE Instructor and a mechanic that specializes in Zs)
He also started going through right rear wheel bearing on a regular basis.
He upgraded his diff to a Quaife and both problems went away.

I plan on installing a Quaife Diff sometime next year.
Every one I talk to that is big into track and/or autocross have one.

It is time to upgrade the diff, but I just bought a new car for the wife to be. So I need to hold off on modding the Z for awhile.

http://i358.photobucket.com/albums/o...psb80d0129.jpg

The smell is still pretty strong still (still stinks up the garage but took an hour instead of 15 mins). A buddy told me that I should find the Vent tube that comes out of the diff, follow it till the end, and find the residue from the vented tube. Supposedly when the diff gets overheated, it goes out of this vent tube at the top of the diff cover and kinda goes into an open space in the left rear section of the subframe next to the rear diff bushing. (which explains why when I smelled the bottom of diff case, it's not very strong, rather it's all over the place).

Wish me the best of luck, still gotta fix it myself. Turns out the mechanic didn't really do much for me. $ down the drain.

Man, I hope you get this resolved, its awful to think the diff oil vents into an area where you cant get to then you just have to live with the smell forever.

Duct tape a straw to the vent out the back! :icon14:

So last weekend I jacked up my car and hosed down my entire rear suspension arm, differential housing, exhaust, pretty much the whole cavity of the rear. I did notice the over flow tube that ones out of the differential ends at one of the main structural cross member over the differential. It almost looks like it goes inside the hollow member. So what I did was forced water (no soap) thru it and hosed down as much as I can. I ran out of brake cleaner.

Long story short 75% of the smell went away!!! Super happy but when I park the car I can still smell the burnt oil residue. Its been another week already since, maybe I just need wash that area again with gunk or brake cleaner. Better yet have someone steam clean the car.

I'm going to track again in September at Laguna, hopefully I won't have to deal with this issue again. Sigh

glad to see you found the problem...I wouldve looked for dog $hit under the seats. Sneaky bastards.

Did you have that same problem at laguna?
I'm curious, you burned your oil and the smell was permanent. I smell it frequently, typically when I'm working the car during a certain pull or through a certain corner. It will smell, and dissappear. I did upgrade to the high capacity air cooled diff cover from Z1 and I don't remember this happening before hand.

Needless to say it doesn't bother me so long as the diff is safe. Could this be a component of increased venting / cooling? If so then I might say I like the smell :)

Ps. I'm doing Thunderhill East this Friday! I also did the west loop in the reverse (clockwise) configuration and got fuel starvation every single time after the crest going from turn 7 to 6 lol so weird.

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