jge@unc.UUCP (John Eyles) (02/03/86)
Driving my '85 Subaru, I occasionally notice a rotten egg smell, particularly after rapid accelerations. I vaguely recall reading here that this has something to do with the catalytic converter. Would someone be kind enough to explain this again, and suggest whether it calls for some corrective action ?
tw8023@pyuxii.UUCP (T Wheeler) (02/04/86)
The stench you smell is indeed from the catalytic converter. It is, however, the smell of the paint(?) they use to cover the damn thing. Since converters are prone to getting very hot, they use some kind of special paint which, when it warms up, stinks to high hell. Not very many companies use the type that stinks, but I know that Toyota does. This only happens to cars sold in the US market so I suspect that the paint is made here and put on by the dealers, as was the case with my Toyota, on a recall. Something to do with US regulations. T. C. Wheeler
john@gcc-milo.UUCP (02/04/86)
In article <927@unc.unc.UUCP> jge@unc.UUCP (John Eyles) writes: >Driving my '85 Subaru, I occasionally notice a rotten egg smell, >particularly after rapid accelerations. I vaguely recall reading here >that this has something to do with the catalytic converter. That nasty smell could be oil on the exhaust manifold. I drive an 84 Scirocco and smelled rotten eggs through my heater until I replaced the head gasket. -- John Allred General Computer Company uucp: seismo!harvard!gcc-milo!john
res@ihlpl.UUCP (Rich Strebendt @ AT&T Information Systems - Indian Hill West; formerly) (02/07/86)
> Driving my '85 Subaru, I occasionally notice a rotten egg smell, > particularly after rapid accelerations. I vaguely recall reading here > that this has something to do with the catalytic converter. > > Would someone be kind enough to explain this again, and suggest whether > it calls for some corrective action ? The gas you are burning is high in sulphur content. The sulphur forms Hydrogen Sulphide and Sulphur Dioxide when burned in air, both of which have the classical "rotten egg" smell. I recently stopped buying gas at a particular station when my car suddenly started smelling like that. With the different brand of gas the smell went away. Worse than the smell, perhaps, is the formation of Sulphuric Acid in the exhaust system to eat away at the metal. Rich Strebendt ...!ihnp4!iwsl6!res
tw8023@pyuxii.UUCP (T Wheeler) (02/10/86)
I hate to disagree with Rich S., but, as I said before, one cause for the bad smell from Cat converters can be the type of paint used to cover the rascal. My Toyota was recalled once, just to paint the converter. The smell was so bad after the painting, we had to drive with the windows down. The same problem happened to a friend who had the same year and model of Toyota. There was no change in the gasoline brand used and my friend, further, used a different brand of gas. My friend took his car back to the dealer to complain and was told about the paint. He passed the word along to me. The smell finally went away, but it was a very sickening, rotten food smell for about 2 months. Now, I suspect that the paint used in this instance was of U. S. origin and that it is still used in some cases. As for sulpher in the gasoline, the amount is not enough to create the "rotten egg" smell to such a degree that it will make a person roll down the windows. If that were so, no amount of catalytic converting will stop the smell, thus, there would be a fairly large number of folks driving around with their windows down. Besides, if the smell is a result of normal gasses being produced and wafting into the passenger compartment, I would suggest that you never drive that car again until you get the exhaust system checked. If the smell is coming from the burning of hydrocarbons, then there is a likelyhood that carbon monoxide is also getting into the passenger compartment and you are in mortal danger. Since the smell is coming from the heating of the paint on the converter, you will just have to wait it out. The smell will go away. T. C. Wheeler
ljo@drutx.UUCP (OchsL) (02/10/86)
I don't believe it is the paint. It wouldn't persist for over a year without getting any better. It must be a chemical reaction inside. Larry O. (a smelly Honda driver) AT&T Info. Systems, Denver, CO.
dave@cylixd.UUCP (Dave Kirby) (02/13/86)
I knew a friend who had this problem. His mechanic solved it by advising him to change his diet to include fewer legumes. It also solved his backfire problem. :-)