Bad smell in the heat

[NoOne]

We picked our P5 last October....after any warm day over 55-60 degrees the car has a terrible odor.

This has happened since new but I fiquired it was just the plastic gassing.

Now that its warmed up many months later its still there and the hotter it gets the worse it smells.

We almost bought a demo unit until I got in it on a 85 degree day and it smelled horribly like what ours does so I don't think this is just our car.

Going to take it to the dealer, its for sure not normal and its been there since the day we got the car.

Anyone else?

 

[20ESGUY]

Usually thats caused by build up in the heaterbox. You can usually get it out by turning the recirc on, turing it to bi-level, turn the fan on high and spray ozium or another odor killing spray down in the pass. side foot well. Other than that you have to remove the heater box and clean out the inside really well with some rubbing alchol. Typically this happens on older vechiles where people leave the recirc. on all the time...mold and baterica build up and cause a funky wet dog kind of smell. Most manuf. have a TSB on it.

 

[AKP5]

Do you have leather? I have noticed my p5 stinking and I think it is the leather.

 

[uclap5]

maybe one of the salesmen had terrible B.O. and warm days it lets out.

I still have that new car smell. I never recirculate the air and make sure to let the car air out after snowboarding and the like.

 

[MadBiker]

If you listen to Click and Clack (the CarTalk dudes), they'd say there's a dead squirrel in the vents!! I think we actually had that problem once with our first Japanese car we ever bought, a Mitsu Galant. But seriously, it is a possibility. The smell should subside after there's nothing left to rot. Sorry to rain on your new car parade...

 

[NoOne]

This is a chemical smell like the plastic is still breathing. Once the air is on for a minute and you 'move' the air out of the car the smell goes away.

I'll drop it off at the dealer and let the fight begin

 

[Jim Frye]

Gee...

I have noticed my p5 stinking and I think it is the leather.

Does it smell like leather? Our P5 is 5 months old and the leather aroma is still fresh. Jim

 

[AKP5]

It does smell like leather but I don't think of leather as smelling fresh. It is more like a dead cow. Ha. It is not a really bad smell but I have smelled leather that smelled better than mine. It does seem to have more of a smell when it is warm or damp out. Aparently it is not the same smell that NoOne was smelling anyway.

 

[shackmgr6073]

Maybe it was a valet that reeks. If it was the same Valet that Jerry used on that one episode, it's hopeless. Just sell the car, if you can't sell it just leave the keys in it in the hood somewhere.

 

[AKP5]

You know I think it all started after I had that bad batch of chili and then went for a long drive. Hmmmmm.

 

[123zoom]

yea, i noticed the same problem, my car starts to smell like roten eggs thru teh vents, but i dont have leather, i know its thru the vents, and i think it comes at random but only when teh heat is on..........sometimes it feels like when i rev the car too much or when i drive rough then teh smell comes, but i'm not sure, all i know it smells like rotten eggs..........if i goto the dealer, will they correct the problem

 

[carlos]

NoOne,

I know exactly the smell your talking about. It is not organic, doesnt smell like squirrel or eggs or anything like that. Well, I guess it could smell like artificial skunk l if anybody made anything like that.

I've tried odor eliminators and they dont work. Most of those are for organic smells. I've tried to pinpoint where the smell is coming from, but cant find it. For sure, it is coming from some plastic somewhere. It is not noticable in winter, just in summer when the car gets hot. You open the door and there it is, stinky as ever.

Sad to say, it hasn't gone away for me in a year of owning it.

I tried to get some air freshers, but they just make the interior smell like a freshly washed artificial skunk... still stinky.

 

[tmht]

Do you get the smell after running the AC? If so it is probably some sort of condensation/mildew build up. My wifes car always smells like crap after she runs the AC. I haven't even turned on my AC yet so I don't know if that's the case in my P5.

 

[carlos]

Do you get the smell after running the AC? .

No, I don't. The smell is in the car when I open the door, without turning anything on. In fact, once I turn the AC on and it cools down, the smell goes away. For me, it has nothing to do with the AC or heat.

It's weird that there are people that haven't noticed this horrible smell in the heat. I would think all P5s are made with the same materials, and would smell identical. Unless, there are some that just got some really crappy materials...

 

[Guvyp5]

I just took my car to the dealer for the same exact problem last week. I was noticing bad odor whenever I turned the a.c. on, it would smell really bad for a few minutes and slowly subside after running it for a few minutes but would come back the next time i ran the a.c.. Anyways dealer took care of it under warranty. Hope this helps.

 

[bazooka joe]

i've got the smell too! it's subsided over the last year and a half, but i can still smell it. i chauked it up to all that plastic and other synthetic material. joe

 

[TStar]

i got the same problem
i own my wagon about 1 year and about 3 weeks ago i recognized a fishy smell..yes, like a herring..but somehow dry & a little more sour.
i don't know what this is abouT

 

[123zoom]

I've had my P5 since august 2001 and the smell that i get is like of rotten eggs. It only comes from the heat, i'm not too sure about the ac cuz i dont' use it much, but i dont' always get the smell, everyonce in awhile, and whne u have friends in teh car, it gets embarassing..........like who would believe that a brand new car off the lot would give an odour like that!! What will the dealer do if i take it to them

 

[Red Baron]

Smell

I have the same thing. Smells like mildew, but goes away after 10-15 minutes at full blast.

Could water infiltrate the heaterbox through the outside intake trap/grill?

I don't have A/C, and very rarely recycle the air inside the P5.

 

[uclap5]

i still have that new car smell, same smell as the first day i got it. lucky me. i just thought i'd rub it in.

try using some car cleaning products on every surface in the car, and shampooing the the seats, floor, etc.

my car smelled pretty bad after a couple snowboarding trips, like moldy, so i ran the heater for full blast for a while, and opened up the windows over night in the garage to let it air out and the smell went away and the new car smell was back.