exhaust smell from air vent

[Rally Ninja]

Seems like everytime I have the heater on and I am at a stoplight or not moving, I get a strong exhaust fume odor.

I'm guessing I have some kind of exhaust leak?
Where does the heater get the air from? So I can check for the nearest exhaust leak.

HELP! I'm dying of CO2 poisoning at every stoplight :mad:

 

[4orcefed]

There is a button under the heater controls where you can switch it from fresh air or recycled cabin air...

 

[msp35]

check your exhaust mani bolts. If you're smelling exhaust then you have a leak, as those gases should be expelled behind your car, not into your ventilation system.

 

[scubajosh348]

Similar problems

I had similar problems. It was rusted area leaking on flex pipe. It only got inside car when I was circulating outside air and at idle speeds so the CO2 could build up enough to get into the intake. I set my intake to recycle inside air until I could get the leak fixed.

 

[Rally Ninja]

I may of found the culprit. I looked at the area near the flexpipe. Looks like either I didn't tighten up the flange from the J pipe to the cs exhaust enough or it loosened up from all the bottoming out at the rallycrosses.

 

[obzhagen]

I think I may be having the same issue in my 2003.5 P5...how big of a job is this for a mechanic to do? Thanks!

~Jon