The automotive repair and maintenance industry in the United States totals $516.14 billion. Each year, car owners bring their cars in for a variety of reasons, one of which is weird car smells.
That strange smell coming from your car is a sign of a problem. You’ll need to have your vehicle looked at and repaired before it turns into a bigger problem.
If you smell any of these six smells, you need to get your car repaired today.
1. Maple Syrup
Maple syrup smells delicious, but it’s a bad sign when it comes from your vehicle. If you’re reminded of pancakes or waffles when you walk up to your car, then you could have a coolant leak.
Find Your Online Car Repair Manual Today! ->>
The coolant in your car is highly toxic, but the ethylene glycol smells sugary sweet. The fix could be as easy as tightening a loose radiator cap or replacing a hose.
2. Something’s Burning
One of the bad flywheel symptoms is a weird burning smell inside your car. This smell is present because your gears are slipping. Your clutch can’t work properly, and that lets the gears slip.
To make this smell go away, you’ll have to replace your clutch and flywheel.
3. Rotten Eggs
You may already know that sulfur creates a rotten egg smell, but did you know that smell can come from your car? There are trace amounts of sulfur in gasoline.
As your car runs, your catalytic converter turns foul-smelling hydrogen sulfide into not smelly sulfur dioxide. When your converter fails, the smell remains, and you’ll need to get it replaced.
4. Gasoline
The only time you should smell gas is while you’re filling up your car. If you smell gasoline during any other time, you could have a leak.
The first place to look is at your fuel tank vent hose or fuel injection line. This is a smell you should never ignore as gasoline is highly flammable.
5. Gym Locker
Do you have a sour gross smell that reminds you of a gym locker? Then it’s probably your AC unit. This gross smell is the same because it’s a similar problem in each situation.
There’s mold present, and it’s thriving. If it’s in your AC vents, you can try running air through the system when the AC is off. This will dry out the system and kill the mold.
If this doesn’t solve the problem, you’ll need to bring your car to a professional for cleaning.
6. Burning Carpet
If you smell burning carpet while you’re driving, it’s a sign that your brake pads are overheating. You need your brake pads to effectively stop your car.
If it’s stressful driving conditions, this is normal. But if you aren’t traversing steep mountain passes, then overheating brake pads are a problem.
The best way to resolve this problem is to bring your car in for the professionals to look at. There are several reasons your brakes could be overheating.
Sniff out Your Bad Car Smells
If you ever smell any of these unpleasant car smells, you need to address it right away. As you now know, they indicate some serious problems that are going on with your car.
So the next time you hop in your car, take a whiff and make sure your vehicle is running smoothly.
Check out our other car articles for more helpful advice on maintaining your car.
