Bad or Burnt Exhaust smell in cabin during hard acceleration. | Page 70 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Has anyone heard of, found, or experienced a solution to the Ford Explorer exhaust issue?


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Thank You!

I did not pull on the weatherstripping/moulding-Britsh?/Molding...I will give it a try.

Yes I had horrible smells on occasion when I hammered it, which I do often.

The rear end/vacuum/tailpipe location/not a perfect seal sounds logical to me.

I am gonna try to close the tailgate without the powered function and consistently, with two hands, evenly close the tailgate. I will report back when I feel it helps or not.

Buzz


I see you're in Melbourne florida. I lived there while attending FIT. For the weatherstripping I just pulled it away from the frame about .25" and shut the hatch. You can feel the hatch shut snuggly against the weatherstripping, almost like it was meant to be thicker. Will be curious when the new one come in at the dealership to compare.
 



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I see you're in Melbourne florida. I lived there while attending FIT. For the weatherstripping I just pulled it away from the frame about .25" and shut the hatch. You can feel the hatch shut snuggly against the weatherstripping, almost like it was meant to be thicker. Will be curious when the new one come in at the dealership to compare.

Do you have the automatic closing door?
 












Resolved

I think the issue is resolved. When I left work on Friday I opened the rear hatch and examined the weather stripping at the bottom of the door. Based on what others on here said I figured it wouldn't hurt to try so I pulled the stripping about 1/4 of an inch out along the bottom of the door. Upon my drive home I didn't notice the exhaust smell entering the vehicle (despite trying via WOT) but I wanted to reserve my excitement. The next day I drove it down to Dallas and around the town and was pleased that I didn't smell it any more. I hope this helps everyone out and thank you to all those that helped come to this conclusion.
 






Glad to hear its worked for someone else. And I'm not a ford engineer, lol. So...sounds like it all may boil down to a poor weatherstripping seal....who woulda thunk??
 






If that is the case, I guess it would go a long way in determining why some have the issue and others don't.

Peter
 






Tip: mine came back, as the molding will slowly revert back to the original position after opening and shutting the hatch many times. To prevent this, I placed a wire in the channel and reattached.
 






Thanks for all the info that's been posted so far. I too get the bad smell when I gun it on my '14 Sport and have been following this thread like a hawk. Is there a way that one of you can post pictures of how you did the weatherstripping? I'm not very mechanically inclined and would love a guide or basic instructions to follow.

Thanks again, this forum is great!
 






Smell

Well I may have spoken too soon. I went out to drive the explorer the last 2 days and smelled the smell. I checked last night and it appears the stripping was still pulled out in mine. It's tough to diagnose because the smell is definitely not as strong and frequent as before but I was a little discouraged that it was back at all.

14Explorer-did you go to the dealership yet to get the new weather stripping put on? I'm curious if this will actually resolve the issue entirely. Also, how's your wire solution working out so far?
 






Have a 2013 Explorer Limited 2WD. I have about 9 months left on the lease. Have had the burning smell issue from Day 1. Initially the salesmen told me that all new cars have this issue and it would go away. Brought the car in 3 times for the smell, and the service techs claimed they could not replicate it. I had the TSB performed and no change. I was traveling last week and was able to rent a 2015 Explorer Limited 4WD with about 4,000 miles. I was curious to see if Ford had addressed the issue in the newer models. Accelerated hard to merge onto a highway and that old familiar smell was present. I am happy that my Explorer is leased so I can return it and never ever purchase an Explorer or another Ford ever again.
 






I think the issue is resolved. When I left work on Friday I opened the rear hatch and examined the weather stripping at the bottom of the door. Based on what others on here said I figured it wouldn't hurt to try so I pulled the stripping about 1/4 of an inch out along the bottom of the door. Upon my drive home I didn't notice the exhaust smell entering the vehicle (despite trying via WOT) but I wanted to reserve my excitement. The next day I drove it down to Dallas and around the town and was pleased that I didn't smell it any more. I hope this helps everyone out and thank you to all those that helped come to this conclusion.

First of all, congrats on being a Father-2-be. I too had your fears before buying the Explorer and sametime before our first baby was born 2 years ago.

Anyhow, please explain how you pulled the stripping about 1/4 an inch without necessarily pulling the stripping out of its place. did you put any foam inside to secure the stripping? Please elaborate.

Thanks in advance!
 






Have a 2013 Explorer Limited 2WD. I have about 9 months left on the lease. Have had the burning smell issue from Day 1. Initially the salesmen told me that all new cars have this issue and it would go away. Brought the car in 3 times for the smell, and the service techs claimed they could not replicate it. I had the TSB performed and no change...

Welcome to the forum, devilsadvct33. How many miles are on your Explorer currently? I'd like to do what I can to assist and keep you as a member of the Ford family.

Crystal
 






Hello everyone,

Just found this forum and thought I would share my experience as well.

I purchased a 2014 Ford Explorer Limited in November of 2013 and it has been a great vehicle for us. Love the interior and all of the bells and whistles.

The only issue I have is the same as what is being discussed here. When you floor it to merge or pass, the smell entering the cabin is awful. I had to roll down the window this morning to let in some better smelling smog and get rid of the fumes. This is what prompted me to do a little research here.

This is my first Ford and I have always been a Chevy owner. Thought I would give the Explorer a try though. None of the vehicles I have owned have ever had an issue like this. You should not have to suffer through this awful odor every time you need to go fast.

Furthermore, you should not have to resort to speculating and devising your own patchwork solution on a new vehicle. Ford should be stepping up to the plate to fix this. Had I known about this problem, I would have passed on the Explorer and went with another make.

If this was a minor odor, I would not care as much, but this smell is over powering and very intense. I have to say, I am not happy with this at all and I will be bringing it back to the dealer ASAP for a resolution.

Sorry for the lengthy diatribe.
 






My 2014 Ford Explorer with 5000 miles allows Carbon Monoxide CO to enter the cabin when the rpm's go over 4000. This happens on somewhat aggressive acceleration and even when the cruise control was set at 60 mph and I had to climb a long hill with 3 adults in the vehicle. The vehicle has the additional rear AC / Heat Option.

This is easily repeatable by setting the main AC to MAX AC, recirculate, set digital thermostat to 70 degrees and set rear auxiliary AC to cold and medium fan speed. Start out with an aggressive acceleration until you reach about 60 and then let off the gas & coast a little. You don't even have to floor the accelerator. Then let vehicle slow down to 40 mph or so and hit the accelerator so it kicks down a gear or two to allow the rpm's to go up to at 4,000 rpm's & you will find yourself smelling a pretty strong odor of exhaust.

I am just driving the vehicle the way someone might if they have to merge into traffic on the interstate and/or if they have to pass someone on the highway. I am not abusing the vehicle as I do these tests. If you're smelling exhaust, logic & physics tell us there is also CO in the air. I notice that the smell of exhaust goes down over time (or I get used to it), but the CO stays present on the meter until I roll down the windows.

The professional grade CO Sensor I borrowed from a friend that owns a HVAC company confirms the presence of Carbon Monoxide. Ford sent their own Technician and stated they could not replicate. This video was taken after the Ford Technician checked out the vehicle and they denied my claim. Yes, I understand my daughter was with me, but I wanted to get this video made and have someone hold the sensor in the mid cabin to get a good middle reading of air. I now have to drive my vehicle with the windows down and do not let the rpm's get over 3,000 nor do I use the cruise control.

The first time the vehicle went into Ford service, they applied the TSB 14-0130.

The second time they had a Ford Technician brought in to test the vehicle. He said they did not find anything. In fact, they loaned me a 2015 Ford Explorer in the identical setup with 80 miles, and IT DID THE SAME THING. They then gave me an Edge to drive for the 3 weeks it took for the Ford Technician to come into town.

Almost 10 minute video, but I wanted it to be one contiguous video clip with no interruptions. If you want to skip the countdown & clearing of the sensor, skip in one minute.

You may notice me hit the Green Enter key some times. This is to keep the unit from shutting down, which would require me to do another 60 seconds of startup time that is supposed to be using outside, ambient air.

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1KIBl6iX-E


This is SCARY!!!

Thanks for posting this. So, why can't Ford replicate the issue? Clearly it is happening and there is an issue.
 






...I have to say, I am not happy with this at all and I will be bringing it back to the dealer ASAP for a resolution...

Getting your dealership involved is the best next step, ronyon1. I'd like to offer you the same assistance that I have to others and escalate this to your regional customer service manager. To get started, send me a PM with your full name, best daytime phone number, VIN, current mileage, and servicing dealership.

Crystal
 






First of all, congrats on being a Father-2-be. I too had your fears before buying the Explorer and sametime before our first baby was born 2 years ago.

Anyhow, please explain how you pulled the stripping about 1/4 an inch without necessarily pulling the stripping out of its place. did you put any foam inside to secure the stripping? Please elaborate.

Thanks in advance!

Sure. You can use the pictures posted above to get your bearings. The weather stripping at the bottom of the door (in front of the latch) slides onto a piece of metal that is probably about .5" long. I pulled away on the stripping so that it was on about .25". Said another way, instead of the metal guide being .5" inside the weather stripping, it is now .25".

Additionally, the smell is almost gone entirely. Some days I can smell it more but I do think a thicker weather stripping from the dealership would fix the issue.

Explorer14 was going to have this procedure done, perhaps he can provide feedback.
 






Following on with the hatch-seal hypothesis I carefully observed my hatch seal area. There were clear witness marks of the seal on the hatch all the way around the hatch. I tried pulling on the hatch seal and found no change. I believe this is due to the closing of the hatch pushing the seal back in place. at least in my case the hatch seal looks to be good.

However, in the process of looking over the whole inner surface of the hatch I noticed 4 areas that exhaust could bypass the seal. You can barely make these out in corpflyboy's pictures. See the 6th pic down from the top, far right side of the pic.

These holes look like drain holes for the hatch area...they could also be assembly hold points. Not real sure of the function. This is two of the 4 holes, one on left side, one on right side. They are on the lower left and right corners of the interior side of the hatch--outside the sealed area and the nearest proximity to the exhaust. The holes are about 3/8" in diameter.

The other holes are much smaller and are next to the rubber bumpers (they look like rubber springs) in the same area of the hatch: the lower left and right corners of the interior hatch surface.

So what did I do?

I took some black electrical tape and covered the holes. Then I went on a two hour round trip. I think I've got some concrete & confirmed success doing this.

I tested at wot 11-12 times. With recirc off 8-9 times I detected no smell. With recirc on the smell was detected but mitigated approximately 50%. All runs were done with rear air on and set to a high blower speed (a worst case scenario based on my past experience).

I let a good 10-15 min of steady driving elapse between trials. I did this because from my other posts in this thread, you can see that this smell is also dependent on cat temp. In other words quick successive wot run don't produce the smell due to the cats being warmed up.

My conclusion is that there is exhaust bypassing the hatch seal in some areas of the hatch. The troubling part is why recirc off produces less smell than recirc on.
 






at the ford dealership in milwaukee, wi

when my wife and i arrived at an automobile dealership to pick up our car, we were told the keys had been locked in it. We went to the service department and found a mechanic working feverishly to unlock the driver's side door. As i watched from the passenger side, i instinctively tried the door handle and discovered that it was unlocked
.
"hey," i announced to the technician, "its open!"

his reply, "i know - i already got that side."
.
.
.
 






Following on with the hatch-seal hypothesis I carefully observed my hatch seal area. There were clear witness marks of the seal on the hatch all the way around the hatch. I tried pulling on the hatch seal and found no change. I believe this is due to the closing of the hatch pushing the seal back in place. at least in my case the hatch seal looks to be good.

However, in the process of looking over the whole inner surface of the hatch I noticed 4 areas that exhaust could bypass the seal. You can barely make these out in corpflyboy's pictures. See the 6th pic down from the top, far right side of the pic.

These holes look like drain holes for the hatch area...they could also be assembly hold points. Not real sure of the function. This is two of the 4 holes, one on left side, one on right side. They are on the lower left and right corners of the interior side of the hatch--outside the sealed area and the nearest proximity to the exhaust. The holes are about 3/8" in diameter.

The other holes are much smaller and are next to the rubber bumpers (they look like rubber springs) in the same area of the hatch: the lower left and right corners of the interior hatch surface.

So what did I do?

I took some black electrical tape and covered the holes. Then I went on a two hour round trip. I think I've got some concrete & confirmed success doing this.

I tested at wot 11-12 times. With recirc off 8-9 times I detected no smell. With recirc on the smell was detected but mitigated approximately 50%. All runs were done with rear air on and set to a high blower speed (a worst case scenario based on my past experience).

I let a good 10-15 min of steady driving elapse between trials. I did this because from my other posts in this thread, you can see that this smell is also dependent on cat temp. In other words quick successive wot run don't produce the smell due to the cats being warmed up.

My conclusion is that there is exhaust bypassing the hatch seal in some areas of the hatch. The troubling part is why recirc off produces less smell than recirc on.

Blanchard, thanks for the info, and the effort you are putting forth. If we could get ford engineering to put forth a little, maybe we could find a fix.
We have found a lot of folks that said yes, they smell it. But they haven't brought it to the attention of the dealer, or anyone else. I hope through these forums(there are more reporting the same problem) we can get enough people to complain to the big F about it.
I think the reason for the difference between "recirc on " and "recirc off" (we used to call it "Fresh air") is with recirc off, the blower is pulling in more "fresh air" which tends to increase cabin pressure, thereby reducing the differential pressure between outside and inside. Don't know if it's still true, but there was at one time a federal reg that required a certain percentage of "fresh air" be drawn into the cabin, even when on "recirc" or "max". The purpose of course was to purge the cabin. Our X has almost 10k miles now,and the problem is worse. The last road trip of about 90 miles, we had to roll down the windows, and switch to recirc off/fresh air 6 times or more. None of those were due to WOT events. I have never "floor boarded" this car yet! One of the safety concerns of this problem (aside from the CO) is that it "trains" a driver to "nurse" the car when passing another vehicle. On a two lane road that means taking more time to safely overtake the other car. That means we have to rethink how much clearance is needed before starting to pass. I finally was contacted by an individual from "Ford Engineering" two weeks after they said they would call. Well, he acted like he had never heard of the problem. He said he would research it with the engineers, and "get back to me" . I have doubts, but I'll patiently wait and see. Ford engineering has the technology, and the equipment to determine EXACTLY where and when the outside "environment" is entering the cabin. They have wind tunnels and can apply smoke or gas to SEE where the leaks are. I'm pretty sure they already know(after 4 year models have the problem) and are not going to the expense to fix it unless forced to do so . We really like this little car, but I'm quite sure there won't ever be another FixOrRepairDaily purchased by me.
Thanks again for your help, please keep us posted, I'll do the same.
Trying very hard to keep my posts from becoming "rants" , Gary
 



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I think the reason for the difference between "recirc on " and "recirc off" (we used to call it "Fresh air") is with recirc off, the blower is pulling in more "fresh air" which tends to increase cabin pressure, thereby reducing the differential pressure between outside and inside. Don't know if it's still true, but there was at one time a federal reg that required a certain percentage of "fresh air" be drawn into the cabin, even when on "recirc" or "max". The purpose of course was to purge the cabin.

Based on the basics of pump operation, this makes sense.

However what I also know is that there is a flap that closes off flow from the outside when recirc is triggered. This usually seals off incoming gases.

So...yeah...there must be some place at the rear of the vehicle that has a large pressure drop that also allows passage of exhast into the cabin.


I have never "floor boarded" this car yet!

Sadly, my explorer has more hard miles on it than my 2010 mustang GT.


Thanks again for your help, please keep us posted, I'll do the same.
Trying very hard to keep my posts from becoming "rants" , Gary

I can still confirm 100% improvement in the smell with recirc off, rear air on (whether the A/C is on or not). This is with just the tape on the small interior surface holes on the hatch. I have another 6 wot passes to highway speed and find no smell.

I went a step further and taped up every single place I could find in the "annulus" or "trough" between the seal and the exterior edge that formed a leak path around the hatch seal.

This included the tail light and the trim piece that slopes upward toward the roof. The tape is on the trough side, not the exterior.

I can confirm that there is substantial mitigation of the smell with recirc on. Its approximately 50-60% better. It is still there though.

This tells me:

A new hatch seal won't do squat.
There are multiple leak paths that bypass the hatch seal.
The leak points are in the rear portion of the vehicle.

Overall I am glad to have found some manageable mitigation of this. Ford may never get around to solve this. They know about it. They ave TSBs for the issue But the previous TSBs on the issue aren't effective. The explorer has super good a/c so I may never need the recirc on. I am always going to get foul exhaust smells into the cabin from other vehicles. Fact of life.
 






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