Bad or Burnt Exhaust smell in cabin during hard acceleration.

[peterk9]

Never smelled that in a car before.
Is it worth taking into the dealer then?

If it only happens under the conditions you noted then I don't think that there is anything the dealer would be able to do for you.

 

[hampri]

Sickens me to see this is such a problem. Took my '14 Explorer in 2015 and they performed one TSB applying sealant that did nothing. Then went back a few months later for that and other issues (bubbled paint on hood, faulty door seal, inconsistent gaps between doors and body, door trim coming off at window) and they told me my warranty is out. Been dealing with the smell of fumes ever since, lowering windows when I hard accelerate. For a $43,000 car, I'm very disappointed. This will be my last Ford purchase.

 

[RegularJosh]

Same situation here. If I run 91-93 there is no odor. 87-89 I notice it right away.

 

[blanchard7684]

I don't know anyone who has an explorer or a lincoln suv that doesn't have the "stinking problem ". Even the service writer, and at least one of the mechanics at the dealership we use have traded their exp's for something else because of this problem. I guess they were tired of trying to fix them, and could see the writing on the wall. I have no doubts that both the source of the problem, and the fix are known by ford, but it is too expensive to implement. Thanks to the renewed publicity, we have a vehicle that no one wants to take on trade,,,at any price, and will never be compensated for the time and trouble we have experienced. We really like the car,,,,aside from "the problem".

GWTX,

You have hit the nail again.

We have commiserated on this issue a few dozen pages back.

The tape mitigated the problem for me. But in recirc the fumes still got in. In W. Texas things were compounded with wind forcing the fumes into the rear hatch.

Two years have passed. But just yesterday I traded in the explorer on a 2016 4 runner. Your last sentence was my and my wife's sentiments. We were afraid that if we did not act quickly that we were going to get 'Volkswagoned'.

The recent attention this issue is getting really spooked my wife. I realistically hated the odor as well. Plus the horn issue. We both felt like there were more recalls heading our direction anyway. This was all I needed to spur me into getting something else.

So we test drove a 17 armada, sequoia, 4 runner. I tried everyway I could to pull exhaust fumes into the cabin. There was even a strong N-S wind at the rear of the suvs. Nothing. and I mean nothing was getting in.

I did notice that the other SUVs had a hatch design that was wider and almost wraps around the rear. Maybe this is it? Who knows but that'd be a hell of a recall: replacing the rear hatch.

The explorer has a tremendous engine. A smooth and tough as nails transmission. The nav and electrical systems worked flawlessly as all my previous Fords have. It was easy to maintain. But there are some strange flaws in this that kept us from owning this any longer.

We've driven and owned nothing but Fords for decades.

The 4runner was simply the only midsize we were considering.

Good luck to you all.

 

[stillmarried]

Been testing with the CO meter for a couple of weeks. Still to cold out to use the AC, so all testing has been with the heater on. Ambient CO level is 1-2 ppm. It seems when we pick up the exhaust gas smell, there is about 9 ppm reading on the meter. This is a level bad enough to put the windows down..
There have been about 4 times when the meter went from the 1-2 ppm range, up to the 5-6 range, but we did not smell any exhaust gas odor at that time.
One issue is that we run the Climate control with the recirculation inside cabin air button on, however the Climate control intermittently turns Recirculation air mode off in order to reduce fogging the inside windows. So we will smell an exhaust odor, look at the climate control, see that the Recirculation mode has turned off, then we speculate if the odor is from a nearby vehicle.

 

[john193]

We have a 2017 explorer that we got in October of 2016, and we can definitely smell it when accelerating over 3.5K RPM. Smells more like exhaust, than a rotten egg smell.

 

[Machine090767]

My parents owned the Explorer I currently own, and there has not been any "smells"
either we got lucky, or we have bad noses. But since none of us felt sick or anything, I guess I didn't get a bad one.

 

[Fl. Keys Explorer]

We purchased our 2016 Explorer new and have always experienced the exhaust smell in the cabin upon hard acceleration, At first I thought it was outside smells entering the cabin but then realized I was smelling my own exhaust gasses. I brought this up with a local Ford tech who advised that yes this is an issue we have been experiencing with the new Explorer but we have not been able to figure out where its coming from. I recently went online to see if others are also experiencing this problem and I guess I am not alone. Ford motor company doesn't seem concerned. Has anyone escalated this issue with corporate? If yes, what was their response?
Thanks.

 

[peterk9]

We purchased our 2016 Explorer new and have always experienced the exhaust smell in the cabin upon hard acceleration, At first I thought it was outside smells entering the cabin but then realized I was smelling my own exhaust gasses. I brought this up with a local Ford tech who advised that yes this is an issue we have been experiencing with the new Explorer but we have not been able to figure out where its coming from. I recently went online to see if others are also experiencing this problem and I guess I am not alone. Ford motor company doesn't seem concerned. Has anyone escalated this issue with corporate? If yes, what was their response?
Thanks.

Welcome to the Forum.
If you go backwards through this thread you'll see that there are suits pending. I don't think Ford knows exactly how to fix this issue, especially since it seems the majority of owners don't seem to have the issue. I am on my 2nd 5th gen. Explorer and haven't had this problem in either one.

Peter

 

[ChicagoTRS]

Guh...now I feel I need to invest in a CO meter. My sense of smell is about nil so I could be driving around with the problem and not even know it. Obviously not that worried about a smell but exhaust/CO is concerning.

 

[peterk9]

Guh...now I feel I need to invest in a CO meter. My sense of smell is about nil so I could be driving around with the problem and not even know it. Obviously not that worried about a smell but exhaust/CO is concerning.

Welcome to the Forum.
Several members have done this and posted about it.

Peter

 

[ChicagoTRS]

Welcome to the Forum.
Several members have done this and posted about it.

Peter

Thanks for the welcome. I was surprised I had not posted before. I have had a 2011 Limited for 3 years now and overall I love the vehicle. This is my second explorer - also owned a 1997 XLT that gave me 170K miles before she was sent to pasture.

I queried my son about exhaust smell and he mentioned the rotten egg smell but I understand that is sort of normal for most modern vehicles. I am concerned about the CO as my GF has three young children and we often all pack into the family truckster. Hard to get a feel for how widespread this issue might be...the media is certainly running with it right now but it is very hard to trust anything the media reports on these days...that is why I came to the forums, I know actual owners would be a better source of information. I will report my CO results once I am up and running.

 

[stillmarried]

If you buy a CO monitor, please try to avoid my mistake of buying a Pyle mode PCMM05 CO meter from Walmart. The meter shuts off after 15 minutes and there is no way to prevent this shut off of power every 15 minutes. We have had several examples of driving and looking at the CO meter when there is an exhaust odor, and the CO meter has since turn off. It is a pain to set my phone timer to go off every 14 minutes so that I can restart the CO meter.

 

[CommandPresence]

Hello. My Explorer was into the dealer a few months back for an exhaust smell/burnt smell in the cabin. The repair order stated they applied some sort of sealant underneath the vehicle in areas and adjusted the lift gate to try and seal it tighter. They also replaced the PTU due to a leak.

I am concerned because the smell is still present after the repair, and I have noticed after driving for a while I get bouts of dizziness. Given the fact I have used others vehicles just to confirm I am only experiencing dizziness in my vehicle, it's definitely from my Explorer. I have researched the issues all over this site and also just noticed recently Police Officers have gotten sick from CO exposure and passed out in their Explorers. I am curious as to how many others have had this issue, and if so, what's the fix? Has Ford come up with anything to rectify the problem? I am just over 60k miles on my 14' Explorer and am very concerned at this point.

 

[CommandPresence]

Had the sealant "fix" done at the dealer a few months ago. Still have the burnt smell in the cabin. Really hoping Ford steps up to the plate and solves these issues as soon as possible.

 

[stillmarried]

I don't know if Ford has released TSB 16-0166 officially yet, but you may want to ask for this exhaust system upgrade on this TSB to be replaced on your vehicle,
My vehicle is a 2015 limited and I do not know if this can be done on your vehicle, but you may want to check on it.
It has improved the exhaust smell about 60-70% so far. I will get a better idea in the heat of the summer when we run the air conditioning to see more improvement.
Let me know if Ford as released this TSB as official and if it can be done on your vehicle.

 

[peterk9]

I don't know if Ford has released TSB 16-0166 officially yet, but you may want to ask for this exhaust system upgrade on this TSB to be replaced on your vehicle,
My vehicle is a 2015 limited and I do not know if this can be done on your vehicle, but you may want to check on it.
It has improved the exhaust smell about 60-70% so far. I will get a better idea in the heat of the summer when we run the air conditioning to see more improvement.
Let me know if Ford as released this TSB as official and if it can be done on your vehicle.

https://lintvkxan.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/tsb16-0166.pdf

Peter

 

[Tsuga]

https://lintvkxan.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/tsb16-0166.pdf

Peter

Hi Peter,
I a new to this, but what is a TSB and how it differs from a recall?
Thanks,
T

 

[peterk9]

Hi Peter,
I a new to this, but what is a TSB and how it differs from a recall?
Thanks,
T

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_Service_Bulletin
A TSB is performed free of charge as long as the vehicle is under warranty is it has the issue. A recall, usually issued for safety related issues, can be issued any time and the repair is also free regardless of warranty.

Peter

 

[Tsuga]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_Service_Bulletin
A TSB is performed free of charge as long as the vehicle is under warranty is it has the issue. A recall, usually issued for safety related issues, can be issued any time and the repair is also free regardless of warranty.

Peter

Okay, thanks! I am going to bring this up on Wednesday. I do smell the burnt exhaust smell when I accelerate hard.