WOW, I just finished reading every single post in this 23 page [so far] thread from the very 1st one from the OP [the ex-explorer owner; unregistered 1banger] to the most recent one from edub of NC. Like with a good book, I didn't jump ahead to the last page hoping I might unearth along the way some similarities of experiences & possible explanations and ultimately some or at least one solution to it all...but, unfortunately, no. More than a year long this thread, but yet, no happy ending? No "SOLVED" added to thread title from a moderator, yet [there's still hope, right?].
I did appreciate Cory from Ford's Cust Svc Dept popping in every now and then with the hopeful/helpful offers of escalating it up...But, after a year of this same song & dance from Ford's Cust Svc & the regional/local service managers & techs, I would expect a more unified answer/possible course of action by now. It's a little disappointing to see the same speculation from Nov 2011 to Nov 2012...
First off, let me introduce myself, my name is Mike and I'm a newbie here at Serious Explorations-but not to Explorers/Exploders [we've had a '96 XLT RWD/4x2, an '03 XLT RWD/4x2 and now a '12 Limited, 3.5 V6 FWD]. The wife & I just recently had to buy the 2012 when our 2003's transmission gave up the ghost @ 102,650 miles. Needing something more reliable and not wanting to throw more $$ at a possible growing money pit w/diminished returns, we unloaded the '03 to a local mechanic and bought a "used" but pristine condition, fleet lease-returned 2012 Limited w/roughly 21,000 miles from a nearby Ford dealer.
The Exploder is mainly driven by the wife [w/the kids] daily and on frequent extended out-of-town weekend trips. We both have similar aggressive/defensive driving styles and accelerate to merge/pass/get-out-of-harm's way [a frequent necessity on Southern California roads/freeways unfortunately] and on the very first day of taking ownership of the 2012 both of us experienced the "smell" when either of us was at the wheel. AC on or off, RECIRC on or off, windows open or not, none of those things made a difference; each time after punching it to downshift/accelerate [revving the engine from roughly 2500/3500rpms to upwards of 6000rpms] a moment later the "smell" would envelope the cabin/interior. WTF is that? This is a "new" car? As far as we can tell, it's coming in from the from the front and not the rear of the vehicle. It is NOT exhaust fumes from the rear twin exhaust pipes being sucked back into the vehicle, I can tell you that for sure. And as far as describing the "smell" I beg to differ, as it is NOT burnt oil, NOR is it a distinct rotten-egg/methane/sulphur smell like from old, tired catalytic converters, but more like an AMMONIA-like odor. Another poster on this same forum in a separte post [found/discovered through a google search (
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=368054)] but linked to this thread pegged it as the smell of getting a "perm". At the risk of dating myself, as soon as I caught a whiff of this "smell" it immediately transported me back to the summer between 7th & 8th grade and my "traumatic" experience of being forced by my mom to get a "permanent" because she was tired of this surf/skate rat's long hair and gave the ultimatum of a buzz cut or curls [yikes!]. Being ateenage boy & sitting in a chair at a beauty salon with a lot of blue-haired old ladies looking at you is bad enough, but having that toxic, burning ammonia stuff dripping down into your face and ears and making your eyes water, you never forget that. So I was one of the few white boys with a huge afro for a year..at least all the Brady Bunch guys had done it too, so I wasn't all alone in my misery. Anyhow...I digress, sorry about that. The point being, even though the thread is titled 'burnt oil smell during hard acceleration", I would say a more accurate description is 'Unique & Unpleasant Smell IMMEDIATELY AFTER Hard Acceleration".
Over the couse of my life I've owned my share of vehicles and driven a lot more; way old to brand new. My current line of work also exposes me to a lot of antique automobiles and I KNOW what burnt oil smells like. This is not burnt oil.
The most logical explanation most likely will involve the cats, since, we too have already filled the gas tank multiple times from various vendors in multiple qualities/blends/octanes, etc, with the same consistent "smell" results each time. The "smell" is always exactly the same, regardless. [There goes the different gas theory!] The aftermarket K&N Cold Air Intake [CAI] "fix" I'm skeptical about as it really is unrelated to the particular actions that create the scenario each time in the first place. The most intriguing so far was the earlier post about the discovery of the cat's venting being in close proximity to the AC's drainage pipe [?]. And I've never tried to boil coolant to the point of burning it or making it turn to some sort of gas, but I suspect it would smell a lot "sweeter" than what we're smelling with this "problem", so replacing the coolant overflow tank & hoses seems fruitless. And other posters are correct that this is not just unique to the '11-'13 Exploders as other vehicles/older models from Audis, Jeeps, Mercedes & Toyotas, etc, over the years have experienced this, but either those other manufacturers have quietly remedied it on subsequent models or the owners are just not as vehement and vocal about it as the current Exploder owners are.
We all know/recognize that now-more-common-than-ever sulphurish, rotten-egg smell of a tired, old catalytic converter, especially when we're behind a vehicle [or in one] that is suffering that situation. This really seems like a different beast. But unless [or maybe?] cat manufacturers are now using different materials/compounds inside the cats[?], nonetheless, we still don't need/want those noxious fumes around us. I also would assume based on the past posts that this is only common to the 3.5 V6 AND NOT the EcoBoost4. FWD or AWD/4WD doesn't seem to make a diference & it doens't seem to have anything to do with the transfer case seals leaking, etc. There is a real immediate cause & effect, repeatable-on-demand issue going on here. In agreement with other earlier posters in that I would assume that all the V6s have this "issue/problem" and other owners simply have not recreated it yet, because of driving styles/habits, less olfactory sensitivity, easier-going attitude about things, etc. I unfortunately have been saddled with a big ol'schnoz and an obsessive-compulsive perfectionist personality, that wasnts to sniff out problems and solve them.
In conclusion, this may be something new and inherent in the current drivetrain design/componentry and may not be fixable. I will have to be okay with it because there are still things we do like/appreciate about this current model, so we may have to just live with it [that really does suck, but it's not a perfect world out there, either]. Still, what I really can't get past, is when Ford and all the other auto manufacturers are taking their highly-monitored test mules [usually camouflaged] out into the heat of the Arizona deserts or the elevations of the Colorado Rockies and running them through their paces, these sort of things/smells/vibrations DON'T OCCUR [?]. OR if/when they DO--and just like the great war machine out there--they ignore them/write them off as justifiable or allowable losses [?] Really...give me a break.
WOW, this is way too FN long. Oh well. Oh and sorry for all the quotes. I'll get off my little soapbox. And this is only my 2nd post. Whew, I better shut up now! ;~)
Mike [isiwibi]
). Drop me a line via PM any time and I’ll lend a hand with the search.
