Bad or Burnt Exhaust smell in cabin during hard acceleration. | Page 73 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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


  • Total voters
    14
Update:

I changed the exhaust replacing the stock resonator and mufflers and also pushing the tips about an inch out. I can say for sure that the smell I had upon heavy extended acceleration is nearly completely gone. There is still a slight smell that is somewhat different but similar enough to think its related to whatever the root cause was/is. That said, I am no longer bothered by the issue to the point that I regret purchasing the car every time I drive it spiritedly...BUT its still pretty lame that Ford hasn't fixed this. It's gone from a major issue to one of those minor annoyances I suppose I'll just live with. I TRULY hope any and all lawsuits related to this end up costing Ford a ton of cash & hope that whatever the problem is isn't causing us all health issues...
Hey Calif, glad to hear you improved your situation. Could you provide a little more info, such as brand names of parts and services. Is the exhaust "system" basically the same, just different mufflers/resonators, and extensions? I thought of doing something simuar, but was hoping FORD would fix the problem at THEIR expense, but the last contact I had was supposedly a rep from ford engineering(he said he had never heard of the problem), and he was going to do some "research" and "get back to me". Of course, he didn't say WHEN, and that was a couple of months ago. What makes the situation worse is being lied to. I guess they figure if they can put it off long enough, it will go away. Well, I WILL GO AWAY FROM ANY FORD DEALER the next time I get ready for a new vehicle. What happened to "AT FORD QUALITY IS JOB ONE"? I think that got changed when they said "FORD HAS A BETTER IDEA". Better for them maybe. Good luck with your ford, and if you can, please provide as much info as you can about your "fix"
Thanks for the report.
 



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Hey Calif, glad to hear you improved your situation. Could you provide a little more info, such as brand names of parts and services. Is the exhaust "system" basically the same, just different mufflers/resonators, and extensions? I thought of doing something simuar, but was hoping FORD would fix the problem at THEIR expense, but the last contact I had was supposedly a rep from ford engineering(he said he had never heard of the problem), and he was going to do some "research" and "get back to me". Of course, he didn't say WHEN, and that was a couple of months ago. What makes the situation worse is being lied to. I guess they figure if they can put it off long enough, it will go away. Well, I WILL GO AWAY FROM ANY FORD DEALER the next time I get ready for a new vehicle. What happened to "AT FORD QUALITY IS JOB ONE"? I think that got changed when they said "FORD HAS A BETTER IDEA". Better for them maybe. Good luck with your ford, and if you can, please provide as much info as you can about your "fix"
Thanks for the report.

Here is a post a made detailing what I had done which in turn was essentially a copy of another forum users mods.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3351541&postcount=40

I am not sure what part of the 3 changes I made contributed to the change in smell - or lack there of. I will say, the biggest sound difference came from replacing the resonator. I could see how some people would not want to have the louder grumble that comes with that.

Good luck and wish you the best in solving the issue. I guess it is worth noting that other users have done similar work and apparently still had same smell issues so I think to date, there is still no 100% bullet proof fix.
 






2015 Explorer XLT with bad exhaust smell

I purchased a 2015 Explorer XLT in September of 2014, this replaced my 2013 that I leased for 2 years to see how I liked it. I LOVED it. Since the day I drove it off the lot it has smelled horribly like rotten eggs most of the time and when passing people I noticed a burnt hair smell. I took it in the first time and they told me they had to replace a vent off the back and that would fix it. Well it didn't. That was at 1900 miles. Now at 5000 miles it is back in the shop. I have read about class action lawsuits and complaints about this. My dealership has been great. Ford on the other hand tells them that this will burn off after 10k miles. It states in the manual that if you smell exhaust inside the car not to drive it....maybe they should add that it is ok for the first 10k miles. I am at the point that I don't want it back. I have asked them to put a carbon monoxide detector in it and see what happens. I haven't heard from them yet and it has been almost 2 days. When you pay this kind of money for a brand new vehicle these answers are not acceptable to me. Has anyone else had these issues or know anything about it?
 






I purchased a 2015 Explorer XLT in September of 2014, this replaced my 2013 that I leased for 2 years to see how I liked it. I LOVED it. Since the day I drove it off the lot it has smelled horribly like rotten eggs most of the time and when passing people I noticed a burnt hair smell. I took it in the first time and they told me they had to replace a vent off the back and that would fix it. Well it didn't. That was at 1900 miles. Now at 5000 miles it is back in the shop. I have read about class action lawsuits and complaints about this. My dealership has been great. Ford on the other hand tells them that this will burn off after 10k miles. It states in the manual that if you smell exhaust inside the car not to drive it....maybe they should add that it is ok for the first 10k miles. I am at the point that I don't want it back. I have asked them to put a carbon monoxide detector in it and see what happens. I haven't heard from them yet and it has been almost 2 days. When you pay this kind of money for a brand new vehicle these answers are not acceptable to me. Has anyone else had these issues or know anything about it?

Welcome to the forum, wdeadwyler. I want to escalate this to your regional customer service manager. To get things moving in the right direction, send me a private message (PM) with your full name, best daytime phone number, VIN, current mileage, and servicing dealership.

Crystal
 






Is there anyone who DOESN'T get this smell? Happens to me too...Not quite as strong as he's describing though. I remember someone mentioning that it has to do with the rear liftgate not being properly sealed.
 












smell

They have checked the lift gate and that doesn't seem to be the issue. The only time I don't smell it is when the car is cold, as soon as it warms up it smells awful.
 






I have a case number with Ford and have talked to the regional manager, they seem to be doing all they can to communicate with Ford. I have asked about the lawsuits and the post on the NTSB website and no one will comment on them. As a matter of fact the regional rep said that there are no documented cases like this. Really???
 






I also have a 2015 XLT and do not have this issue. During the first 200 miles, I did smell a rotten egg smell when exiting the vehicle but that has since gone away. I have on a couple occasions put the pedal to the floor and I don't smell anything inside my vehicle and neither does my wife. By the way, I have 1600 miles on mine.
 






Welcome to the Forum wdeadwyler.:wavey:
A 'rotten egg' or suphur smell is usually caused by the catalytic convertor.
There is a 72 page thread on the exhaust smell which usually happens under hard acceleration. I had a 2011 Limited for 3 years and never had this 'smell'.
I will merge your thread with the one I mentioned above.

Peter
 






The rotten egg smell is all the time, idling outside of my kids school is actually when I notice it most because I am sitting still. The burnt hair smell occurs when accelerating. It is weird. They did say it was the catalytic converter and that it would burn off in 10k miles, and if they replaced it we would just be starting over again.
 






Smell on acceleration

I got my 2014 Sport in May 2014 and drove several weeks before I had a chance to accelerate at full throttle. I noticed a smell as talked about so much here but it did not smell like sulphur or exhaust and I have spent my life smelling exhaust. The smell did not last long at cruising speed and what I smelled reminded me of the Beauty Shop I had to go to with my mother when I was 5 or 6 years old.
The smell came and went too fast to be coming through the rear hatch, I think it was coming from under the hood through the ventilation system. I would get the smell each time I accelerated hard for a short distance then let off, (entrance ramps). I now have about 7000 miles and the smell has gone away completely, at least I haven't smelled anything for the last 2000 miles or so.
 






Its been two months and 2000 miles since we got our 2015 sport. I have been taking an expensive carbon monoxide detector with me on random trips. I have experienced no bad smells at all, and the detector has registered 0 parts per million during these trips. 4000 rpm accelerations onto interstate onramps, along with city, and highway driving. Even idling in our garage (with the garage door open). Our Sport has been flawless in every aspect. We have zero issues with it so far. Every system performs exactly as it should. We are very happy with the vehicle. For us, Ford Explorer Sport ROCKS!
 






The dealer called on Friday and told me they were keeping it over the weekend because they have an engineer from Ford coming in to look at it. They didn't give us a whole lot of other information but I have to think that something must be wrong for them to call in an Engineer. I will post what I learn after Monday.
I am glad to hear it isn't every explorer. I love my Explorer and I want it back! I just want to know that it is safe.
 






Lemon law

Hi everyone it's been a long time since I've posted. I hired a lemon law attorney and Ford gave me all the money back and let me keep the car. They know what's going on and the Ford engineers know what's going on. The engineer that drove with me said it was normal to have some exhaust come in. I told him he was full of it. They aren't going to fix the problem I sold my car because I had a baby. I am happily driving a Honda Pilot and happier it had way more room than my Explorer XLT 2013.
I will never buy a ford again sorry to say. Wish all luck in trying to get them to fix it.
 






^^^ dont believe that for 1 minute.
 





















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The TSB fully solved my issues with this on my vehicle

Which TSB number and what did it include?

Did you have the awful egg/exhaust smell always at high RPM's OR the slight burnt hair once and a while at high RPM's?

Just curious.....

It seems there are two types of symptoms that people have.
 






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