Exhaust smell from back seat area

[txkflier]

Yes, but it isn't supposed to come inside the car. It gets in regardless of the recirculate setting.

 

[613GT500]

Yes, but it isn't supposed to come inside the car. It gets in regardless of the recirculate setting.

Under WOT, the smell of rotten eggs is present in every other make and model. Do a search and you will see its not only Ford that has this smell "problem".

 

[txkflier]

Yes, but it isn't supposed to come inside the car. It gets in regardless of the recirculate setting.

Under WOT, the smell of rotten eggs is present in every other make and model. Do a search and you will see its not only Ford that has this smell "problem".

Not inside the car..

 

[613GT500]

Yes, but it isn't supposed to come inside the car. It gets in regardless of the recirculate setting.


Not inside the car..

As I posted, do a search and you will get 10k+ hits related to rotten egg smell inside the vehicle during WOT.

 

[txkflier]

I've owned and driven many cars in my 66 years and this is the only one that lets exhaust gases into the cabin.

 

[peterk9]

I've owned and driven many cars in my 66 years and this is the only one that lets exhaust gases into the cabin.

To your knowledge that is. As you've stated both carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide are odourless. The catalytic convertor wasn't made mandatory until 1975 so you likely wouldn't have had an issue with 'the smell' before then. The cabin is not air tight and a vehicle like an SUV would be more likely to capture exhaust gases behind it than a car because of its design. Granted, the gases should still not enter the cabin. A member in another thread regarding this 'sulphur' smell issue believed it was coming in through the front vents. I previously had a 2011 Explorer and did not have the exhaust issue. With the MKT, I noticed this smell once under hard acceleration but it quickly dissipated. The most common cases I find of getting this smell inside the cabin is due to following a vehicle that produced for one reason or another.

Peter

 

[atvmax99]

Hi Guys! I was doing extensive web research on this problem with my vehicle..which happens to be a 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee. I was in Jeep forums..Durango forums and of course this Explorer forum all with this exact complaint..as in my vehicle! So it isn't just an Explorer issue, it's apparently VERY common complaint with newer SUV's! I've only had my Jeep that I bought used about a month ago and instantly started noticing exhaust coming into the car right after moderate to hard acceleration, doesn't matter AC on or off, with or with re-circulating setting on or off..I even had the moon roof open and the front two windows half down and I still smelled it. So I wanted to see if other Jeep owners at first experience this and not only them but later year Durangos too and I found this forum with the same complaint. This forum however has way more posts as it seems you guys are really trying to pursue a solution more so then the Dodge and Jeep owners are!
So it would seem to reason what fixes one brand might be applied across the board! I had a 2001 Durango that I bought new and everytime I hammered that thing I NEVER smelled any exhaust come into the car, I have a friend with a 2001 Explorer and he's never noticed any exhaust coming in after hard acceleration so it would seem that whatever the car manufacturers did to their designs of their SUV's later on introduced cabin air flow that is bringing in the exhaust...and so far nobody has any solutions for this problem! So I feel or rather SMELL your pain/frustrations!

 

[613GT500]

The exhaust smell and rotten egg smell are different. I also own a MY2015 Lexus RX350 and a MY2001 Acura Integra Type R and they also produce rotten egg smell during hard acceleration/WOT.

 

[Aja98gt]

Hi everyone,
I joined the forum specifically to report on my problem. Hopefully it can help some of you folks who love your explorer as much as I love mine.

I found out I had a problem several months ago when my father-in-law started complaining about a smell in his Edge. I found that I had the exact same smell and always thought it was a nearby car. The smell is a sulfury exhaust time smell and most often appears when the car is under load accelerating or going up a hill. It's strong but quickly dissipated and originated out of the AC.

I took the car to a local for dealership (Sayville NY Ford) who insisted they had never heard of the problem and my car was fine. I did a little research and found the TSB addressing exactly my concern but they refused to do the repair. Instead they said it was the PTU and replaced it (I had already had the PTU replaced 1x before so I know this wasn't the cause). I took the car from them and went directly to Ford of Smithtown NY. Those guys were great and completed the repair as directed by the TSB.

The TSB fixes nothing. The smell is still there. There is a pending investigation and a likely recall coming. It's affecting hundreds of thousands of ford vehicles and not limited to our model. Today- the dealership called the engineering hotline and said they had a new fix- an "updated exhaust system from the cat to the pipes"...the TSB was hundreds of dollars. Hopefully ford will cover this because I'm out of warranty. (66k miles). This may be the fix we've been waiting for.

 

[peterk9]

Welcome to the Forum Aja98gt.
The sulphur smell under hard acceleration is quite common in most cars. It began when catalytic convertors were made mandatory. I noticed it at time when a vehicle ahead of mine accelerates quickly. I've also noticed it briefly with mine but like you mentioned, it quickly dissipates. The culprit is usually the convertor.
Just Google rotten egg smell car and you'll get quite a few articles.

Peter

 

[peterk9]

There is a Canada-wide settlement relating to exhaust odour in 2011-2015 Ford Explorers you can find out more here: https://investigationcounsel.com/ford-explorer-ford-edge-lincoln-mkx-carbon-monoxide-investigation/

Welcome to the Forum Kyle.
Thanks for the link.
Also, please complete your registration by adding the 'Required' "Trim Level" (Base, XLT, etc.) to your profile so it appears in the margin. That can be useful info to have at times. Thank you.

Peter

 

[metroplex]

I noticed newer GTDI vehicles produce a cloud of black smoke during sudden WOT, followed by the rotten egg smell. Once the cats get older, the rotten egg smell goes away. But for the newer cars, you can tell if the driver likes to go WOT more often than normal. I never get that smell if I run it WOT frequently, but if I am gently cruising all the time, it will smell fairly badly if I suddenly open up the throttle. Running E85 or E20-E47 mix will not have that smell. Instead, it will tend to smell like booze during cold starts.