Festiva wierd smell.

[BrionF]

I'm posting this for a friend. Suzy drives a 92' Festiva Automatic. 180,000 miles. I'm assuming it has a 1.3 engine but she's not sure, The last owner put camaro stripes across the hood and roof, it's white with black stripes and says 72C.I. cobra jet on the hood so whatever 72C.I. translates to. I didnt get a chance to look at the engine yet but she says she's been smelling some kind of bad smell while driving the car, nothing is smoking. She says her Temp guage reads about halfway. The battery doesnt seem to be losing juice so I ruled out the alternator. She says it's running about the same as always. I told her to look under the hood and see if anything is leaking. She said there was and confirmed for me that it was water. I told her that she should wait like an hour and come back and try to pour some water in the radiator to see how much it would take. She did that and said it was pretty full already. Do these cars have a seperate reservoir? If so I suppose I should have had her check the level of that, which I told her later on. Im thinking maybe water pump as she doesnt know if the temp level has gone up or it's always at halfway. I need to look at it but I know that if water is coming out the weep hole than the pump is on the way out. She said the water was coming out of a "part". But another thing is that I dont recall bad water pumps making the car smell.............hmmmm. Any suggestions would be appreciated. P.S. we really need to help Suzy , she's a starving student who drives the heck (edited)out of this car. I'll get a look at the car tomorrow and report back.


Watch the language - admin

[htchbck]

one more quick question, does the car have AC? If so and if the compressor or some other part is leaking refrigerant (sp?) then the car will reek of the nastiest scent you can possibly imagine. Oh and my guess is that the 72CI decal is someone's joke probably made from a 427 Cobra Jet decal since 72 is pretty close to the 1.3 liter engine's cubic inch displacement (81 I think is the actual number)

P.S. please watch the language outside of the Arena... did you read the rules when you signed up?

[bravekozak]

check the ducts

Make sure nothing has died in the ductwork.

I heard of a brand new Camaro plunging into a snowbank in the winter. They didn't find the body until the snow melted in the spring. The smell was unbelievable. Even though there wasn't a scratch on the Camaro, they couldn't get rid of the smell. They even stripped the carpet and seats out of the car and replaced them.
Good luck.

[quaddawg]

Yeah, a leaking water pump can make the car smell... antifreeze... smells like... syrup or something sweet... very discernable odor..
Please edit your post for the "s" word... sorry but it's a rule here. Otherwise WELCOME!

[FestYboy]

EDIT the "s" word out before you get hit with an admin or mod please.

[BrionF]

Sorry about that guys. My bad. Wont happen again.

[BrionF]

I looked at the engine tonight. It had been sitting for a little while. Nothing leaking. No mildew smell in the car from an ac leak but she pointed to the ac hose as the "part" that the water was dripping from. could that just have been condensation on the hose? She did say that her dash brake light has been on for about a month. But she insists that the brake is off when she's driving and she feels no drag on the car when driving. She says the smell is like a burning smell, and that is the main reason she asked me what I thought that might be in the first place. I felt bad that I had to tell her I had know idea what that might be but it's not enough
clues for me.

[geezerstiva]

the ac hose is a drain ithink. it drains the condensation off of all the hoses/evaporator. try adding some brake fluid to the master cylinder to get rid of the brake light. the smell... dunno, could be the brakes?

[joebreck117]

did you check the radiator, to make sure it had not lost any liquid?
i know you said she did, but did you, just to make sure.

my idea is maybe.....the water pump died and the pulley started to wobble, causing it to melt through the timing dust shield...or even if it didn't die, the pulley still could have gone through that shield. common thing. and burning plastic is a bad smell.
sooo...maybe?

the car's a/c system, when working correctly, will drip water from the condensation.
and freon does not smell that bad.

did you try driving the car?

Joe

[miami man]

is there a squelling sound when the motor is running? the smell could be from a slipping alternator belt.

[BrionF]

I didnt drive the car. She said the temp guage reads between cold and hot but she runs the AC all the time. But since it's not overheating I kind of ruled out the water pump and she said the radiator was absolutely full and she's a sharp chick so I believe her. But correct me if Im wrong about the water pump, I just assumed if it was gone that water would be draining out. I told her to fill her brake fluid if it was low and I told her that maybe it's her brakes. I told her to pay attention to whether the smell was in traffic or not, when she's using brakes alot or not.

[joebreck117]

oohh idea, idea!
any work done on it recently, and something dripped onto the exhaust? that might smell bad... Or maybe she ran over a plastic bag. I did that once and it wasn't the best smell.

And still, check that plastic cover over the timing belt. From what I hear it's common for them to swell and then the water pump pulley burns right on through, whether or not the pump goes bad.

Joe

[Ogrestiva]

All car smells are unique I would suggest running the car for a few minuets to see if the smell starts, if it only occurs when you are driving then it would probably be the brakes. try running it without the ac, than with, in order to try and eliminate the possibility's. See if you can figure out what kind of smell it is, since she said it smells like burning it's probably the brakes. if it was coolant it would smell sweet, it might also be a buildup of crap in the filter of the a/c. It could also be that she is hypersensitive to co2 given off by the a/c or engine, but that is less likely.

[geezerstiva]

the a/c has a filter? i didnt know that.

(no thread jack intended!)

[FB71]

no, the A/C does not have a filter, nor does it give off CO2