Hi,

I purchased a used 2008 350z MT. So far I have put about 1,500 miles on the car (got it at 4200 miles). Twice so far when accelerating down a freeway on ramp 40-70 mph I got a strange smell in the cockpit. Windows were half way down. I think both times the outside air intake button was on. I was pushing the car to about 4500 rpm during the acceleration. Smell went away after acceleration but the windows were still down. All I can tell you is that it smelt like car, stale. Is this normal? I drove a Jaguar one time and it had the same type of smell when it was pushed. Is there a reason for this? Is it a problem?

Thanks for the read and the input, Mason

 

floormat issue? have you reported to nissan?

 

What is the "floormat issue".

I think the smell is coming though the A/C vents.

 

I hope you mean AC

 

Yes, the button on the AC controls. The button like the rear defroster. I think its the middle one out of the three.

 

Maybe something with the Catalytic Converter? I just got a new cat on my V-Dub, and it smells like it's burning just because it's new. Maybe something could be touching the cat, or something spills on it. Warranty FTW!

 

I don't want to freak you out, but did you check to see if the car had flood issues? I ran mine into flood waters last fall and it I could smell mildew when doing as you described. Having the windows open stirred things up enough inside that the smell was stronger with the windows open. I hope that's not the case with your car, but I wanted to throw the worst-case-scenario at you.

 

Probably a fuel leak. Should have the car towed. Too dangerous to drive. May explode in a ball of flames.

 

Are you sure your girlfriend didn't fart, they don't like to admit it.

But now seriously, are you venting air from the outside?

 

so what you're saying is that sometimes, your car, smells like a car

 

air freshener?

 

Women don't fart, and they don't burp. That's why they bit@ch - so they don't blow up.

 

You guys are funny

TreeFiddyZee, I will check the car more for flood issues but so far I can't find anything leading me to believe it was flooded. Does not smell moldy. Smells more like stale air coming though the car.

makopolo, I'm venting from the outside when the smell occurs.

 

could be your bad breath just blowing back in your face.


If the car has low miles I would check as stated above, flood issues or even possible insect/critter in the air system. Higher millage vehicles (much higher and older) might have mildew just because of the climate they were in and time for it to grow. Yours ???. Plus you dont give us a good detail of the smell. I was thinking TP's and gas smell, but if its when vents are open with windows permitting more air to flow due to compression/vacume of oncomming air and windows open then its in your vents somewhere.

 

i thought cars were suppose to smell like cars

 

is it a salty smell? it could be you just creaming your pants.

 

Perhaps you caught something on your exhaust while driving and the foreign object has melted to the piping. Every time it gets really hot it will start melting again... but probably not enough to completely fall off - resulting in a smell every time.

 

In all honesty, check your coolant level.

 

It's likely just the exhaust from the EGR solenoid opening, it opens at wide opens throttle so rather than recirculating the exhaust for the sake of emissions it just dumps it all in order to make more power... as you would suspect this dumps out your tail pipes so it would be wierd for you to smell it in the car while accelerating. Anyways this is why it always stinks when a car passes you on the highway at full throttle or close to it.

Otherwise I don't know.

 

nothing wrong with ur car... it my smell too when accelerating... your previous owner probably spill some oil in the engine. it burn everytime ur engine get hot. it wont burn that bad when ur engine is under normal driving condition. therefore you wont notice.

get some engine degreaser. it should be gone after 3 washes.