Toxic Smell in 01 Clio

Big Nelly

Hi Everyone

Wife has 01 Renault Clio, had to drive it over the snow period as she was working nights, one night came back out and started car and there is toxic smell in the car, was so bad she had to leave by road and I picked up, the smell seems to get worse with air con on but not sure as smell is still in car this morning even though it has been sitting up for over a month or so.

Any idea's what could be causing the problem?

colm_mcm

Are the wipers working?

wyndham

What kind of smell? Eggy? Petroley? Burning?

homer90

Socks under the seats ?
Maybe something has climbed into the engine compartment and died !

Is everything electrical working ?

Big Nelly

wyndham wrote: »

What kind of smell? Eggy? Petroley? Burning?

Like really really gone off eggs

Yes wipers are working!

Big Nelly

homer90 wrote: »

Socks under the seats ?
Maybe something has climbed into the engine compartment and died !

Is everything electrical working ?

If only it was that simple, no its not anything dead, not that sort of smell.

Everything else on car is working perfect.

keithclancy

Big Nelly wrote: »

Like really really gone off eggs

Yes wipers are working!

Sounds like the Catalytic Convertor might be knackered.

The Eggy smell is a buildup of Sulphur, maybe take the car for a good long drive at high revs and see if that makes a difference

Big Nelly

keithclancy wrote: »

Sounds like the Catalytic Convertor might be knackered.

The Eggy smell is a buildup of Sulphur, maybe take the car for a good long drive at high revs and see if that makes a difference

Had a look at car, coming out of the air con by the looks of it, would hte pollen filter be gone? could that cause such a smell?

keithclancy

Big Nelly wrote: »

Had a look at car, coming out of the air con by the looks of it, would hte pollen filter be gone? could that cause such a smell?

The Pollen filter doesnt 'go' suddenly as such, just gets slowly clogged up with gunk in the air, it certainly wouldn't create an eggy smell as you described, more likely you'd have great difficulty clearing the windows and would possibly have a musty smell.

gofaster_s13

If the battery is knackered it will give off a gas(hydrogen gas) which has a really strong eggy smell, the gas is both toxic and highly explosive.

listermint

Sulphur is the eggy smell, as stated above,

give the battery terminals a clean off, and give the car a good run with high revs to pressure the exhaust and catylitic converter.

Then give her a wash and clean.

Big Nelly

listermint wrote: »

Sulphur is the eggy smell, as stated above,

give the battery terminals a clean off, and give the car a good run with high revs to pressure the exhaust and catylitic converter.

Then give her a wash and clean.

Thanks for advice guys, need it back on road to stop wife driving mine so just dropped into garage, they are going to have a look and give me a ring to say what the prob is, will update here in case someone else has prob

phill106

I'll put my bet down as clutch. Has a distinctive smell.

listermint

phill106 wrote: »

I'll put my bet down as clutch. Has a distinctive smell.

Kinda agree, but we can stay positive none the less

Big Nelly

phill106 wrote: »

I'll put my bet down as clutch. Has a distinctive smell.

Would it put toxic fumes into car thou? I had clutch go before in Primera and there was never a smell

phill106

phill106 wrote: »

I'll put my bet down as clutch. Has a distinctive smell.

Not at all eggy though :pac:

listermint

RoverJames wrote: »

Not at all eggy though :pac:

True, but he said foul. Maybe chickens caught in the head

gofaster_s13

If its an eggy smell in the cabin that's bad enough to make someone leave it on the side of the road I'd be 90% sure its the battery.

keithclancy

Burning clutch of is more of an angle grinder type smell.

Big Nelly

listermint wrote: »

True, but he said foul. Maybe chickens caught in the head

Pretty close in the end, yes it was the Catalytic Convertor but it is not gone, garage said they have seen this a few times but not many. The Catalytic Convertor froze in the weather as it was so cold, because of this it stopped working, I only drove it after wife brought it home Xmas Eve and then left it till this morning when I dropped it to garage. Guys in garage said they brought it for a spin and it has worked the smell out of it, strange but happy days.

Unhappy day is last person who serviced it put the brake pads on wrong and have to get disks replaced but one to watch out for with the weather so cold these days!!

listermint

So off for a rally then! good ending.

Green Hornet

gofaster_s13 wrote: »

If the battery is knackered it will give off a gas(hydrogen gas) which has a really strong eggy smell, the gas is both toxic and highly explosive.

Hydrogen gas doesn't have any smell.

Big Nelly

listermint wrote: »

So off for a rally then! good ending.

Not going to rally far in a clio!!!!

gofaster_s13

Green Hornet wrote: »

Hydrogen gas doesn't have any smell.

Strictly speaking its Hydrogen Sulfide gas which most definately has a very eggy smell.

A catalytic converter operates at c 500 degrees C + so it's very unlikely it was frozen.

Green Hornet

gofaster_s13 wrote: »

Strictly speaking its Hydrogen Sulfide gas which most definately has a very eggy smell.

That's correct. Hydrogen Sulfide has the rotten egg smell.

keithclancy

Big Nelly wrote: »

Pretty close in the end, yes it was the Catalytic Convertor but it is not gone, garage said they have seen this a few times but not many. The Catalytic Convertor froze in the weather as it was so cold, because of this it stopped working, I only drove it after wife brought it home Xmas Eve and then left it till this morning when I dropped it to garage. Guys in garage said they brought it for a spin and it has worked the smell out of it, strange but happy days.

Unhappy day is last person who serviced it put the brake pads on wrong and have to get disks replaced but one to watch out for with the weather so cold these days!!

How the feck do you put brake pads on 'wrong'
Upside down or something ?

Big Nelly

keithclancy wrote: »

How the feck do you put brake pads on 'wrong'
Upside down or something ?

Havent a clue, I do know when she got new tyres on it they said the brake pads where ok, got it serviced about a month ago and they said they needed changing but said they done nothing with them. Last person to service was about year and a hlaf ago as she only uses it to run in and out of work etc. 5 k milage in 2 years

keithclancy

Big Nelly wrote: »

Havent a clue, I do know when she got new tyres on it they said the brake pads where ok, got it serviced about a month ago and they said they needed changing but said they done nothing with them. Last person to service was about year and a hlaf ago as she only uses it to run in and out of work etc. 5 k milage in 2 years

Just get them to give you the measurements and check against the manufacturer tolerances for the discs. Too much jammy guesswork with garages, pads are a pretty easy one, but discs require measurements.