exhaust smell

[Anthony L.]

This may sound strange, but I'm wondering if anyone knows what I can do about the exhast smell in my car. I have a 69' with a 427 and side exhast. Whenever I drive the car, I always end up with a fairly strong smell of exhaust on me and need to change clothes and take a shower to get rid of the smell. Is this pretty typical of a side exhaust car, or do I have a problem that can be fixed? My Astro ventilation doesn't work, so maybe that is the problem? I have looked for exhaust leaks, and there doesn't appear to be any. Thanks, Tony.

[Joe L.]

Re: exhaust smell

This may sound strange, but I'm wondering if anyone knows what I can do about the exhast smell in my car. I have a 69' with a 427 and side exhast. Whenever I drive the car, I always end up with a fairly strong smell of exhaust on me and need to change clothes and take a shower to get rid of the smell. Is this pretty typical of a side exhaust car, or do I have a problem that can be fixed? My Astro ventilation doesn't work, so maybe that is the problem? I have looked for exhaust leaks, and there doesn't appear to be any. Thanks, Tony.

Tony-----


I've never heard of this problem with side exhaust cars, but I've never really paid very much attention to them, anyway. However, if you're getting exhaust fumes into the car, especially enough to require you to change clothes and shower after a drive, YOU NEED TO STOP DRIVING THE CAR NOW AND NOT DRIVE IT AGAIN UNTIL YOU GET THE PROBLEM CORRECTED. REGARDLESS OF THE REASON THAT THE FUMES ARE GETTING INTO THE CAR, IT'S A HIGHLY DANGEROUS SITUATION. As amatter of fact, the odor created on your clothes and body is the LEAST of your concern. The CARBON MONOXIDE THAT GOES ALONG WITH IT IS DEADLY and has NO odor, at all.

[Gary J.]

Re: exhaust smell

Anthony:
My experience with side exhaust and the smell on your clothing, is that it is not from the inside of your car but from when you walk past the pipes as you enter the car. If you walk by the sides of the car to wipe it down or as you open the door to get in, look down and you will see your legs are in front of the exhasut.

One time try to stay away from the exhaust as you enter the car and see if the smell is still there.

Save the wave,
Gary

[James W.]

Re: exhaust smell

A car that is running rich will also have a strong exhaust smell and sometimes a vacuum leak can cause it to smell. At any rate, something is not right if the smell is that strong.

[Donald T.]

Re: exhaust smell

Ahhhhh, the smell of unburned hydrocarbons! You didn't mention if you have a coupe or a convertible. If you have a coupe, then as Joe suggested you have a serious and dangerous problem with exhaust fumes entering the passenger compartment. If you are experiencing the problem with a convertible with the top down, then it may just be normal unburned hydrocarbons. These old cars don't have pollution controls and all of the unburned hydrocarbons just go right out the exhaust. Also, modern cars have computers and sensors to more effeciently burn the fuel. Sometimes we just get used to our relatively clean burning modern cars and forget how these old cars smell when they run. One thing you can do is tune up the car and make sure it is not running too rich. If you have a sensitive sense of smell you may find that the smell clings to your clothes. I have the same experience with having to change clothes after driving my convertible with the top down, even though I have leaned the carb down to point of drop off of vacuum and RPM. Perhaps I just have a senstive sense of smell but I can always detect the smell of unburned hydrocarbons whenever I am around these old cars regardless of how well they are tuned.

[Duke W.]

Re: exhaust smell

The first sign of carbon monoxide poisoning is a mild headache.

For non-exhaust emission controlled engine, proper idle mixture yields 3-6 percent CO.

Duke

[Paul J.]

Re: exhaust smell

This may sound strange, but I'm wondering if anyone knows what I can do about the exhast smell in my car. I have a 69' with a 427 and side exhast. Whenever I drive the car, I always end up with a fairly strong smell of exhaust on me and need to change clothes and take a shower to get rid of the smell. Is this pretty typical of a side exhaust car, or do I have a problem that can be fixed? My Astro ventilation doesn't work, so maybe that is the problem? I have looked for exhaust leaks, and there doesn't appear to be any. Thanks, Tony.

Tony;

Because of the potential of CO, I learned a long time ago to always drive with a vent open no matter what vehicle I'm driving. I think you may be on the right track with the Astroventilation, and the smell may be exacerbated by the car running rich. You may also want to check your lower door seals.

However, I've never heard of this problem. I've driven a few C3's with side exhaust and I don't remember this. I know that when I ride my motorcycles or run my leaf blower my clothes will pick up an exhaust smell. It's just the nature of those machines. I wonder if anyone else in this forum has experienced your problem.

Paul

[Stuart F.]

Re: exhaust smell

In the upper MidWest, I used to start up my 63 in the garage during the winter with just the one garage door open and, being in the winter, you could always expect the engine to run on choke longer and smell up the garage anyway. The smell would always permeate into your clothes, and hair as well, in just a matter of say 5 or 10 minutes.

I learned early on in my youth what a good carbon mono headache was like. I was adjusting valves hot (w/clips) with the engine running in a similar winter garage door open situation. I was sick for a week. Ever since then, like Duke says, I will get an instant mild headache warning which I heed ASAP. Nothing like a mix of rich exhaust fumes and those of hot oil on exhaust manifolds. Ahhhh! the good old days. Later on, we got smart and got us some flex hoses to put on the tail pipes and run outside the garage.

Stu Fox

[Anthony L.]

Re: exhaust smell

Thanks guys, for all your thoughts and suggestions. I plan to run this by my mechanic, too, to see what his thoughts are. As one of you said, I may simply have a hypersensitive sense of smell, and just need to get over it. I have had the car for a year, and though I haven't ever driven it for more than an hour or so at a time, I have never had the slightest headache after driving. Nobody else (wife or my children) has ever complained of headaches, either.

I have a couple other issues that may be connected with this in some way. I have had an intermittant popping sound in the exhaust that I can't get rid of. It doesn't miss at all when I accelerate, but at idle and just driving along at a constant rate of speed it pops, and it will occasionally backfire when I shift. I have checked the mixture and it seems right, and as I said originally, I don't believe there is an exhaust leak anywhere. Another issue is, I do believe I have a vacuum leak because the headlights and wipers sometimes don't work properly. I understand that this could also contribute to the popping sound I have. In addition to all that, it may very well be that my weather stripping needs to be replaced. And as I said, the Astroventilation isn't functional in the back, which means anything that comes into the cockpit, stays there unless it finds a gap somewhere in a window weatherstrip or something.

[Ridge K.]

Re: exhaust smell

Good tips on watching for carbon monoxide poisoning. How do I know them? In 29 years of shift work on a municipal fire department, I had the sad task of responding to several auto exhaust induced, suicides. More than I want to count.
A quick rundown of possible warning signs:


Recognising The Symptoms Of Carbon Monoxide


The symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning include severe headaches, dizziness, feeling sick, and a general lack of energy. For this reason, these symptoms are often confused with flu, sometimes with disastrous consequences.
Our blood has a component called haemoglobin, which normally absorbs oxygen in our lungs and carries it to the rest of the body. But haemoglobin absorbs carbon monoxide 240 times more easily than it does oxygen.
So when we inhale carbon monoxide from the air, it is this gas, rather than oxygen, that attaches itself to the haemoglobin, starving the body of oxygen. The smaller the person, the more quickly the body can become overcome by the effects of carbon monoxide.
Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning can easily be confused with:

• Flu
• Severe headaches
• Nausea
• Dizziness
• General lethargy

Severe carbon monoxide poisoning makes the body turn a cherry-red colour. Unlike lack of oxygen due to choking, for example, the body does not turn blue (cyanosis).
The early symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning are tiredness, headaches and chest or stomach pains. If you experience any of these symptoms while using a gas appliance, you need urgent medical attention.

[Michael W.]

Re: exhaust smell

Don't put any faith in the Astro Ventilation being the cause or solution to your problem.

First- if your car is or was AC equipped, the rear vents were not installed at the factory.

Second- on non-AC cars the rear vents close as soon as the temperature control is moved away from the 'cold' position.

[Anthony L.]

Re: exhaust smell

Thanks, Ridge and others who expressed concerns regarding poisening. I have experienced none of the symptoms you described, nor has anyone else I've had in the car. Maybe it isn't exhast that I'm smelling, I don't know. The manifolds are pretty clean, so I don't think it is oil burning, though there is an oil leak under the car around the seal I think (not an oil pan gasket issue), which might be creating the smell. Does this sound reasonable to anyone? Thanks again for your concern.

[Duke W.]

Re: exhaust smell

I have checked the mixture and it seems right, and as I said originally.

Give us some details on this.

Afterfiring and backfiring are an indication of an excessively lean mixture, which can be caused by a vacuum leak.

Lean cylinder misfires may ignite in the exhaust system, but some may not so the HC count is very high with only modest CO. It's the HC that we can smell. CO is odorless.

Any shop with emission test gear should be able to profile the exhaust content at idle and 2500 no load. Higher than expected HC with expected CO is an indication of misfires.

Duke

[Anthony L.]

Re: exhaust smell

Duke, thanks. Interesting information. When I checked the mixture, I had an NCRS judge friend of mine helping me with that (he has a 1970, and is familiar with the car). We went by what the operation manual for 1969 427 tri-power motors says we should do in order to make certain the mixture is correct. I don't remember exactly, but I remember in involved turning the screw clockwise until the motor began to misfire a bit and then back off a certain amount. The instructions were more detailed of course, and we followed them, but I don't recall the exact procedure. I'm thinking more and more that the popping is due to the vacuum leak. My headlights work part of the time, but other times they don't.

I will ask my mechanic to test for high HC, though. By the way, I'm embarrassed to ask, but what is HC?

[Michael W.]

Re: exhaust smell

I'm thinking more and more that the popping is due to the vacuum leak. My headlights work part of the time, but other times they don't.

I will ask my mechanic to test for high HC, though. By the way, I'm embarrassed to ask, but what is HC?

HC is hydrocabon.

If your headlight and wiper door system is suspect, disconnect it temporarily at the intake manifold port and plug the openings.