Strange smell under acceleration

[S-JC]

In the past couple of months, I've noticed that under moderate to heavy acceleration, I can definitely smell something--it smells like freon or nitrous or something similar. The smell hangs around for a few seconds and then goes away. It doesn't happen every time I accelerate, but at least once per trip.

The car is bone stock and the A/C was not running at the time. Any ideas on what is going on?

 

[Kiaser]

Sounds like either coolant or oil burning to me. I'm not sure but don't these Vipers burn a little oil when on hard throttle?

I'd recommend getting someone in your car who knows what coolant smells like when it's burning, you may have a leak somewhere.

 

[GR8_ASP]

If it smells sickly sweet then it is glycol (coolant).

Course then again maybe some friendly litle guys are hiding their nuts in your exhaust

 

[S-JC]

I dunno. It certainly doesn't have any hint of glycol or oil to the smell. It's definitely more along the lines of a light, possibly inert gas. It's not an unpleasant smell.

 

[Tom F&L GoR]

Buy something with an anti-rust protectant slime? Rotors, pressure plate, underhood chrome stuff? Could be burning off when it gets hotter.

 

[99 R/T 10]

Wasn't there a thread a while back about fumes being sucked into the rear of a GTS?

 

[GR8_ASP]

Good thought. If you have a portable CO monitor it may be worth checking for it.

 

[SingleMalt]

My guess is going to have to be blown head gasket. Check your spark plugs and have the coolant 'sniffed.'

Mike

 

[Hisserman]

Ugly thought!

 

[Falconeer]

In my GTS I often get the sweet smell of fuel since the engine gets more fuel than it needs under full throttle.. This actually could smell a bit like burned rubber too of obvious reasons, so if that is what you are smelling don't worry

Erik

 

[Makara]

Hmmm, only under acceleration. Passenger crapping himself? Just a thought.

 

[S-JC]

I still think that if it was anything internal to the engine, I would smell fuel or oil or coolant, but it's none of those. It's as if the AC has a loose connection, and under a moderate acceleration, the freon makes its way to the passenger compartment. There is no change in performance, no sound, nothing--just a simple, rather nondescript smell that lasts for a few seconds.

I guess I'll just see if anything else comes up.

BTW, it's happened both with and without a passenger, so I don't think it's the pants-crapping theory

 

[Johann]

If the HVAC vacuum check valve is bad (they usually are) the vent door will change position when the vacuum drops during hard acceleration allowing outside air through the system. Is the same odor present in any of the A/C or heat modes?

 

[SNKEBIT]

poop?

 

[S-JC]

Strange that you should mention the check valve--I recall reading about that in another post where someone was complaining about the A/C occasionally blowing hot air. Well, mine has started the occasional hot air blast with A/C on (you can see the light bulb turning on above my head!).

Didn't they say that the check valve from the Durango would work better anyway? I need to search for that post...

 

[Johann]

The "improved" check valve is 04677204, I just got one but haven't found a convenient place to install it.

 

[Craig 201 MPH]

check your power steering cap....

 

[DodgeViper01]

I have a smell too. It kinda smells like the clutch but for a fact it can not be that because it happens only under hard accels and the car is usually in gear. Just weird.

 

[2002_Viper_GTS_ACR]

I guess we just have stinky cars, becasue mine started to "smell" after I changed out the Transmission fluid. A passenger said he could smell "natural gas", which I can too, seems like the overly rich PCM, mixed with a tranmission fluid smell. No leaks or anything, just the smell. I even dropped the transmission protection(skid) plate to see what the deal was, but no drips drops, and the fluid level is perfect. ITs getting anoying, but trying to explain the "smell" to a viper tech is going to be fun, and the last thing I want is a tech running around in my viper, pushing it hard enough for the smell (again mine only happen during hard acceleration, which is often for me ;-) )

we'll see..