PixelHarmony

Lately when I drive around I've been smelling a nasty rotten egg smell from my car. I'm guessing most likely it's from the exhuast. My last oilchange was like 1200 miles ago.

You guys think something messed up with my cat? I have a stock set up for headers / cat / exhuast... so nothing was ever touched down there...

Also it could be when I polished my exhuast tips with chrome polisher I got some crap in stuck in there.

Should I get this checked out at the dealer? I'm still at 17k miles so I'll guess it's under warranty.

Thanks in advance guys.

moda_way

Typically you get that egg smell from a new cat or if your cat has gone bad, normally you'd see your temp creep up with some noticeable performance loss (plates will block each other), so I doubt it is the cat. Something else could be at play, but I'd give it a week or two unless you notice any of the symptoms above.

PixelHarmony

The chances of my cat going bad at 17k miles is slim, right?

PixelHarmony

maybe i should just get in on that group buy for the cat

Toms TeeSX

I've noticed a similar smell from my car and there's only 8,000 kms on it. It's only intermittent though. It would smell for like 10 minutes, then go away. I can't pinpoint where exactly it's coming from.

theElio

Maybe there's a dead animal hidden away in your grill. Nasty, but possible.

madmanmax3000

Yeah same, doesn't happen often, although definitely on occasion I've gotten that smell. Wonder what another explanation would be

TSX 3Pedal

The temp will only creep up and have a noticable performance loss if the cat is bad.

Am I understading this correctly?

But with a new cat, such as the Random Technology cat, you will have an "egg smell" forever or just during break in of the cat?

PixelHarmony

Actually, that's a better description of the problem. It only happens every now and then.. I just figure it's when the wind blows in the right direction...

I don't think it's a dead animal. I've already had that happen and it was $1200 in repair costs for that chewed up wiring harness.

moda_way

Depends on the degree of constriction the plates create. When one of my cats went (on a different car), I traveled about 10 miles and had to shut the car down b/c it was overheating... and it sounded different too because of the constriction. It is highly doubtful that this has occurred with you though since it sounds as if the cat is working fine, just getting a stink from it not to mention your mileage.

Quite possible that you could get the eggy smell from it during break in, but it usually goes away.

moda_way

BTW, I have 41k miles on my car and got a little eggy smell even after the car was nice and warm... and I know my TSX is working properly... so seems normal.

PixelHarmony

man, so people with no cat would be smelling that all the time.

moda_way

was reading around and found that low amounts of sulfur do exist in our gas (worse in Asia) which can turn into Sulfur Oxide in the catalytic process and could possiblly contribute to some of that eggy smell. My guess is the gas we used has a little more sulfur in it than normal.

owkone

Rotten eggs- classic case of an overly rich mixture. Are you getting less mileage than before? Do you have check engine light on? You may want to take it to the dealer.

PixelHarmony

Actually, my milage is alot worse, I mean like I get 17MPG City, but then again there is a lot of stop and go traffic around campus. Either way, yeah milage is worse. My Check engine light isn't on though... I'll have the dealer check it out this thanksgiving break when I go back to Cincinnati.

Tsx536

Did you ever get this figured out Pixel?

sauceman

Right on. Egg smell is often an indication that you're running rich.