Ok, let me try to explain this little issue im having with my 99TL right now the best that i can. Today i was sitting in some backed up traffic this morning. All my windows were up and my air was on ever since i had left my house. The whole ride on the highway was as normal, air nice and cold and flowing smoothly. Welllll, heres what baffles me. While i was sitting in some backed up traffic, all of a sudden i start smelling this REALLY HORRIBLE AND EXTREMELY STRONG SMELL THAT SMELLS LIKE A REALLY REALLLY SUPER DUPER STRONG PERMANENT MARKER TYPE SMELL??????? I immediately put all my windows down, opened the sun roof, and turn my air off and close whatever vents up that i could thinking that the smell is coming from my air vents. While i have the windows down and airing out the car to rid of that smell, i turn around and look at the back seat area and i can see actual fumes of some sort kind lofting and swirling around within the backseat area and slowly disapeering out the car?????????? THE SMELL IS THE WORST. I doesnt smell like your typical exhaust smell either. I wondered if maybe it could just be other cars exhuast since there was a mazda 626 with horrible emissions infront of me with nasty ass exhaust smoke coming out his pipes. But like i said, it doesnt smell like your typical nasty exhaust. ITS REALLY WERID AND ITS CONFUSSING THE SHIT OUT OF ME because i smelt this same permanent marker smell earlier this week when i went to school and parked the car. After i parked the car i was smelling it alot, so then i open my door and i stick my head in the back seat passenger side area and i can smell the smell very strongly right in that area so i immediately open the back seatt doors to rid of the smell. I then closed them back up and smelt inside again and i didnt really smell it, but then 1 minute later, i was smellin it in the same area again???????????? SO this weird smell that i smelt today is not the first time that ive smelt it. Ive smelt that smell earlier this week as well on monday. DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT THE HELL IT COULD BE OR COULD OF BEEN????? IT BAFFLES ME. After i got to where i was goin i put my air back on with the windows up and i didnt smell it at all. IS IT ME, Or is there really a hidden problem goin on within my TL?? Im concerenced.

 

check underneath the back seat to see if u have water or anything there. i've seen water underneath the back seat of my friend's prelude. It may cause it.

 

i doubt that has anything to do with it cuz i never bring water in my car or food period. Why would water cause that smell anyways.

 

mold,mildew

 

u got a system? aftermarket.

 

mildew probably wouldn't smell like permanent marker and wouldn't be smoking like that. You said you you could see smoke coming from the backseat area, that leads me to believe there is an electrical short somewhere back there and it was actually starting to burn probably the carpeting. did you check your trunk area? I would check trunk area and pull the pass thru down and see if you notice any burnt spots. if you have an aftermarket system it could be the wiring to your amp. possibly there is some exposed wire on both the positive and negative wires that are hitting each other and that will cause sparks and could start a fire. Definitely check this out immediately and let us know what you find.

 

Is your recirc. on during all of this? Im thinking your AC system is:

A. Pulling it in from the engine area
B. Pulling it in from the the outside air
C. Circulating it from something in your car that is going bad

I'm inclined to believe that it is the last because the smell sounds like it is electrical. It could be a part that is going bad in you AC system/interior part and the smell is being pushed through the rear vents.
To verify it try putting your AC in recirc. and see if you still smell it. Then close the rear vents and see if you smell it through your front vents.

 

Yeah but see, ive only smelt this smell only two times and both times ive smelt it were on two totally different days that were like 4 days apart eachother. Remember, when i had finally got to where i was going, i turned my A/C on and yes it was on recirc and i didnt smell nothing at all. Clean smelling air is all there was so i figured maybe it was gone. I also poped the hood and took a look in the engine bay area and smelt around in there just to see if its something thats goin bad in there but i didnt smell anything except for a clean smooth running engine. Last night i drove a good 50 miles total and everything was normal. Didnt smell that smell not once. If i encounter this smell one more time, then were really gona have to start pin pointing this problem whatever it might be. I'll keep you all informed if it happens again. Thanks for all your help so far.

 

its weird how the smell is off and on, and if its an electrial issue it would prob be on 24/7, unless when something is activated on the car, then it does that, but i duno, weird

 

Compressor oil from your a/c system will give you the same smell.

 

The water comes from outside. He always has it under his seat when it rains hard. It'll just come up from the ground or something. There's a small gasket kind of thing there with a wire going through it, i think it may come in from there. I duno.

 

Compressor oil from the a/c???? ARE YOU SERIOUS??? Should i give that a check to see if its ok???

 

Im not saying that is what the smell is but by your description the smell is similar. If you do have a leak your a/c should stop working soon. There is a pressure switch built into the system and it will stop the compressor from turning on when there isnt enough freon. Depending on the size of your leak this could take some time.

 

I forgot a bottle of touch up paint in my center console and the top cracked open. It smelled like what you described.

 

Did you look in the trunk?

 

Yes i looked in the trunk, i never keep anything in my trunk to begin with except for the spare tire of course. The smell is horrible when it does occur but if i smell it just one more time today when i get to school later at 1pm, then im deff gona let you all know about it because then were gona have to pin point what the problem is. Thanks for everyones concerns and help so far.

 

Must be the tranny!




































Any whoooo Id start out by removing the rear seat (since you said thats where you saw fumes and the smell seemed to be the worst) and see if you can see any burnt wires or can get what ever it is to duplicate.

 

whoa whoa whoa, hold up. HOW COULD IT BE THE TRANNY when the smell is not consistent at all and ive only smelt that smell FROM INSIDE THE CAR, NOT OUTSIDE only two times to be exact and they were spaced out several days apart. Today on my way to school i never smelt it at all neither did i smell anything the other day when i was driving as well. WHY WOULD I SMELL THE TRANNY FROM INSIDE THE CAR ANYWAYS IS THE TRANNY WAS GOIN BAD????? My tranny doesnt seem like its slipping or anything. I only have 55k on my 99TL.

 

I was joking!

 

Bro!

I tried to roll down the windows cuz i farted but U had them locked!!

 

yah, i'd rip that backseat out and try to reproduce the error. maybe you thought you saw fumes because the odor was so pungent?

good luck!

 

haha FARTED, nah, but honestly i really did see fumes, looked like smoke but it wasnt. Whatever, until it comes back another day, im not worried anymore. Today i didnt smell anything at all. Operated as normal.