Sometimes when Im sitting still (drive through, atm, etc..) I can smell this awful smell. Its not coming through the vents so it must be outside the engine compartment. The closest thing I can compare it to is....dog crap. Just not quite as potent.

 

1) You rolled through dog crap and it sprayed on the underbody of your car
2) Burning rubber, tubes under hood getting to hot
3) Burning plastic, same thing
4) Brakes are too hot, caliper pins may need to be lubed up
5) Rear end oil leak, oil smells horrible, and even worse when heated or burnt
6) Or could be just some road oil or something that got on the engine or exhaust, when it heats up it burns off and smells, When you come to a stop nothing is blowing the smell away so you smell it

Good Luck!

 

Is it a rotten egg (sulfer) smell ? If so, it is your catalytic converter. Go get them replaced under warranty.

 

Thats what I was looking for!! Rotten Egg smell. Does the smell mean that the cats are bad???

 

That's what Greed4Speed is trying to tell you.

 

lol, yes.

There is a federally mandated 8 yr 80000 mile warranty on catalytic converters. Get them to check out your O2 sensors while your there just incase they got messed up too.

If they bring up crap about you having an aftermarket muffler. Just mention the magnuson-moss act. Basically it says they can't disreguard a warranty because you have an aftermarket part unles they can prove that the part has caused the malfuntion.

You can learn more about both on sema.org.

 

Ok, education time. What exactly does the Cat do? And how does it being bad affect the car. Also Ive already replaced one O2 sensor due to a kink in the air hose. BTW, didnt mean to sound like a jackass in the last post.

 

The catalytic converter inside the stainless shroud is a piece of "honey combed" silicate ceramic coated w/a mix of noble metals (platinum, rhodium, paladium, etc). In very simple terms, it catalysis or facilitates the breaking down of the NOx molecules emitted by the engine.

I can go into more depth, but you get the idea.

When it no longer works (ceramic matrix is plugged/broken or the noble metal coating is coated w/ something like carbon soot or you run leaded fuel, some additives, or the engine burning oil which coats it) it no longer has the ability to break down the NOx molecules. Your exhaust is dirtier is all. Whatever ruins the cats also tends to ruin the O2 sensors from them getting coated and not being able to read correctly. Bad O2 sensors will cause a rich condition which, if left that way long enough, can ruin cats.

 

quit farting in your car and blaming it on the engine!