The 'E' Type Forum

Ever since I bought my car there is a strong smell in the cockpit when driving. It's bearable for a petrolhead, but the missus won't ride in the car with me, which (bizarrely) is spoiling my enjoyment of the car.

Has anybody else had a similar problem? Better, has anyone found a cause and solution?

The car had little use for many years prior to my purchase and all the things that don't like sitting still had perished/deteriorated. There were big oil leaks from the engine - camshaft carriers leaking onto exhaust manifold, rear crankshaft seal leaking onto exhaust balancer pipe, and the rear diff leaking onto the silencers.

I've had the engine rebuilt, and the IRS is out at the moment having the diff oil seals replaced amongst other work. But I fear fixing the diff leak might not solve the problem, so I'm wondering what else to look for while the car is off the road.

I've read that the aerodynamics of the OTS aren't good. That the low pressure zone created by the windscreen draws exhaust fumes into the cockpit as they exit the tailpipes... but my problem is so bad I cannot believe Jaguar would have sold a single car with such a severe problem.

Help, please.

Cheers!

Nigel

Any feed back on the final drive problem you posted a while ago?.....Steve

Nigel : what sort of smell is it ? Exhaust Fumes ? Unburnt Petrol - far and away the most common fault, particularly with a tank more than about 60% full ? Damp soft furnishings ? Or is it the rancid smell produced by contamination/fungal growth etc in the heating system - particularly common if you have air con ? Is it ameliorated or worsened by putting the hood down ? There are remedies for all of these but you need to identify the likely type of problem first

Hi Chris

It's not old wet interior, it's fuel or oil - it could be engine fumes, or hot oil coming off the exhaust. It's there with the roof up, and down - probably worse with the roof up because there's not as much ventilation going on with the roof up. It's an early car, without the additional ducting and vents from the front of the car.

The heater box has been rebuilt with new seals, and the foam seal between the bonnet and the heater is making contact with the box.

It's an automatic, and has new seals on the transmission cover plate.

I'm heartened to hear there are remedies, but right now I'm not really sure what the problem is.

Cheers

Nigel

but right now I'm not really sure what the problem is...................

..............and that is what needs addressing. All smells are derived from something and most smells are unique.

transmission fluid smells a lot differant to engine oil, brake fluid, hydraulic fluid etc. [engine] oil on hot exhaust smells differant to cold engine oil............. etc. The heater box could have a mouse nest ?..... perhaps

so try and undersand the differant smells your car's liquids have, then smell the driving experiance again when the diff is back in and car is again a goer

Hi i had strong fumes in cabin it was exhaust gasses being pulled through seals round back lights and small leak on boot seals i smoke tested boot it came out off back lights and boot

Hi Madjack,

What did you use to generate smoke and where did you put the generator?

Regards,

Simon

christopher storey wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 22, 2021 3:53 pm

Unburnt Petrol - far and away the most common fault, particularly with a tank more than about 60% full ?

Hello Chris, pls can you elaborate. I also had this problem, it was severe, I couldn't solve it, its 90% of the reason I have embarked on an extreme upgrade. My car the tank was sealed, vented via the charcoal canister.
I checked everything. I know my valve guides were shot, but Nigel's engine is rebuilt so obviously not that. I know I ran a little bit rich but so do all OEM cars? Also my rear gearbox rear seal was shot but it wasn't oil smell, imo it was petrol. Permeated clothes including luggage in the boot.

Hi a lot of garages /repair shops have smoke machines they are used to check for leaks on inlet manifolds and exhausts in fact anything
Regards

Just thought i made mine better before i found the leaks at the back end by fitting a modern heater matrix the original unit was so dense it hardly let any air through it the modern upgrade is far better lets more fresh air into the cabin
Regards

Thanks for you responses guys.

Defo no mouse nest in the heater, that's been stripped back to bare metal and repainted with new seals.

I'll set too with a selection of oils and greases, a camping stove and an old frying pan and try to generate the smell, hopefully I'll find it before I develop a substance habit.

Cheers

Nigel

madjack4 wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 23, 2021 10:49 am

Hi i had strong fumes in cabin it was exhaust gasses being pulled through seals round back lights and small leak on boot seals i smoke tested boot it came out off back lights and boot

Hi Madjack,

Is your car a coupe or OTS?

Nigel

Lowact : the petrol fume problem is very hard to track down , and on my OTS I have never completely resolved it in 25 years of ownership, but it was definitely related to the fuel level in the tank i.e. much worse once there was more than about 8 gallons in it. I feel sure the breather arrangement had something to do with it , but, as you probably are aware. even the most minute amount of fuel , a few ccs, smells quite strongly in a confined space . Some people have opined that vapour can escape via the screw holes on the blanking plate at the top of the tank, and as madjack has said, combustion fumes - which may contain minute quantities of unburnt fuel - can be towed along behind the car and sucked into low pressure areas

Thanks Chris.

My first E-type was an S3 OTS. My hair and clothes always smelt of exhaust gas after a drive, and I drove mostly with the hood up (here in South Africa, if the hijackers don't kill you, the sun will).

Same problem in my FHC.

And now I have an OTS again but this one has a hard top. Interestingly, this car also does it but the least of the three, by far.

Thanks to all for the feedback and advice so far.

I've been busy with my IRS, sorting out an oil leak from the final drive and cleaning up an epic amount of grease that's built up over the years, so haven't had time to work on the smell.

Talking to a local owner of an S3, he has made some progress with the same problem - he originally had exhaust smoke coming through the boot and into the cockpit from the interior light.

Here's my plan...

1. Fix final oil leaks - strangely, the engine has been leaking oil only when the front of the car is raised (it's been doing this since a full rebuild two years ago) this drips onto the exhaust balancer pipe and creates smoke... normally only a problem after I've had the front of the car raised but I got the full smoke screen treatment when I stopped at the top of the Honister Pass (1 in 4 gradient) last year. Hopefully this is just an issue with the sump gasket and I'll avoid a full engine out job.

2. Check exhaust fumes, I suspect the car is running rich and chucking out unburnt fuel. If needed, rolling road tuning and new jets and needles.

3. Then, to replace all seals, gaskets and grommets in and around the boot...

And if that doesn't fix the problem? Well that's something I'm not thinking about right now.

Thank again

Nigel

Hi. I know this thread is now 2 years old, but did you ever find the source of your fuel smell? A friend of mine had petrol fumes on his OTS and it was traced to one of the 4 pipes from the fuel tank to the expansion tank in the LH wing. They are only visible and accessible by getting the main fuel tank out.

With OTS the cockpit is connected to the boot by passages on each side, over the rear wheel wells to where the hood bows are mounted. There is suction from the boot into the cockpit. The expansion tank is at entrance to the left passage, if there is even the slightest leak from this, if there is not 100% sealed vent to the charcoal canister, you will get strong odours in the cockpit. Same with the tank, fuel lines, filter and pump. Also any exhaust leaks into the boot. Very hard to stop the latter, e.g. yr boot seal needs to be continuous and the the boot latch has to be tight enough so that indiscernable vibrations are not pumping air into the boot.
Alternative to try is to use fibreglass wadding to block/close the side passages.

Apologies for lateness to this discussion - and not sure any of the following will be of help - but here goes...

5 years ago - bought an S3 Roadster - and from day one - had fume issues

NB. i drive a child around in it - so maybe i am more sensitive to it - but regardless - clothes would smell badly of fumes after every drive

So - got the car fully restored - inc sealing up all potential holes

Plus - rebuilt the engine - and at the same time added fuel injection / ECU / Catalytic converters

But very strong fumes remained - despite lengthening the exhaust - by a foot...

So - we attached lots of wool - and sure enough - once above 10mph - they all point towards the bonnet - because of the vortex created by the windscreen - as described here...



And it's that vortex that is dragging the exhaust fumes into the cabin (and yes they are 100% exhaust fumes)

Therefore we started trying to mess with the airflow

First - wind deflector behind seats - no joy

Then - small deflector on top of windscreen frame - but still the wool faces forward

Then found out that Jag in the later S3 years put a metal plate under the bumper - seemingly to help fix this issue - so fitted one of those - and then a larger one - but again no joy

So - had a perspex windscreen made - and lowered that - inch at a time until it was at eye-level - but still the wool resolutely faces forward

And that's where we are now. I have what i believe to be a very beautiful car (we grafted an S1 front and back onto the S3 as part of the resto)

And arguably one of the greatest sounding engines - (the throttle bodies help)

But sadly not a car i can enjoy driving as every trip involves asphyxiation

So - if somebody does have an answer - pls put me out my misery...

Lets face it fumes have to come from the engine, if it is coming from the front it has to have a exhaust gas leak in the engine bay check it carefully for leaks it does not take much of a leak