I'm guessing it's from the battery venting, but my car has always stunk inside. Kind of a battery smell, like one does when it's being charged.

Since it smelled that way from before I got it, you can't blame it on my baking wind biscuits in it.

Does anyone have that same problem, if so, are there any fixes for it? Does a gel battery help?


[Modified by isosceles, 7:44 PM 12/11/2002]

 

Nope..........Carpet and seats are new and the top is usually down

 

Mine smells like large cash bills.

Larry

 

mine smelled bad before I did a total restoration of the interior.

 

only after i drink lots of draft beer and eat taco bell! :U

 

You may want to get your charging system checked. What is the volt meter reading....over 14? If the charging system is overcharging the battery, you will get that smell....and it will "cook" the battery....plus the fumes are explosive....not good in a closed car.

Take a hand held volt meter and hold the probes to the positive and negative posts of the battery. Engine not running....you should have ~12 volts. With engine running....and a bit above idle, it should read 13.6 to 13.8 volts....but not over 14.0. Slowly increase the engine speed and see if it hold steady. If the voltage climbs over 14 to say 16 volts....you have charging system problems.

Hope this helps.

 

My Vettes have no smell at all....

:cheers:

Olivier

 

good tip, thanks. The volmeter does vary a lot. Stays about at the 13.5-14 mark at idle then climbs up as the rpms increase, never pegs 18 though. I'll get a handheld and test it, as you suggested, I guess the one in the dash could be inaccurate. We have some cool Fluke meters at work.

If it IS overcharging would that mean I need a new alternator (the one in the car looks pretty new) or can you repalce the internal voltage regulator?

 

Old carpet, and seat foam seem to hold stale smells worse than anything. If you remove your interior to replace the carpet, clean every surface that was under it with a strong cleaner, then install the new stuff (the smell of carpet adhesive will initially cover a lot of smell) but if the inside is dirty from 30 years of dust, dirt, and old crumbs of fast food, it will start smelling like an old bag of tortilla chips in short order. :D
As for your battery smell, check your battery compartment seal (my car didn't even have one.) The old rubber seals will dry out and crack, allowing the smell inside the car. Another thing that will give off a similar smell is corroding metal. Check your seat rails and springs, and up under your kick panels inside the bird cage. It doesn't have to be bad rust, just surface rust. There's something about damp, rusty metal that has a very "old car" smell.
If you can find and paint over as much of that as you can see with POR15 or Eastwoods Corless, alot of the acrid acid smell will go away.
The last and biggest project to get rid of that old car smell is to remove the dash, to get to all the A/C ducts and the heater box. All the duct work has to be cleaned in hot water and strong detergent, then replaced in the car with new seals. Not only will you get rid of all the stink, you'll probably get twice the flow through your A/C.

 

Yes, you can replace just the internal regulator....but I would check prices first. Last time I had one fail, there wasn't much difference between the price of a regulator and the price of a rebuilt alternator. And the rebuilt alt had a warranty.

 

Nope! Smells like 25 year old leather!

 

Quote]: Does your interior stink? [Quote]
YES!!! It did. :U I used to call the 77 "the mouse mobile" It smelled like Mickey and Minnie's honeymoon suite. After cleaning the floor pan and leather, complete re-dye of everything, new carpet, and a Fabreeze treatment....just a slight hint remains. Smell is still in the seat foam.
Eddie

 

Cost is comparable, and really the only reason to do it yourself would be to keep the original alternator. One good thing - when you do it yourself, you can put bearings, brushes and a a good cleanup on it and have a better alternator than a rebuilt. Rebiulders only replace the bad stuff, hoping they'll get out of warranty...

Hans

 

mine smells like fiberglass. :D lack of carpet/insulation/dash will do that.

baking wind biscuts! :lol: thats great im gonna use that. :lol:


[Modified by '79ProwlerOrange, 9:28 AM 12/12/2002]