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Hello, All. It has been a very long time since I posted and it seems my profile was deleted, requiring re-registering.
I am getting a strong odor of fuel, exhaust or something that I am unable to trace. It is so annoying at this point, that I am on the verge of getting rid of the car. I am hoping someone can help identify a cause and remedy.
Vehicle is a 1999 E300D with 200k. I have always maintained it extremely well. The fresh air intake system is completely intact, both on the hood side and the engine compartment side. The rubbers around the relay box and cabin fresh air intake are soft and supple. When I close the hood, the system appears to seal well and isolate from the engine compartment. The cabin air filters have been changed.
When I stick my nose on the grille for the intake located at the engine compartment, I am detecting the smell I get in the cabin. Also, when I stick my nose near the electrical part that has hoses connected into it next to the relay box (circled in red), I also detect that same smell.
I looked carefully at both areas, all hoses appear to be intact with no cracks or breaks. Everything is dry. The way the firewall is designed, it appears that all fuel lines and exhaust components are located on the engine side of the firewall and do not run anywhere near the cabin fresh air intake system.
Within the past couple of years, I replaced the two large soft fuel lines in the engine compartment, as well as all of the plastic fuel lines. The injection pump has also been resealed, and there are no leaks coming from the injectors or their respective hard lines.
I don't smell anything suspect in the engine compartment, and the smell really seems to be originating from the cabin intake and relay box areas. I have no idea what runs in that area that could be causing this smell. Are there vacuum lines or any kind of exhaust routing that could be causing this?
Even if something was leaking in the engine area, the intake system seals itself off from the engine compartment when the hood is closed. I cannot think of why it would be drawing air from the engine area. I have run the engine with the hood open, and do not see any smoke or anything unusual that would be getting sucked in.
what happens when you select recirculate cabin air
A very good question. I would also suggest that the OP get some engine dye at their local parts store and run that in the engine just to see if any leaks show up in that case. It's a quick and inexpensive way of finding leaks. It's likely not safe to drive the vehicle with a gas leak.
Tried the recirc. It may have made a very slight difference, but I am still getting the smell. I have a couple other things to check as well, including pulling the cabin air filters to make sure the shop actually changed them when I asked.
I'd say it's definitely not safe to drive with gas fumes coming in the cabin. Until you get it resolved suggest you only drive it with all the windows and roof open.
07-03-2021, 01:20 PM
