Re: exhaust/gas smell in interior or... what's all this flap about a heater flap?

[alex.fadeev@xxxxxxxxxxx]

"Tom Borden" <te.borden@domain.elided> wrote:
> 
> Replaced my heater control valve eight weeks ago.  Car gets nice 
> and toasty, but. over last four weeks or so, seems like there's 
> smell of exhaust/gas coming into the car.  This doesn't happen 
> all the time, but perhaps 50% of the time.  I do not believe this
> is from a leaky gas tank (which I once had) as that would leave 
> gas smell outside of car at rear as well - and besides, sometimes
> this smells like exhaust.
 
Tom,
Are you sure your exhaust manifold/cat/pipes/muffler are not leaking 
exhaust that finds its way into the passenger cabin?
A compromised block->manifold or manifold->cat connection would be my 
guess.

I once had a similar problem with my college beater Scirocco. It's exhaust 
manifold was connected to the block by two giant clamps. One of them would 
regularly come off under higher revs. Once it came off in the middle of a 
500+ mile drive. Gave me the worse head ache ever by the time I got to my 
destination. 

> I seem to recall someone discussing "flaps" that control air flow
> into car.  Would my 1988 52e have a flap or flaps?  Would anyone 
> know where I would begin burrowing to inspect/fix? 

Even if the flaps were bad or you had an air leak through the firewall, 
your engine compartment should not be full of gasoline and exhaust in the 
first place!

HTH,
alex f

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