My whole car stinks (2007)

[Paul R. Haller]

I have an 05 that about 2 years ago smelled so badly I could hardly get into the car. It had aftermarket leather installed and I always thought that was the cause. Last month I got under the dash to rewire some instruments I installed. You will never believe what I found wrapped around a bunch of wires. It was a dead snake. Yuck. It was all dried out and crispy but it was about 4 feet long. I have no idea how it got in there or what kind it was. No wonder it stank in there!!!
-Paul R. Haller-

[manna1111]

I wish it was that type of problem, then i could get rid of it I ve been reading it might be the foam that fills the gray seats and/or battery smell.. anyway i called toyota they told me to bring it in and have the ac checked, change the filters, etc...all the things that cost money that i know is not the problem

im buying stock in febreeze and maybe an o2 tank from the febreeze i breath...anyone have any natural odor eaters?

[edthefox5]

Originally Posted by manna1111

I wish it was that type of problem, then i could get rid of it I ve been reading it might be the foam that fills the gray seats and/or battery smell.. anyway i called toyota they told me to bring it in and have the ac checked, change the filters, etc...all the things that cost money that i know is not the problem

im buying stock in febreeze and maybe an o2 tank from the febreeze i breath...anyone have any natural odor eaters?

I bought an 07 new and have allergies too. Took shots for years and am real sensitive to smells and other than the stinky ac issue I have not noticed a real bad outgas issue BUT I did buy WET OKOLE seat covers almost immed. Both front seats are covered and I always have the rear seat down and a cover over the whole rear hatch area. WET OKOLE seat covers are the best. Made the seats much more comfortable.
If you smell any AC vent closely is it moldy smelling? Also do you ever ride around with a hot cabin with the windows down? That will heat up the traction battery. I never have the windows down. Always running ac recirc.

[patsparks]

put some baking soda in a cup in the cup holder and hang a cardboard pine tree from the mirror.

[The Electric Me]

Originally Posted by edcrowdis@hazelnut.com

My 2007 package #2 stinks and has since it was new.
I have read all of the information on cabin a/c smells and some that say the smell must be coming from other vehicles in front and some that say that they smelled burning electrical wires but the smell dicipated after a short time. My car will actually make peoples clothes stink if you spend ten or more minutes riding in the car.
I have questioned this problem from almost day one of ownership with a Toyota dealer in Oregon. They say that there is nothing wrong. I doubt their sincerety. Passengers comment about the smell. My wife drives the car to and from work everyday and when she enters a room after getting out of the car her clothes smell just like the car.
I spent seven years as one of the Toyota Sales Managers at a large metropolitan Toyota Dealership and I understand most smells that come from a/c units (moldy stinky feet smells) and outside smells being omitted from other vehicle exhaust pipes but this is completely different. It gets worse as the ambient air temp. increases.
It does smell similar to burning electrical wires in combination with burning oil.
I am looking for answers. Can anyone help me to understand this problem and does anyone have a fix for it. It is serious at this point!!!
Thank You
Ed

This is a mystery. Unfortunately we only have two clues.

#1. It gets worse as the ambient air tempature increases.

#2. It smells similar to burning electrical wires in combination
with burning oil.

I know posting that I just don't know, doesn't help. Just hoping for more clues. What is confusing is your two clues seem counter intuitive. You say it get's worse as the ambient air tempature increases, which would suggest to me that it's not something happening because something is running. That would seem to suggest outgassing from upholstery, foam or some material in the car. You say increases with ambient tempature? Could you duplicate this increase in smell, say if it was a cool day and you heated the interior? In other words would the increase in odor in the car increase as the ambient tempature of the interior increased. I'd almost want to leave the car totally idle, VERY CAREFULLY and when I could monitor it very closely, put a outside heater in the car and increase the tempature using the external heater. If the smell increased, at least I would know it's not something heating up as a result of the cars operation, or being vented as a result of the cars operation. Then that would lead me to suspect the interior itself, foam, plastics.

That's why I say counter intuitive clues, because Oil and burning wires like smell would make me think of something that was leading to the emmision of an odor due to operation of the vehicle. Wires heating up, slowly burning something somewhere....something like that.

Does ANYTHING besides ambient tempature seem to impact the degree of odor? You obviously don't think it is the air conditioning or any thing to do with any filters. You also mentioned you remember this odor almost from day one of ownership, which again would make me lean towards thinking it is something static such as plastic or foam within the cars interior.

Is this smell so totally generalized that you can't find any source area? In other words, when it's smelling relatively clear, have you taken a big sniff of your upholestry or cushion foam to smell if the odor is coming from the cushions? I'd also want to do the opposite experiment and open all the windows and doors and take a strong fan and air out the car as much as possible. Then see if I could get a lead on the "source". If you could determine whether the smell is generating from a specific area, or being emmited from the interior as a whole, it would go a long way towards definition of the problem.

If the smell is so generalized throughout the vehicle, and has been since day one, I'm really leaning towards an outgassing odor from upholstery or interior plastics. Which is kind of a bummer because outside of Febreze and masking the odor, and constant good ventilation, I don't see a viable "fix".

If it was/is a wire or overheating automotive fluid at least that could be and should be fixed.

You need a bloodhound with a mechanics degree.

Good Luck. I'm curious now, please post any conclusions or revelations and hopefully solutions you discover.

[manna1111]

Originally Posted by edthefox5

I bought an 07 new and have allergies too. Took shots for years and am real sensitive to smells and other than the stinky ac issue I have not noticed a real bad outgas issue BUT I did buy WET OKOLE seat covers almost immed. Both front seats are covered and I always have the rear seat down and a cover over the whole rear hatch area. WET OKOLE seat covers are the best. Made the seats much more comfortable.
If you smell any AC vent closely is it moldy smelling? Also do you ever ride around with a hot cabin with the windows down? That will heat up the traction battery. I never have the windows down. Always running ac recirc.

Thanks for the advice. Yes i do ride mostly with windows down, no ac, and air coming in from outside. I thought i was doing well by not breathing in freon...guess the traction battery is worse? Ill try what you do as well as what the post says above. BTW the smell seems to be severely generalized. I read in another post to put a heater in the care for a couple weeks...maybe ill try that to Thanks again

[manna1111]

Well i tried windows up and air on recirc and I think the smell infiltrated my hair and clothes even more severely. However, I recently lifted the lid to a plastic bin and smelled a similiar fragrance. I think the smell maybe the plastics in the vehicle mixed with something else im not sure of yet (maybe seats/battery smell). BTW no mold smell coming from vents. A friend of mine said they could even smell the scent when standing outside and near the car. We smelled the battery and engine but I sprayed too much febreeze earlier because we only smelled the perfumey smell of febreeze. Have not purchased the seat covers yet. Thanks again!

[edthefox5]

Originally Posted by manna1111

Well i tried windows up and air on recirc and I think the smell infiltrated my hair and clothes even more severely. However, I recently lifted the lid to a plastic bin and smelled a similiar fragrance. I think the smell maybe the plastics in the vehicle mixed with something else im not sure of yet (maybe seats/battery smell). BTW no mold smell coming from vents. A friend of mine said they could even smell the scent when standing outside and near the car. We smelled the battery and engine but I sprayed too much febreeze earlier because we only smelled the perfumey smell of febreeze. Have not purchased the seat covers yet. Thanks again!

Wow you can smell it outside of the car? Yikes thats bad. Real bad. Thats way beyond outgassing issues. Thats like a dead animal caught up in the undercarriage. I would go asap to a Jiffy Lube or any oil change place and duke the kid $20 and ask to look under the car real close. Maybe the kid will let you in the pit if you duke em'. Bring a powerful flashlight with you and look real close around all the wheel wells and sniff around. A smell that strong would make me nuts. ASk the kid you just duked to help. Sometimes a new nose hlps.

Did you buy this car new? If it was bought used it might be a wet car. Lots of them around. A car that was in a flood and everything got wet under the carpet and now the whole car stinks. If so again check under the car for drip marks and suspicious corrosion and if really suspicious pull up the carpet and look under there.

Like I said before I am hyper sensitive to smells. I smell things no one else does.(it sucks) There is a plastic outgassing issue I smell but I mitigated it quite a bit by covering all fabric surfaces and carpet. I do not smoke. I always run AC on recirc as there is not a big mpg hit like a normal car so why not be cool plus it will help keep the traction battery cool. I have never heard the traction battery cooling fan come on in my car and would be concerned if I did. Do not try steep hills and heavy duty driving with the windows open and a hot cabin. Keep that battery cool. Plus with the air always on and on recirc you have drier cabin air which lessens corrosion issues on the wire connections in the cabin. And there's a million of them in our cars.

Good Luck!

[Sandy]

No smell here car is almost 6 years young.

[cnschult]

I know why your prius stinks

someone stole your engine & put in a mercedes diesel engine that requires urea/urine reservoir into your prius

that's causing the smell because they didn't have room in the engine bay for the urea/uring reservoir so they put it under your seats

i don't mean to poke fun at your unfortunate situation, i hope all who are have having this bad smell discover the cause soon and have a cheap solution