Sniff your duct

I just went out to the garage. I've been home for at least 3 hours and the garage is 45 degrees (outside is freezing), so my car is cold. My car is also just a couple of months old. Although the car is starting to lose it's "new car" smell, the vent smells a lot like a new car, pretty clean with a hint of plastic, and a hint of a metallic smell.

Be honest, you were just trying to see who you could get to go out and do something like this, right?

I feel so much closer to my car now... :lol:

 

Car sniffing is illegal in many states -- be careful to do it in private.

 

For best results, put the car in a brown paper sack before huffing.

 

Oh I sniffed it alright....then I reread the post and I realized I was sniffing something else ...but my wife thanks you

 

Well, I did notice more of a new car smell there, and a little metallic too, but my car is probably too cold to smell much...

 

My '04 has been driven for two years, and has no smell at the duct.

I did, however, have a very strong battery smell in my '01. It came and went, finally stopping.

 

H:

Ok you caught my curiosity with that interesting topic title. Still wearing my wake-up sweats, I rode down to the parking garage and - making sure nobody saw me - carefully sniffed the vent near the rear right passenger seatback.

I noticed what you described, a very distinctive odor. I've smelled it before in large industrial/commercial UPS battery rooms. Not just normal battery venting but also the smell from the plastic cases as they thermal cycle.

I'm guessing it's normal. I'm sure you've had your rear hatch area taken down (Cover, tray, etc) to actually see the metal tray the NiMH batteries are in. Not sure how much further you can disassemble to check, at least not without voiding the warranty.

j

 

had to run outside and check smells like new carpet to me.

 

It's a distinct "phenolic" smell, like warm Bakelite for those who can still remember this material- I can still smell it in my '01 Classic at the vent, in the trunk (as the blower also vents into the 12V battery compartment ), and on hot days, I occasionally catch a whiff inside the car as well..

 

Well, there's a pickup line I've never heard before. Let us know if it works, Jayman.

 

Huh, it actually DOES work. Must be the car ...

 

B)

 

My car is and 05 only three months old. I smell a very faint odor of just what the jayman did. Reminds me of a large communications battery room.

Leads me to beleive it's quite normal.

 

I guess I should explain it's _not_ an acidy smell, like HCL or H2SO4. More like that characteristic smell from thermal-cycled plastics.

I've honestly never smelled NiMH before, so I can't comment on what it's supposed to smell like. Given all the industrial chemicals I've been exposed to over 20 years, it's a wonder my sense of smell is still there.

 

I've had my nose in THIS thing for some quality sniffing. All NiMH.

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And I never smelled anything like what this car smells like. I tried the vent sniff this morning, and there's nothing special there! What DOES happen differently with this car than others, is that the entire garage has this sickly-sweet metalic smell every morning. I've had four new cars parked in this garage, and none of them have been anything like this. It is STRONG. But again... nothing special about the vent. Or maybe I'm just light-headed from sniffing it too much.

 

Hmmmm, Personaly I dont go around sniffing my vent or other peoples vents, thats just not rite ... LOL :lol:

Excuse me sir or ma'am but could I trouble you to let me Sniff your vent? I think it would be followed by 20 min of screaming until the mace wears off.

But after reading this topic, I did the monkey see, monkey do thingy on my 04'..

No smell other than the new car smell it still has... :mellow:

The vent is there to suck in cool air to the batteries and it exits out the bottom of the car? Thats what the dealer stated but we all know how that goes..

 

I certainly hope all the resins haven't permanently damaged your olfactory organ. Oh, there could be other issues too. Maybe better schedule a head MRI just to be safe.