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An eco car shouldn't be suffocating its passengers

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Stephen 11, Mar 21, 2016.

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  1. Stephen 11

    Stephen 11 New Member

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    I've been having problems off and on with my Prius 2 in regards to a nasty smell that combines burning almond oil with coal. It first happened around ten thousand miles. The dealer determined that the catalytic converter had gotten clogged, due to high sulfur fuels that most gas companies are using. Being under warranty they went ahead and replace the converter and since then I have been Faithfully using QT brand gasoline. Lately even with QT, and now around 65000 miles I am having that horiffic smell once again and it's getting very frustrating. The dealer also had told me when the car was around ten thousand miles that it would be helpful to sometimes blow out the catalytic converter by accelerating at high speeds upon occasion on the freeways. This of course felt counterintuitive for an ecological car. But I have followed this faithfully. Now yesterday, I took a trip into East Texas, and all of a sudden about 50 miles into my ride on half a tank of gas, a horrible smell of burning fuel and Coal filed the cabin. It pestered me for all the rest of the way both to and from my destination for a total of about 200 miles. I am very frustrated and can use some suggestions. The smell was strong enough that when I shut the car off in the garage I could tell it had been emanating from the right front quadrant of the car. And after my being out and around for 5 or 10 minutes, my wife could still smell that burning fuel order on my clothes. Thank you for your suggestions.
     
    #1 Stephen 11, Mar 21, 2016
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    fortunately, or unfortunately (depending on your point of view) we've never heard of this before. what is qt gasoline? it might be time to visit a better dealership, or qualified mechanic.

    one thing i can say is that the right front quadrant is where the prius fires seem to start. i wouldn't park it in the garage.
     
    #2 bisco, Mar 21, 2016
    Last edited: Mar 23, 2016
  3. Lucifer

    Lucifer Senior Member

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    Time to clean and check the cabin filter, might be a nest of disintegrating rodents shorting something out.
     
    #3 Lucifer, Mar 21, 2016
  4. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    There's definitely something wrong there Stephen, I don't recall anyone here ever reporting that type of smell with the Prius. In fact my Prius (2005 model now at 265000 km) has consistently given me the lowest perceived levels of cabin fuel/fumes smell of any car that I've ever owned!

    I know you said that the smell is coming from the front, but can you just double check that it isn't coming from the battery cooling vent near the back seat. This is the only place that people here commonly report an obnoxious smell in the Prius. For some reason it only effects some Priuses (so I've never even smelt it), but apparently the rubber vent hoses on the HV battery sometimes soften and perish and this apparently creates a horrible smell.
     
    #4 uart, Mar 21, 2016
  5. JimboPalmer

    JimboPalmer Tsar of all the Rushers

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    I had never heard of QT gas.

    "QuikTrip gasoline has been recognized and approved as a Top Tier detergent gasoline by seven of the world's top automakers, including General Motors, Toyota, BMW, Honda, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and Audi. To learn more about QuikTrip gasoline and our Top Tier rating, please visit Top Tier Gasoline" -
    QuikTrip Corporation > Gasoline


    While there are 0 within a hundred miles of me, there are 124 within a hundred miles of Stephen.
     
    #5 JimboPalmer, Mar 21, 2016
  6. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    I see two separate issues here: (1) what is the source of the smell; and (2) how are the fumes getting into the cabin?

    How is your climate control set? Are you recirculating the interior air, or getting all fresh air from outside? The later should slightly pressurize the car interior with cleaner air from an intake ahead of fume sources, greatly reducing fumes coming in through cabin leaks.
     
    #6 fuzzy1, Mar 21, 2016
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  7. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    Agreed. I don't think that a clogged cat should cause fumes in the cabin!
     
    #7 uart, Mar 23, 2016
  8. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    o/p? your turn.
     
    #8 bisco, Mar 23, 2016
  9. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    I'm starting to think of a little black humour, hopefully not true...
     
    #9 Mendel Leisk, Mar 23, 2016
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  10. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    Lol Mendel. I think that any Prius fume problems would have to be a whole lot worse than they actually are if they were to account for the number of op's that we never hear back from. :)

    Though maybe we could make an "in group" joke about it for future threads where the op seems to go missing. Something along the lines of "there's another one asphyxiated". :ROFLMAO:
     
    #10 uart, Mar 23, 2016
    Last edited: Mar 23, 2016
    m_ma_belle, dolj, valde3 and 3 others like this.
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