i've noticed a smell of....well, let's say sulfur or like a stink bomb or something. it isn't too strong but i can definitely sense it. it doesn't seem to happen every time and the last time it happened i believe it was during the first 10 min of my drive to work in the morning, then it went away. the past couple of days i haven't smelled it at all.

in the past i thought it was emissions from other cars but now i'm thinking that it may be coming from my 2006 300awd. has 49k on it now....anyone have any thoughts on what this is?

 

sounds like your cats are going

 

If inside the car, might be the AC.

 

...silent but deadly

 

passnu is right, could very possibly be your cats.

 

Is the car any louder than it used to be? I know these things are hard to tell because they sneak up on you over time...

But, when you floor it, does the car sound like a civic with a big wing?

Reason I ask is so you can eliminate a pre-cat exhaust leak as the problem. Like, does the stink come out of your tail pipes or not?

 

LOL

 

Wouldn't smell like a sulfur fart bomb, AC smells tend to smell like death.

 

smell of death, i like!

 

interesting visual. actually now that i think about it i guess the AC was on... but don't remember if it was only when it was on that i sensed the smell.

the car is about the same as before, no new noise or anything. when you say cat, what exactly is the full term you are referring to?

 

Well I confirmed last night the ac doesn't need to be on for the smell. It was 50 deg or so and I backed my car into the garage and the smell! I stuck my nose near the hood but nothing from there. Then onto the exhausts and there it was. So what now. Would this be covered by powertrain?

 

You bet your **** it's covered!

 

Is your exhaust normal colour? Invisible unless it's cold out? Check your oil level. Is it low or too high? If you're not burning oil, could be the cat after all if the smell is coming out of the tail pipes. Does it smell like gas at all or not?

 

when you say gas do you mean gas out of a car or gas out of a person? it's more the latter....but sometimes it smells like a hybrid of the two if you know what i mean.

there's no color i've noticed and i could really smell it today with one window half opened especiaclly after i floored the car. i'll go check the oil level.... haven't had any issues before but i'll check.

it sounds like there's a federal warranty of up to 8 yrs/80k for emissions related defects from what i've researched. bah i'll just call these guys and see what they have to say. hope they don't give me an es350 beater for a couple of days again.

 

Well of course after i dropped it off i get a call saying they weren't able to repproduce the smell. i'm tired of having to make two trips over there..a waste of time.

by the way, if it is a catalytic convert problem, should there always be a check engine light? or will i get that only after i pick up the car today on the way home.