Engine Comp. Odor

["Doyt W. Echelberger" <Doyt@nwonline.net>]

OK gang, here is the puzzle: We are talking about an 87 5kcstq.

Today the hot engine compartment began emitting a stench that is probably
impossible to describe, but I'll try. Like some kind of organic sulfur
compound that was baking and distilling off volatile fumes. Withbthe engine
running, the radiator fan blew the smell out from under the car, and it
filled the air all around the cabin and even to the rear of the car.

We noticed it when we opened the doors after driving about 15 miles to the
shopping center. We got out and checked our shoes to see if we had stepped
in any cat droppings. But it wasn't exactly that odor, and our shoes were
clean. A very unpleasant odor.

After we returned from shopping, I parked in the drive at home, popped the
hood and looked around the engine compartment with a flashlight, and under
the car. I didn't see any rising plumes of smoke, or any visible vapors.
But the odor was there.

While looking under the car, I noticed some fluid has coated the bottom of
the front girder that runs from the about the line of the front strut back
almost to the jack pad. This girder is the main structural member to which
the bomb and the motor mount are attached. Facing the front of the car and
looking into the headlights, it is the girder on my right. In the England
we would call this the passenger side. In the USA it is the driver's side.

The odor rises from the engine compartment and is strongest above the
radiator fan motor, and back from there along the that edge of the engine
compartment.  It is not so strong on the other side of the engine.

Point of information: I added some Pentosin to the hydraulic chamber a few
days ago, and probably spilled some.

Has anyone else encountered this odorous condition and figured out the
source? I'm guessing that it is baking Pentosin, but would appreciate a
BTDT.  Until then, I think I'll warm up some Pentosin in a metal can,
outside over a heat source, and see if I can reproduce that smell.

Doyt Echelberger
87 5kcstq    'the fragrant one'