Re: Engine Comp. Odor

["Fred Munro" <munrof@isys.ca>]

Hi Doyt;

    It could be Pentosin or it could be transmission fluid leaking from the
axle flange seal onto the exhaust pipe. The tranny fluid has a sulphur
odour.

HTH

Fred Munro
'94 S4  91k km

----- Original Message -----
From: Doyt W. Echelberger <Doyt@nwonline.net>
To: <quattro@audifans.com>
Sent: Wednesday, November 10, 1999 8:30 PM
Subject: Engine Comp. Odor


> 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'
>