Hi all,

I became an owner of a 850 t5 manual some 6 months ago and have been loving every moment of it except when i have to go in for repairs, causing my bank balance not looking too good

Anyway. i currently have an issue where i get exhaust fumes / smell in the car whenever i throttle hard. I've changes my exhaust manifold and the manifold gaskets. Substantially decreased the smell but it sometimes still does happen.

Found also that my breather is maybe clogged. (removed dip stick and slight white smoke appearing) can this also be a cause?

Anyone experience this before?

Thanks in advance

 

My Camaro IROC did that when I floored it. The smell was getting bad when I had the windows open and I would come up to a red stop light.

Turned out to be my cat converter was rusty. When the exhaust was getting hot from me giving it a lot of throttle, the converter would leak the fumes out the welded seams. When I came to a stop, the fumes would roll into the cabin. Also the car was running rich. It only happened when I gunned it down a straight away or fooled around chirping tires.

It bothered the hell outta me because I was 18 yrs. old when I had the car and my girlfriend would complain it would be stinking up her hair when we had the T-Tops open.

The way I found out was when I put in a new camshaft (my first time) and poured in some ATF fluid into the intake manifold to loosen up some carbon build up and sticky valves. To fix the car running rich, I replaced my 1st O2 sensor and emission hoses. When I got underneath that's when I saw the white smoke coming out of the cat converter seams. Slowly billowing out like a cheap cigarette.

So it was actually happening all the time. It was not that noticeable because I didn't put full throttle all the time. Cat converter is like a melting pot with these ceramic and metal grilles get super hot and burn the exhaust gases. More throttle, more gas burning... hence, more exhaust smell

I'm not saying that's what you have, and PLEASE don't pour ATF into your fuel. Try the Seafoam engine treatment through your intake. Get ready to jack the car up and with a strong flashlight, or preferably a blue light, take a look at your cat converter and your entire exhaust system when you turn it on.

You will be cleaning your engine and at the same time the white smoke will tell you where your leak is coming from.

Let us know how you make out

Good Luck



Oh by the way, that white smoke coming from the oil dipstick, that's a whole different animal. You may need to do the PCV maintenance. That's one of the symptoms. Try to do that soon, cuz your engine is building pressure and you don't wanna start getting oil leaks. Look up PCV on Volvo 850 through google and you tube, there is lot of info on how and what to do.

 

Hi louiebay,

Yes i seem to have the exact symptoms that you're talking about. Will have a look at the cat converter for abnormalities.

Thanks!

 

Hi louiebay,

cat was fine. but i got the problem solved. got the PCV kit changed and no more fumes.



thank you!

 

wow must of been really clogged, nice to hear you got it solved

 

Just wondering if you ever got an answer to this...Just purchased within the past Year a 2010 XC60 and am getting exhaust smell in the cabin. Thoughts? Help? Thanks,HB

 

most likely its around the flex pipe in the exhaust. you'd need to listen/feel around for exhaust air leaks (do this when the car is cold so as to not risk a burn, plus the exhaust metal expands as it heats which can seal some leaks). Also inspect the exhaust manifold for cracks or broken studs. Not likely that you'd have a rust hole in the cat (car is too new).