So I bought a 2015 F-type R a couple of months ago, and noticed that under accelaration the car had a weird smell. Car was under warranty so I took it to the dealer and they said that the smell is normal and nothing was wrong with the car. I even tried going back a second time and got the same answer. As time has been going by, I feel like the smell is getting worse and its so bad nowadays that it makes me not want to accelerate because then I have to deal with the nasty smell. Any suggestions on what to do?

 

Do you do a lot of short trips or gentle driving? I think an Italian tune up is on order... Let the engine work hard and get the catalytic converter up to temp temp for a bit.

 

In the old days a rotten egg / sulphur (ie hydrogen sulphide gas) smell was caused by a faulty catalytic converter, so maybe one or both of your cat converters aren't working properly.

 

Three primary reasons for rotten egg smell:
1. Poisoned or blown out converter(s).
2. An engine running too hot or,
3. A broken fuel pressure regulator.

 

If you are reluctant to even accelerate because you then have to deal with that nasty smell, "that is normal, nothing's wrong" wouldn't be a good enough of an answer for me!
Did someone from the dealership took it even out for a drive together with you?

"That is normal, nothing's wrong" is a way to say, "sure, JLR build its cars in such a way they start to smell when you accelerate, and you need to take the rotten egg smell for granted - it is part of the Jaguar experience"!

Really...???

 

If it is smelling bad from inside the car there is something wrong, though my experience is with coupes and not 'verts so I dont know whether they get smelly. I had a car (volvo) that woiuld get the sulfur smell inside under hard acceleration, it ended up being that an inspection hatch was missing in the drivers footwell letting fumes inside the car. We were also getting heat through there.

 

+1

Also a bad sensor could be at fault. Do you have any loss of power or notice any restriction on one side or the other? You might try changing fuel brand, the station you use or the octane level of the fuel to see if what you're using now could be part of the problem.

 

Whilst I have heard of exhaust catalytic converters sometimes producing this smell, my point would be that unless exhaust system has a leak then the smell should go out the rear and not be noticed from in the car.

 

Makes sense.
Many years ago I had a Mitsubishi that I modified the exhaust system on including extractors and hi-flow cats.
A few months later in summer every time I gave it the beans and then sat at a stop light afterwards I had an overpowering smell of exhaust fumes in the cabin.
No smell when cruising, only after stopping with a hot engine on a hot day and only after giving it plenty.
The exhaust specialist who fitted the system checked things over and eventually found a hairline crack on the inside of one of the flexijoints, just aft of one of the extractor collectors. It took him a while to find the crack as he had to cut open the downpipe and poke a special camera in to find it. Turns out the system had to be hot (so the crack expanded) and under pressure before it leaked, and the car had to be sat still for the fumes to enter the cabin otherwise they just blew out the back.
I believe the F-Type exhaust system has two or maybe even four flexijoints so one (or more) might be cracked inside.

 

I would agree with this. Tell them that you have concerns that there is an exhaust leak that has been there from the start and you have concerns that since it is still there that they are placing your life in danger by not properly investigating your concern. Heck, write a letter to the owner of the dealership if necessary. Search the Internet (rather than just this forum) to see if even one other may have experienced the same thing. If iit is something like the missing inspection plate like the gentleman with the Volvo above then you may not find any other occurrences. And you really SHOULD get a service adviser to ride with you so that they can get the full experience. Hopefully the smell is something that can be easily re-created instead of intermittent.

 

Thanks for the responses everyone, I guess I will give them another call and tell them this is not normal behavior. The dealership did try to tell me to switch gas stations, but I told them I'm always using different ones anyway.

 

Not usually but about a month or two ago I was doing some spirited driving with some friends and after an hour or so the car stopped letting me shift past 4k. I figured the engine was running hot and the car was trying to be safe.

 

Did you check the cabin air filter?

 

Yeah that's the first thing they made me pay for and change, didn't change anything.

 

Dontcha love dealers who swap parts at owners' expense rather than doing any diagnostic work?

 

 

 

I am surprised nobody brought up evaporator leaks. Are you running AC when getting rotten smell?