Hello,

I have the above mentioned car and I have been getting fumes inside upon a cold start up for about the first minute or so and then it goes away. It has the 3.9 L Jaguar AJ V8 engine it. I have had the coils replaced, VCT seals, new valve cover gaskets (twice), and rear pinion seal in hopes of finding it. The Lincoln dealership was baffled as was the Ford dealership.

Anyone out there that knows this engine set-up have any ideas for me? It is so frustrating. It runs great otherwise.

Thank you,

Bill

 

Buy mirror on a stick and check around valve covers.
Jack up car and use the same mirror and headlight (light with rubber belt on forehead) to find dark oil spots onexhaust pipes.

 

Welcome to the forum, Bill! As agent 86 used to say on "Get Smart" "Missed it by that much, Chief!" Fumes? What kind of fumes? I'm going to ease out on the limb and reason either fuel or exhaust as you specifically state on initial cold-start and then poof! gone. If it were a burnt-oil smell, I'm guessing it would present on hot-start, rather than cold-start or be present at idle, given certain wind conditions.

Having made that leap in assumptions, I reckon you are looking for a fuel or exhaust leak, neither of which seem very common to the breed. Your HVAC fresh air (should be fresh, anyway) intake is at the base of the windscreen on the right side, so look in it's near vicinity for the source, and check back in and tell us what medium you suspect as the source of the fumes based on their unique aromatic content. (The HVAC recirc intake, I believe is in the RHS footwell....any chance you have a teenage son occupying the passenger seat on EVERY cold start and getting you back for all those "Pull my finger" stunts when he was a toddler?)

 

If it's burned oil smell then yes check as car5car says.

If exhaust, may be some gasket on exhaust gone / etc - can often see a black area (soot).

I hope it's not fuel but if it is be very careful as a fire is a risk!

Let us know...

 

Are the fumes raw gasoline, exhaust, burnt oil, coolant, stinky moldy A/C?

Can they be smelled outside the car?

 

Thanks, guys.

I told the mechanics that it smelled like my nose was up against the tailpipe...I don't smell raw gas at all. But the Lincoln mechanic said that he smelled a bit of oil in it. I did not. So he replaced the VCT seals, which were bad and leaking, but that did not fix it. It does only last for a minute or so...and is usually in the morning. If I drive it in the morning and then go somewhere for lunch, I usually don't smell it. It has to be a "very cold start." The Ford dealer believes that I have a warped exhaust manifold, but my '76 MGB had a manifold leak and you could hear it...like a ticking noise. You can't hear anything on this car. It has had a couple of smoke tests done and nothing is leaking so wouldn't that negate Ford's claim? I had an exhaust shop hook up there own exhaust pressure test and they couldn't hear hissing anywhere.

I just don't know what else to do. I know most would say that because I only smell the fumes for a couple of minutes to live with it, but if something isn't right, I like it to work properly. I thought about taking it to a Jaguar dealer to see if their service dept. could determine something, but I haven't done so (yet).

This car was not abused. When I bought it 2011, the previous owner, who babied it a lot, said that no one had even been in the back seat. He ran 100% synthetic oil in it as well. I just don't know. I'm thinking about getting rid of it, but I really like the car. And with my interests in classic British cars, I like the connection that it has.

Thanks so much again. I really like this forum.

Bill

 

just a thought , seen as its an intermittent exhaust fume . id be taking a close look at the EGR flex pipe ,

 

Good catch, Datsports. The Lincoln garage thought that was the issue because they saw where it was pulled away so they removed it, straightened it, applied a new gasket with sealant and the fumes are still present. That was an expensive $542 repair that yielded nothing in return, unfortunately.

I have a mechanic who spent 15 years at Lincoln that has his own garage now and he said that the car is completely dry. He sees no oil leaks. It's very frustrating. I guess I just need to turn off the HVAC system before I shut it down at night and then turn it back on after a couple of minutes starting it the next day.

 

Since the car was leaking oil from the cam covers you will have oil all over that area. Any chance it could be just old oil left over from before your repair?

I would suggest power washing that area of the engine but DON'T do it because it will most likely cause even bigger problems!!!

You said you checked but the new gaskets could possibly be leaking again?
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I'm almost 100% certain that it's not the valve covers. I had them replaced on a whim to see if that might be the case. I know Lincoln removed them but did not put new ones on. I think they were off at least twice without new ones installed so I wanted to do that.

 

Start the engine from cold with the hood open. Is the smell from that end of the car?

 

[QUOTE=Mikey;1538618]Start the engine from cold with the hood open. Is the smell from that end of the car?[

I will try this tomorrow morning.

Thank you.

 

Or just press the recirculate button each time you start it would be a better option .

 

Andy's right, turning it off likely opens the fresh/recirc door to outside air (if not already open) so the pathway would still be there, you just wouldn't be inviting it in with the fan if you turn it off. This might be a good opportunity to check the condition and construction of your HVAC fresh-air filter. Activated charcoal filters that eliminate odors are available, but not necessarily fitted - you may have a particulate-only filter....or even none at all....

 

Dumb question, but how much could a quick odor/fume like this be related to a bad HVAC filter?

 

More likely to smell like mildew or sweaty socks than exhaust. Evap core can house some bacteria, flora, fauna, what have you, that will give you an HVAC odor, too, but again, never heard of it smelling like exhaust.

Easy enough to pull it out and see if that eliminates the odor. There are how-to's here somewhere, no need to remove the whole cowl, just a few of the fasteners on the right side and you can lift it enough to exchange the filter.

 

Thanks, but I guess my question is that even the best filter out there would not keep what I'm smelling the first 2 minutes or so of driving out of the cabin? Is that correct?

Thanks for all of the responses.

 

Correct. Smelly HVAC (referenced in my first post) that's only noticeable when the system is initially turned on would be bacteria or mould on the evaporator. Only noticeable inside the car also.

 

OK, looks like two different questions, to me. I made an unexplained leap in cause-factor in answering the first one.

I interpreted "bad filter" as either an odor filter well-past its prime and no longer functional at neutralizing odors, thus allowing the fumes, whatever their momentary cause, into your cabin on cold-start.

Alternatively, I considered a "bad" particulate filter, full of dirt and other such flora and fauna, wetted during a recent rain or car wash and thus now supporting a thriving community of bacteria, mold, and whatnot. The same sort of community is capable of growing on your evap core or in the bottom of the HVAC case as Mikey alludes to and no (car-fitted) filter will prevent you from inhaling that. If inside the car or HVAC case, even the recirc option won't save you.

in either of the above cases, I'd consider your issue "related" to a bad filter.
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Not correct, if marketing information is to be believed, anyway. I don't think I'm disagreeing with Mikey, per se. IF the fumes are originating in the engine bay, say exhaust leak, or oil dripping on the hot bits or what have you, and IF you have a properly-installed, quality activated charcoal HVAC filter, and IF your plenum seals aren't knackered, THEN you should not be getting doused with sensible fumes in the cabin on startup.

 

Thank you. Playing devil's advocate here...why then do the fumes "disappear" after the first couple of minutes?

What do I need to look for in a cabin filter?

You guys are awesome. Thanks so much.