I have a feeling that the incoming air in my PreHE has a hint of exhaust/warm oil smell to it.

The air from outside is coming from the wiper motor grille as I understand it. Could a not-perfect bonnet rear end seal end up causing engine bay fumes to get into the cabin ?
My door seals are also not perfect.

My windshield and door windows tend to need cleaning on the inside quite often. A slightly opaque film builds up, and that could also point towards contiminated incoming air. Yesterday I had to buy some cloth and window cleaner to be able to drive safely towards the setting sun...

Any experience with this phenomena ?

PS: Photo is from the archive and with fairly clean windscreen, at least on the inside...

 

Leo
The seal along the firewall seam that the bonnet shuts on must be a good one, or petrol fumes will come in. This will be most noticeable after a traffic stop on accelerating away. If you are getting exhaust fumes (as opposed to petrol/oil fumes) then I would look to the exhaust system gaskets and joins.

 

I will check if the surplus boot seal profile fits. Thanks !

 

The old seal was very soft and only just reached the bonnet. It was hard to see where it have touched the bonnet, and it's not because I have polished the underside of the bonnet recently...
The spare length of seal from the boot fitted perfectly.

Now I need to adjust my bonnet catches down 1-2 mm as bonnet rear edge now sits a little high due to the new seal. Best thing is that I now have another good reason to take the GT for a drive

And then I better check the exhaust for leaks up front. I have more noise from the engine bay than I believe I should have from a V12, but my ears tells me it's induction noise. Maybe my ears are wrong !

 

LH side exhaust is quite tight, but I need to have a look at RH side !
The V12 can for sure build up a good pressure fast...
As far as I can hear, the leak is around rear axle.

 

And the fumes could migrate into the cabin, especially at a standstill. Good that you're on this, as I'm sure you are aware of the danger

Cheers
DD

 

How's the weather in your neck of the woods?

This window film thing happens to me all the time when the weather warms up and I leave the car outside in the sun. Not just Jags; others as well. Some worse than others. I think it's simply out-gassing from the interior plastics. I also speculate that vinyl and leather dressings can contribute.

My present Series III is among the worst ever, especially the windshield. Interestingly, the dash pad was very attractively recovered. I wonder if the particular type of vinyl material used is more prone to out-gassing than others?

Cheers
DD

 

My XJ-S is by far worse than the rest of my cars on this issue, so I was thinking it might be contiminated air coming into the cabin, especially when I have smells inside the cabin, which are expected to be on the outside. And how much can be left to evaporate from 42 year old plastic ?

For the weather: Denmark is NOT a warm place. Our summer is pleasant with 20-30°C (70-85 F in your money) most of the time. Colder right now though, but it has been warm.

 

The inlet tube on the RH rear muffler was cracked next to the weld all way round !
I was unable to split muffler and over-axle-tube, so the repair ended up being in-situ welding.
My RH wheel arch and inner wing is a bit crusty. An exhaust leak in that area will of course result in fumes in both boot and interior. I had my fuel leak I same area, so I’m not too impressed with my own trouble shooting skills...
I look forward to do a test drive Sunday

 

The Simply Performance center muffler delete pipes has a joint, which was also leaking in RH side. That was easy to fix, and the test drive was good, no fumes in cabin. The boot is most likely also less smelly, as leak in rear wheel arches seems to be allowing fumes in the car, when the body is less than perfect.