[miktrebla09]

Ever since I got my car 6 months ago, I notice a rotten egg smell coming from the back of my car after I drive it (regardless of how hard I drive the car). I consider myself a decent manual trans driver. Does this mean my clutch is defective? Help!
thanks

 

[akhbhaat]

That sounds like the smell of burning clutch. But (in a car that doesn't have a ton of power, relatively speaking) it's hard to burn the clutch if you drive the car easy and don't shift at high rpms.

Defective, maybe...perhaps it's slipping quite a bit and not engaging all the way, which would result in burning when you revved the engine to accelerate as you normally would after clutch engagement.

Edit: are you the first driver? Or was the car bought used? To find out if the clutch is slipping (or not engaging for whatever reason), start the car, put it in fourth gear, and begin to release the clutch. If the car stalls, you're fine. If it sputters or doesn't stall for some time (or at all), you have a clutch problem.

 

[miktrebla09]

It's a 2003 M3. I don't notice any slippage of the clutch when I drive. I'll be sure to try that 4th gear test...thanks a lot!

btw, what should i do if the car does stall? Does that mean the clutch is not burned (though it still emits the smell)? should i complain to my dealership about this?
thanks for your help, akhbhaat

 

[miktrebla09]

also, the car barely has 10k miles

 

[umnitza]

it's your catalytic converter.
go get it checked now.
it's covered.

 

[04ragtop]

Yes, rotten egg smell is classic catalytic converter. You need to get that checked right away. Could cause problems for your engine if you keep driving with a defective or clogged converter.

 

[Drex]

Did anyone else think to themselves "No pun intended" when they read the title of this thread? :lmao:

I didnt know that smell was the cat convertor...for about a year I drove my celica around before I traded it in and every once in a while I'd get that rotten egg smell inside the car while I was driving. It happened maybe once a week for just a minute or 2. One time I had a date with me when it happened and I had to explain to her that the foul smell REALLY was the car!

 

[akhbhaat]

Heh, whoops, I forgot about the catalytic converter (but that is also what a burning clutch smells like ).

Anyway, remember the 4th gear test for future reference. If it DOES stall, the clutch is fine and the problem is elsewhere (like, as the others have suggested, the catalytic converter).

 

[Asmodeus]

Sounds like H2S. It's a toxic gas that you can smell it as of 5 ppb.

lethal actually. the higher the concentration, the less you smell it though.

Don't worry though

 

[FredS]

sounds like a cat for sure.

 

[SST]

That smell does not mean the cat is bad. US gas has a high concentration of sulfur and your fuel could simply be the cause.
Try a couple of tankfuls from a different NAME brand gas such as;
switch to Shell if you use BP (Amoco) or switch to BP if you are using Shell.
If you are using some off brand, no name fuel then that could be the problem as well. Speedway sells some funky stuff at times too. Even their high octane fuel looks like Mountain Dew at times it's so yellow.
Sometimes certain fuel formulations can cause the "rotten egg" smell rather than something actually wrong with the cat-con.

TT