Strange smell

[mozzzy_2000]

I write this thread with great trepidation out fear of what it may be but I have a strange smell occuring. I'll rephrase that! My GTI has a strange smell.
Ok ever since I have had my full Milltek exhaust installed I have been experiencing this smell that seems to occur only when I accelerate really very hard. Hard as in getting the car up to 6000+RPMs in very gear.

When the exhaust was just installed it had the same smell during normal driving but I was told it was the usual smell of oils & fingerprints etc burnning off for the first time. Thats all well and good but weeks later the same strange smell, whilst having subsided in normal drving, still eminates after really hard acceleration. Normal driving does not produce this smell only when driving "spiritedly".

I've taken the car back to the installer and he checked over the exhaust for leaks and he said there was nothing obvious and nothing to indicate there was a leak anywhere. But the smell still occurs.

Does anyone recognise what this may be? Gearbox or Clutch cooked. I thought it may be one of the 2 since the exhaust added an astonishing amount of power & torque to the mix?

Anyways any ideas? I will of course be taking my car in for a more extensive look but I really wanna know what sort of damage I am looking at if any.

[Jmac]

What kind of smell mate????? sound like the new exhaust to me. Funny i had Trents R over and all you can smell is polish hehe , sorry off topic but yeah it sounds like the new exhaust give it a couple of hundred of kss mate, do you have the original cat????? or high flow?????? might be a bit fuelly perhaps that gives off a smell mate.
Cheers
Jmac

[Grant]

if the cat is high flow it good just be more pollutants coming out the exhaust. like carbon monoxides as well as sulfur and nitrogen dioxides.

[jesum]

does it smell like a sweet, something-(inorganic)burnt smell? if so, it could be coming from the CAT. i had this issue with my previous ride (smell only appears during hard acceleration) and it was a known behaviour. the smell was also quite evident from the outside.

get someone to follow your car (in another vehicle) from behind under hard acceleration and see if he/she can detect the odour from outside.

i haven't had this in the vdub before so this isn't normal. then again, you've changed your exhaust.

also, do a quick vagcom scan for errors. that may throw some light on the issue.

[seangti]

i too would be going down the same path as already suggested. either the cat or the muffler wearing in. Most cars I've done full exhausts on have taken a few weeks to settle, and after long drives had a hint of smell for a couple of months after.

It's not an oil smell or anything like that? I don't know these cars well enough, is there any coolant or oil lines around the turbo that could have been knocked when installing resulting in this smell and only happening when being driven hard...

[mozzzy_2000]

Interesting. Thanks guys for you input. Yes its a very high quality, high flow cat. The smell is basically the same type of smell that the exhaust had when we first took it for a test run after the exhaust install. I read & was also told that this is completely normal for a new exhaust. But now 2 months later, whilst that smell has disapated in normal use, its when you really open up the throttle that you can really smell it.

I've had it looked at briefly and they couldn't spot anything obvious like leaks or lines rubbing against the exhaust for instance. Since then I was kinda thinking it may have been something to do with the clutch or even worse the gearbox but perhaps I haven't given it enough time to settle down as you guys have suggested. It is due for a service so I'll get them to have a good look at it I guess. cheers

[Joe Chu]

Interesting. Thanks guys for you input. Yes its a very high quality, high flow cat. The smell is basically the same type of smell that the exhaust had when we first took it for a test run after the exhaust install. I read & was also told that this is completely normal for a new exhaust. But now 2 months later, whilst that smell has disapated in normal use, its when you really open up the throttle that you can really smell it.

I've had it looked at briefly and they couldn't spot anything obvious like leaks or lines rubbing against the exhaust for instance. Since then I was kinda thinking it may have been something to do with the clutch or even worse the gearbox but perhaps I haven't given it enough time to settle down as you guys have suggested. It is due for a service so I'll get them to have a good look at it I guess. cheers

So what your saying is the Miltek system stinks?? Lucky I have no problem as I went full APR!! No smells here, not even when new, If you drive faster only the person behind you can smell it...

[mozzzy_2000]

So what your saying is the Miltek system stinks?? Lucky I have no problem as I went full APR!! No smells here, not even when new, If you drive faster only the person behind you can smell it...

LOL nice play on my words! But if we are being serious, no the Milltek exhaust definately does not stink quality wise, performance wise or for looks either!

[Joe Chu]

LOL nice play on my words! But if we are being serious, no the Milltek exhaust definately does not stink quality wise, performance wise or for looks either!

Only kidding, if it smells like egg gas it's working correctly. It's just the cat doing it's work. If it's a sweet smell your noticing it could be coolant, burning smell definately oil. Hope it helps.

[break]

Yep, the smelll would definitely be the cat settling in. It should hang around for about 2-3 weeks.