[500modder]

I have a new Honda City. It's a November 2010 model and there's only 3500km on the clocks.

I have noticed that when the AC is on with the vent closed, and I rev the car above 3000 rpm, I get an acrid, chemical burning smell in the car. It doesn't smell musty like mildew - more like a burning chemical.

Even stranger, the smell wafts into the car repeatedly every time I rev it in a gear, or even when the car is at a standstill and revving in neutral. It either stops when the revs are brought low, or it is at such a low level that I can't smell it.

I've taken it to the Arya Honda workshop in Sewri 3 times to check the problem. They agree there is a smell, but they can't seem to fix it. They've blown out the AC ducts and cleaned and washed the filters with Detol. The smell is still very much there.

The car has never seen a monsoon, so I can't believe it would be fungus or mildew. I've heard that it could be the anti-rust under-body treatment burning. But how would this get into the AC?

Any ideas on what I should do, or tell the workshop to do next?

[Sn1p3r]

There is always a smell post usage of AC (very normal), thus at each end of your drive, switch off the AC with fan still on and then let the heater on for two minutes. This makes my car odor free when I restart for the next drive.

Try this, if this fails, remove the carpeting and then again drive with AC on. If the issue persist, they should check the vent operation again. Also this might be lead to some other issue.

Keep us posted.

[Guna]

I have noticed a burning/heated smell in my ANHC when reved, but I thought it is specific to AT model. I did not think it is coming from AC.

[GTO]

If it helps, here's two threads on a related issue:

Aircon cleaning to remove bacteria & fungi

Foul smell from HVAC

[bluevolt]

I have revved my ANHC till 5K and never noticed any burning smell as such. But yes there is a smell as mentioned by Sn1p3r, but that's normal.

I don't find any relation between engine revving and AC operation. But yes there can be overheating in some cases.

Can this be related to engine overheating?

[dhanushs]

I looks like you are smelling your engine compartment. Does the smell persist when the AC is in the recirculating mode?.

[FrozeninTime]

@500modder - Have you done underbody antirust coating in your car? If yes then there source of smell is due to improper application of anti rust coating over silencer.Check the boot near spare wheel for any oil or greasy substance.

I faced similar problem of burning rubber/plastic smell and was clueless for 6 months,until I showed a picture of boot of my car to a friend and he pointed out that the heat shield along with rubber bushes(boots) have melted due to silencer coming in contact with body of car due to anti rust coating over silencer which sticked to body leading to melting of rubber bushes inside and smell of burning rubber/plastic in the car could be due to it due to heat from silencer.

I have given my car to MASS for removing the anti rust coating from silencer.The sound deadner in boot will be removed and replaced with new one and rubber boots with new one.I hope this smell from Air conditioner disappears with this repair.

[500modder]

First of all, thank you guys for your feedback. I've been tearing my hair out trying to figure this out.

Originally Posted by FrozeninTime

@500modder - Have you done underbody antirust coating in your car? If yes then there source of smell is due to improper application of anti rust coating over silencer.Check the boot near spare wheel for any oil or greasy substance.

This sounds really interesting. I have done the under-body treatment. Will definitely check out what you said. One question: the smell is most pronounced when the AC is in recirculate mode. How would the burning smell get into the AC from the boot with the recirculate vent closed? Is there an intake for the AC system there?

Originally Posted by dhanushs

I looks like you are smelling your engine compartment. Does the smell persist when the AC is in the recirculating mode?.

The smell is most pronounced in recirculate mode. When the vent is open it almost disappears. How could it be coming from the engine compartment?

Originally Posted by bluevolt

I don't find any relation between engine revving and AC operation. But yes there can be overheating in some cases. Can this be related to engine overheating?

Bluevolt, in my case the overheat light doesn't come on. And anyway I'm hardly pushing the car to 4000rpm max. This isn't enough to overheat a brand new ANHC.

Originally Posted by Guna

I have noticed a burning/heated smell in my ANHC when reved, but I thought it is specific to AT model. I did not think it is coming from AC.

Guna, perhaps in your case you are heating up the engine enough to burn some lose engine oil by spirited driving. But, in my case my car is so new I've hardly revved it like that. I'm still trying to treat the young cylinder bores gently

[Rehaan]

Bumping up an old thread with a similar issue...

Originally Posted by 500modder

I get an acrid, chemical burning smell in the car. It doesn't smell musty like mildew - more like a burning chemical.

A friend with a brand new VW Vento TDI just called me. Its run < 1,500 kms.

He was on his way from Mumbai to Goa, and just 60kms before Panjim he started to get a strange chemical smell. Thinking it was from outside, he put up the windows and turned the A/C on -- only to be blasted by the smell. He said it smelled like they were in a chemistry lab. Everyone in the car started coughing and had watery eyes. They stopped and called VW for a tow to be on the safe side.

Any idea what it could have been? I couldn't think of anything other than an A/C gas/refrigerant leak until bblost pointed me to this thread. Interesting theory about something burning (and possible too, since they had been driving for 6-8 hours).

500modder - did you ever figure out a solution to your problem? Or did the problem just 'burn away' ?

cya
R

PS - Does anyone know what r-134a smells like?

EDIT: VW has sent a flatbed for pickup.

[planet_rocker]

AC gas smells sweet. It is kind of oil based, i was told. Chemical burning smell can relate to either coolant leak (most unlikely) or Battery water (since it is acidic) leak.

Did you get any updates, did your friend open the bonnet to check?

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by planet_rocker

Did you get any updates, did your friend open the bonnet to check?

He said he'll update me when the mechanics figure it out.

He did open the bonnet when the car was off, but said there was no noticeable smell there. He then smelled the AC vents (with the car still off) and he got the smell again.

cya
R

[Blackbolt]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

He said he'll update me when the mechanics figure it out.

cya
R

Hello,

This is my first post on T-BHP, trust me I wanted to start off with my ownership thread and not with an issue faced by my Vento TDI “Blackbolt”

Thanks Rehaan for posting the issue above, following is the update:

I spoke to my car supervisor Mr. Swapnil @ Caculo Automotive Panjim on Saturday 29th September asking him for his analysis. He said they had received a couple of cars which had a condenser problem. He will start from the air-con vents and let me know. Later that evening, he says they have not detected anything yet and are opening the entire dashboard to check further.

On Monday I register a complain by writing an email to 'customer.care@volkswagen.co.in' Its surprising to see that they have not responded even after 3 days! I atleast expected an automated response saying that they will look in to the problem and my query number is XYZ!

I called up Mr. Swapnil on Wednesday; he says they could not identify any problem in the car. The on board computer is not showing any error, they have checked the condenser and there is no problem there also. They have filled AC gas again, taken a 20 kms test drive and all everything is alright.

I am flying down to Goa later today and will be getting my Blackbolt back on Sunday!

I will keep you guys posted.

Cheers.

Mod team note: Removing [Font] tags, please avoid Copy Paste from external font editors, also do a Preview before Submitting posts. Thanks.

[Blackbolt]

Update:

Got my car back from Goa on Sunday, drove it for 622 kms (10 hours), no problem at all.

I'm just surprised as VW also have no clue what was wrong with the car. Swapnil acknowledged the fact that when the car came in, there was a chemical like smell coming from the air vents.

Job card does not mention anything, tried probing Swapnil to figure out if they have changed something faulty but he said nothing! I was not charged by VW for ac gas refueling and condenser checking.

VW customer care guys have still not replied to my email (very disappointed), all the coordination for getting the car back was done by calling Swapnil, who indeed was very helpful.

I'm done scratching my head as to what could have gone wrong? The drive back was so awesome that I've almost forgotten the issue.

Thanks all for the help.

Cheers.