For a month or so, my exhaust has been emitting a very weird smell that I've never encountered before. It almost smells like toast. I went to my friends dad whose a mechanic and one of his workers said it smells like sulfur (which i don't really think it does) but he said I shouldn't worry about it. I was wondering if any of you guys might know what it can be or encountered anything like I'm describing. My temp guage has also been fluctuating VERY minimally, but my car performs like it does normally.

 

The smell has been gettin better, but its still there.

 

A smell of sulpher usually means that your cat is on is way out or for some other reason, it is not completely doing is job.

 

As said above. It's the cat burning before it starts performing it's job. Plus, there sometimes is an protectant coating on the exhaust, also.

 

Can this be a problem? Should I get it fixed immediately? Will it possible corrode my O2 sensor or something?

 

A strong sulfur or rotten egg smell on a vehicle equipped w/ a catalytic converter means you're running rich in your air/fuel mixture.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 3rdGteg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">A strong sulfur or rotten egg smell on a vehicle equipped w/ a catalytic converter means you're running rich in your air/fuel mixture.</TD></TR></TABLE>

That or the catalytic converter is not catalyzing properly, such is an instance of a complete new exhaust system. It'll smell rich because the exhausted gases are not being broke down and transformed into less noticable smells, and the catalytical media isn't fully burnt.

 

wow it must suck to have to worrie about a CAT. here in PA we would just cut it off and do with out. i humm guess you cant do that in CA.

 

Douche?

 

The mechanic said I could be running a little rich as well. I actually just put on a new exhaust system a little less than a month ago. The smell was already present before I put on the new exhaust. How can my air/fuel just run rich all of a sudden? Do you think it would be wise to try replacing my cat?

 

first, try switching gas stations, we (toyota techs) had a technical service bulletin addressing this issue, and found that it was due to the gas, and there was not much we could do to help the customers out, except tell them to try a different gas station... hth

 

Might check the Fuel Pressure Regualtor, that could be failing causing the rich condition.