Club 80-90 Forums

I've been getting a rotten egg smell coming from my van when I drive. I checked my battery and everything is working fine. Do you think it's the cat converter? If so any idea how much it would be to replace?
Is it an easy job to do myself? And is it bad if I still drive it?
Unfortunately I don't think I can blame smell on the dog.
Any help much appreciated

You say you have checked the battery and everything is working fine. Have you only checked charging etc or did you check the levels in the battery. They can give off an eggy smell (sulphur).

The other thing could be a gearbox leak, gearbox oil has a really horrible smell.

Jim

Yeah I took it to the nice people at halfords to see if battery needs replacing. They tested everything and saidbit was fine.

If you've got one, don't forget to check your leisure battery as well as your starter battery. If your leisure battery is fubar then it will offgas when you drive because the alternator will be trying to charge it. Chances are also that any leisure battery will be nearer the driver's seat than your starter battery - I believe you have a diesel, and so the smell won't have to travel far.

No one has mentioned it but coolant can smell like this as it evaporates. Tis possible you're losing a small amount of water somewhere. Keep an eye on water levels. I had this before the water pump went on me.

I would worry that credence is being given to the input from halfwits
mm

crookedmouth123 wrote:I've been getting a rotten egg smell coming from my van when I drive. I checked my battery and everything is working fine. Do you think it's the cat converter?

Very few of our vans have cats - what engine do you have?

Do you have a multimeter? If so, check the charging voltage to the starter battery and - if you have one - to the leisure battery.

I still recknon its antifreeze. If that stuff leaks, particularly dripping close to the exhaust, it'll give off that suphur smell. When waterpump is close to failure, they will often seep water (only a little initially) and if the engine is hot, which it will be after running a while, you'll get that strong smell. In hunting for the cause, do pull off the fan belt and see if the waterpump has a lot of play in it. You may just find a minior leak there. Doesn't take much.

Unlikely anyone would find this by a cursory examination unless they knew where to look but its often the only hint of forthcoming problems with the cooling system or waterpump.

Hi all thanks for your responses.
The 'halfwit' at halfords checked the battery idling, revving etc and it had no problems with it..
As for what engine I have the guy seems to think it's a 1.9 tdi. I should know this stuff but I inherited the van off ny late father so I'm not too sure.
I'll check the water pump.. is it easy to get to??
Cheers

crookedmouth123 wrote:As for what engine I have the guy seems to think it's a 1.9 tdi.

No cat, then. Until VERY recently, cats were petrol only - and even modern diesel ones work differently to petrols, so "rotten eggs" isn't a symptom.

I'd be looking at the batteries first - Halfwits notwithstanding - but I've never really thought of coolant as a "sulphur" smell. Sickly-sweet, mainly.

Oh ok.. I suppose that's great news then as I've been told cats are expensive to replace.
Ok well the guy did check the charge of the battery.. could the battery still be on its way out even if the tests said it was okay.
Its definitely a sulphur eggy smell.. reminds me of the smelbof the natural hot springs in granada.

It's worth mentioning a couple of things.
I've accidently ran the battery flat twice in the past week and when getting a jump start it took a little while and a lot of revving fro. The car giving ne the junp forget started.

The other thing..

I have a broken exhaust bracket.. I just recovered the new part I. The post so don't knowing chats related.

Sorry about predictive text jibber jabber

your txt gibber is my usual typing or so im told , may have only been half a halfwit but.............tdi now ? well maybe ,could you take a picky of the engine bay and post it up or a link to it if not
mm

crookedmouth123 wrote:Ok well the guy did check the charge of the battery.. could the battery still be on its way out even if the tests said it was okay.

What test did he do? If it's over about 13.5v, it's "charging" - but if it's over about 14.5-15v, it's overcharging and will smell.

Its definitely a sulphur eggy smell.. reminds me of the smelbof the natural hot springs in granada.

Where from? Follow your nose! Is it a camper, with a leisure battery?

Hey I'll get pics of my engine up tomorrow when it's daylight.
I trier following ny nose but the. Smell is everywhere so hard to locate.
Its a camper but haven't installed a leisure battery yet.