Smell of Nail Polish & Noisey Vents
#1
11-09-2018, 10:34 PM
Smell of Nail Polish & Noisey Vents
2011 Mitsubishi Outlander
Was sitting at the school Tuesday waiting for my daughter. Raining & super windy. I had the heat on and windows fogged up so I put defog on. I heard a like squealing sound when I switched it over. So tested it again and now there’s a slight squeek/ squeal from behind the ***** /vents when I go from heat to defog and defog to heat. It’s pretty quiet but my main concern is about 10 min later I got this big smell of nail polish. It went away quite fast though. So that night I was on the road quite a bit and I was tryin to see if there was a consistency. Only consistency I could figure out when SOMETIMES when I brake or slow down like under 30 I can smell the smell of nail polish again but never over that speed. The noise is still there and I’m not too concerned about It I just assume it’s the same issue or close to same issue because it happened at the same time. yesterday my friend who’s a mechanic came by to change my tires and I pointed it out to him so couldn’t see anything jammed in there but didn’t have any tools or anything. He checked all my fluid levels and everything seemed fine. So he said to maybe narrow it down try turning on the air recirculating so I did that today and with the recirculating on I couldn’t smell it. Then when I turned it off I smelt it again. It’s like a nail polish /chemical smell.
Like I said it’s not always when I brake but that’s the only time I smell it. It still blows hot and cold and defog. But the smell I’m worried about since it’s chemically. Also today when I turned off the air circulating there was a small “clunck”
air cabin filter was checked and was dirty but nothing super crazy
#2
11-10-2018, 06:13 AM
Nail polish smell is from acetone and nothing in your duct system can form acetone. Bacteria on the other hand strive in the vent system. You should change your cabin filter annually and perform the following task at least twice a year: Buy Lysol spray, the one that operates with compressed gas.
1.Find the went, where the outside air enters to the heating/cooling ducts (I have an OS/RVR/ASX but I suspect on the Outlander it is also between the hood and the lower edge of the windshield).
2. Start the engine and roll all the windows.down.
3. Turn the fan on to the maximum setting and spray liberal amount of Lysol directly into the entry point from outside
4. Repeat the process. with every position of the heat distributor and the A/C
5. Once finished, leave the windows down overnight or several hours to allow fresh air to replace the desinfectant
Make sure that you used up minimum half a can of Lysol. The smell should go away.
The noise is most likely due to the rattling of a sucked in leaf that is chopped by the heater core vent. You may try to clean the vent to eliminate the noise.
1.Find the went, where the outside air enters to the heating/cooling ducts (I have an OS/RVR/ASX but I suspect on the Outlander it is also between the hood and the lower edge of the windshield).
2. Start the engine and roll all the windows.down.
3. Turn the fan on to the maximum setting and spray liberal amount of Lysol directly into the entry point from outside
4. Repeat the process. with every position of the heat distributor and the A/C
5. Once finished, leave the windows down overnight or several hours to allow fresh air to replace the desinfectant
Make sure that you used up minimum half a can of Lysol. The smell should go away.
The noise is most likely due to the rattling of a sucked in leaf that is chopped by the heater core vent. You may try to clean the vent to eliminate the noise.
Last edited by AWCAWD; 11-10-2018 at 09:36 AM.
#3
11-12-2018, 09:31 AM
Here's a strange theory to fit your strange circumstance. 1) Like said above, the 'fresh air' setting pulls air from between the windshield and the engine compartment. 2) Now what happens when you step on the brake, the vacuum system is 'taxed' with providing you boost for stopping. 3) The vacuum system generally gets the pressure/bar it needs from the intake manifold where at lower speeds you have a lower in rush of air through the air box. 4) The brake booster is mounted on the firewall directly under the windshield. 5) When you're moving fast, the wind rushing up the front of the car generally carries everything away from the car, but when you're moving slow those forces are not as great and allow the gasses or liquids to hit the that area (ever notice the difference of trying to clean the windshield at freeway speeds versus slow speeds, most of the fluid is swept over the glass at 75-80 mph, very frustrating and wasteful of fluid).
So when you put those five items together, my guess is that there is a minor vacuum issue and when the brake booster tries to pull more out of the manifold that the 'chemical' smell your getting is a mixture of fuel/air/oil/carbon deposits, which is being pulled up n out of the engine compartment and into your air intake.
Thoughts anyone?
So when you put those five items together, my guess is that there is a minor vacuum issue and when the brake booster tries to pull more out of the manifold that the 'chemical' smell your getting is a mixture of fuel/air/oil/carbon deposits, which is being pulled up n out of the engine compartment and into your air intake.
Thoughts anyone?
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post