Our Two Cents: Least Favorite Automotive Smells
A promise was made in our last installment of Our Two Cents, and today that promise is kept. It’s only natural to ponder the worst automotive smells after discussing the ones that most satisfy your nose. Sometimes you gotta take the bad with good, as cars are always a mixed blessing. It’s the contrast between the sweet aroma of certain gasolines and putrid 90-weight gear oil. Or the smell of a new car with a cheap interior versus one with really expensive bits and decadent leather trimmings.
So that’s how we kicked the question back to the staff here at Hagerty Media. Let’s see what are their least favorite automotive smells!
Interiors
“The VW Jetta (Mk IV) crayon smell in the interior: GROSS! Why? Because it’s just that unpleasant!” – Matt Tuccillo
“For me it was toxic new Hyundai smell from the 1990s. I wanted to enjoy seeing South Korean cars getting better and better (looking at you, Hyundai Scoupe) firsthand, so I’d try to check them out at the annual auto show. It took serious commitment to do so, even with the windows down. ” – Sajeev Mehta
“Faux leather that hasn’t finished off-gassing, a smell we recently experienced in a press car. Come on now, go cow or go home!” – Grace Houghton
Critters
“The smell of mouse encampments in spring after you so diligently tried to prevent them the previous autumn.”- Eddy Eckart
“The easy answer here is ancient rear differential oil. And it’s not just the stink, it’s that it seemingly never goes away, especially on clothing. However, there is not a single thing on earth that smells worse than cleaning rotten animal guts off the underside of a vehicle.
Thankfully, I have only had to do this twice. To clarify, I was not the one who ran over the already very much deceased animal in the middle of the road, but when that vehicle comes home to park in my driveway, I am the one that had to clean it!” – Ben Woodworth
Rental Cars
“Diesel exhaust. And most rental cars.” – Cameron Neveu
“And the backseat of every Uber.” – Sajeev Mehta
“Hey Sajeev, are we graduating this from smells to stains?” – Matt Tuccillo
“Oops, my bad. Ubers are bad because of the stains paired with the masking smells of car air fresheners. You can see the sins but you can’t quite smell them anymore.” – Sajeev Mehta
“We once had a Camaro convertible rental car in Colorado for a Barn Find Hunter shoot many years ago. (I got a convertible to shoot video from while wandering through the mountains). Had the top down when we got it at the airport. We put the top up when we stopped for lunch in Denver since we had some camera gear in there.
An hour or so in the hot, Colorado sun left us a nice surprise when we returned to the car. The thing smelled like vomit. Like, so bad the whole car may as well have been filled with vomit. It was awful. We quickly removed our things (while holding our breath), called the rental agency and told them to bring us a new car.”- Ben Woodworth
Cigarette Smoke
“I was a kid who grew up riding in the back seats of cars driven by cigarette-smoking adults, and that nauseating smell is unshakable because not only is it in the upholstery and carpeting and headliner, it quickly gets in your clothes and hair. These days, any time I get into a car that has been smoked in (which is not often, thankfully) I try to breathe through my mouth to avoid it.” – Stefan Lombard
Grab Bag
“Fire, for obvious reasons.” – Andrew Newton
“What about the smell of, “Huh, I wonder what that smell is? It’s probably fine.” – Ben Woodworth
“Trapped farts.” – Molly Jean
Gear Oil
“The answer is, obviously, diff oil. Sweaty gym sock filled with goose droppings, left overnight in a neglected bathhouse. Gives me chills just thinking about it.” – Eric Weiner
“Differential oil. Look at a picture of an axle draining diff: Can you smell it? I bet you can. Cam’s entry of diesel exhaust is up there too. I’m talking like an old indirect injected machine, that smell just gets in your clothes and takes a while to come out. Or a coal rolling tune on a bro dozer pickup. . .no thanks.” – Greg Ingold
In my youth the radiator was low and all we had was beer and filled radiator, that was a smell I cannot forget when draining..
You’re supposed to drink the beer first, then recycle it.
Amen
The friction modifier that comes in a little bottle to add to the axle lube for limited-slip diffs makes plain lube smell like perfume in comparison. In the 70’s I was at the counter of the Ford dealer’s part department and they brought out a bottle. While waiting for them to ring it up, I started to open it. About five guys yelled and leaped forward to stop me.
Regarding that “little bottle”, I was going to mention that in the “old” days, we had to add a special limited slip gear oil to our posi-traction differentials to keep from burning up the differential clutches. That “special” additive was whale blubber oil, which was subsequently banned in the ’70’s or ’80’s because it was becoming illegal to kill the whales for their blubber. The stuff worked great as a differential lube, but it took several years for the manufacturers to find a suitable alternative, with the result that I had several differentials replaced under warranty.
The unmistakeable smell of an empty gas tank, on a Friday night.
Id say the worst is the smell of burn plastic from electrical wires. What makes it worse is that now you have to find and repair it.
Two kids in diapers needing a change while on a loooonnnnnggggg trip! And no place to pull off!
Diff oil 100%. Diesel fuel.
I had to repair the underside of a semi tractor that had hit a bear at 60mph. Blood and guts all over the undercarriage and me without a spoon! That smell never leaves you!
I was once following a pickup truck and lawn trailer combo at a distance when I started smelling a stuck brake, which is a terrible smell. I knew what was going to happen, and it did. First smoke, then sparks, then flames. The driver ignored my flashing lights and horn. He then turned off the highway onto a narrow rural road. I had no choice but to pass him and come to a stop, blocking him. He came out of the pickup ready to fight. I, a woman, jumped out of my MINI Cooper yelling “you’re on fire!” He calmed down a bit to find the source, which was the inside of the last right wheel, something he never would have seen. Fortunately he was hauling a tank of water with hose, so the fire was quickly doused. He commented that he’d seen my flashing lights and heard the horn, and wondered what he’d done to make me mad! I’m just glad he wasn’t carrying. It was Texas, after all.
Dead mice in locations not found, countered with moth balls for prevention. Don’t know which is worse
Supercharger oil. Right up there with diff oil
Burning Electrical… Sitting in the back of my mom’s ’48 Plymouth Deluxe Coupe in the early ’60’s, the dome light switch on the pillar between front and back seats started to short out, throwing sparks and burning the fabric surrounding it and filling the car with smoke. A smell you’ll never forget and which lingered for about at least a month…
that smell of a leaking heater core, just the thought of ripping out the dashboard to get to it is enough to piss off the pope.
The worst smell is when someone throws up. It is is impossible to get the the stink out. My son when he was 3 years old I took him to the zoo and we had hot dogs. I was driving my 1970 Maverick (original, a cheap mustang 6 cylinder ). Well you know the story he threw up in my new upholstery!! Stained and smell. Oy Vey!!!!
No kidding, but I lucked out. My son got carsick and was about to throw up when I directed him to do it onto the floor mat. The mat caught it 100%, so all I had to do was take it out of the car and give it a thorough cleaning.
Early 2000s Suburban. 5 gallons of used turkey fry peanut oil in back. Guess what turned over and soaked every carpet??
That cost a bunch to replace!!
Gear oil, rodent residue and rotten things in the interior are all up there. Worst one for me recently was a coolant leak on a Chrysler T&C that dripped straight on the exhaust crossover pipe and Burnt. Personally, I would take gear oil over that burnt HOAT coolant smell. Never smelled that bad with the old green stuff.