Hey crew,

Just got an ongoing issue with the wifes Magna, its a 2002 TJ Series 2 Advance, 153,000 Km's.

Basically when you get home, switch the car off (after a short or long drive) the car stinks like Rotten Eggs. I am not talking the normal slight eggy smell that unleaded cars have, I am referring to a real foul smell that is such a turn off we cant park the car in the garage as the egg smell enters the house.

Car is serviced well, last service was at Misubishi around 8 months ago when I told them then that the car was stinking bad. They cleaned the injectors, serviced the whole car and advised me to change from Woolies unleaded to BP Ultimate 98. We've been running Ultimate 98, and right after the car service, I drove the car to Melbourne and back to give it a good clean out. It was ok for a while and it has now started doing it again?

I've been told some conflicting things, ie maybe its the catalytic converter is had it and needs replacing? Could be muffler? Could be anyting?

So, can anyone help me here as to what they think it is or what I should do as a next step?

Thanks,

Boosty

I would definitely be getting your CAT checked out. The eggy smell usually comes from blocked cat converters.

Id say the the cat needs to be replaced, funny though my TJ sports series 1 has 188,000 and i dont have the smell, running a stock cat... saying this i should probably look at getting mine replaced.

I've booked it in to the exhaust place tommorow, wont cost anything to check it out, but I'll let them check the exhaust and see what they think.

I imagine they will try to sell you a new catalytic converter if not a whole exhaust system. Seeing this is not a common problem on the TJ, maybe think about picking up the parts - cat con or more exhaust system sections - from a wreckers and DIY? Bound to be a few TJs around minus an engine but complete exhaust system at the wreckers. (Hopefully)

Mine has a rattle at 1,200 rpm under load so I will be doing some exhaust pipe scrounging at the wreckers - when the weather warms up and I can identify which bit is rattling. lol Probably one of the flex pipes has let go.

Hi Mad Max, appreciate the advice but I aint got the time to search for bits and pieces and then get it all put together. I know a bit about exhausts so I'll be looking under the car with him to see what bull crap they try and pull. Unless I see rust on all the pipes, holes in the muffler then I only expect whats broken to need fixing. Also, cant afford to waste any time, as this is our daily so gotta unfortunately bite the bullet and just fix it on the day. But he will need to give me a quote, and I do have time to go to another muffler store and get another quote and I can go from there.


Its times like this I wish I learned how to weld!

maybe think about picking up the parts - cat con or more exhaust system sections - from a wreckers and DIY? Bound to be a few TJs around minus an engine but complete exhaust system at the wreckers. (Hopefully)I noticed last time I was at the wreckers that they had stripped all of the cats; I think they sell them to metal merchants to recover the platinum etc. Don't know how much money you'd get for a stuffed cat...

My TL does the stink sometimes after heavy acceleration. Ive thought overfueling / stuffed cat but dont want to replace the cat if its overfueling. It could be ignition is poor sometimes and computer sees oxygen in exhaust, responds by overfueling which makes ignition harder and so on...

Of you can get the car on a hoist, you could try rattling the cat and see if it's broken apart inside

My TL does the stink sometimes after heavy acceleration. Ive thought overfueling / stuffed cat but dont want to replace the cat if its overfueling. It could be ignition is poor sometimes and computer sees oxygen in exhaust, responds by overfueling which makes ignition harder and so on...

Thats interesting too, my car does average 14.5l/100 as well, a bit high on the old consumption, then again, the wife has a heavy foot and its an auto.

Perhaps a new oxygen sensor?

Perhaps a new oxygen sensor?

The consumption is kind of of high and a blocked cat may cause loss of power at higher revs but I wouldnt expect consumption to increase much from this alone. If it is overfueling for some reason it would be nice to fix before new cat is put in because i think excess fuel stuffs the cat. I think o2 sensor is $60 online

Well, car went to the exhaust place this morning. No rattles, no leaks, all good, no smell either (What are the odds) and they couldn't find anything! Unreal! He said the Cat could be no longer working inside and its hard to tell without replacing/opening it up, so he didnt want to sell me a cat and I still have the issue. So where to now?

Just to add further to the confusion, I have an NL Pajero and my wife has a TF Magna. Both run on gas. Both have about 225000 km up. The Pajero has always stunk of rotten eggs when parking in the garage, the Magna never has. I would say that the Pajero is spot on tune - excellent power and economy (for the size/type of car), but the Magna has always been "a little off premium tune", but I could never get it any better.

ever herd of the old "crack an egg in the radiator trick to stop pinhole leaks"? it could be that , you never know.
just my opinion

Ok, so today I decided to instal a new cat converter. Removed old one, was filthy and stunk! New one is in, so lets see how it goes. At least the exhaust system is eliminated as a problem should it decide to foul up again.

I'll keep you all posted if it stinks again. If it does, I'll be furious.

Hope it works I had same issue once and fixed it with a broom handle.

good luck boost king

I recently started noticing a really strong rotten egg smell from the exhaust of my TL. It's noticable every time I stop the car, even from a distance and you can literally see the fumes if you leave it running. Everything else is fine. Starts & runs great, no CEL and fuel economy is around 9lt/100ks (mostly highway driving).
Anyway, I decided to look into it and first thing I tested was the o2 sensor. Looks like this is my problem:
1) there is infinite resistance between the heater circuit terminals and the manual says it should be between 7-40 ohms
2) With the engine warm, I checked the voltage from the sensor output and there is an almost constant reading of 0.014v.... very little fluctuation.

So I'm ordering a new one today and want to try replacing it myself.

Has anyone else replaced their own o2 sensor? How tight was it to remove? Did you need the special tool? Did you have to heat the old one with oxy/acetylene to remove it?

Just thought I'd give an update. Its been 3 solid months since we replaced the cat, and we have had no bad rotten egg smell.
So its all good.

Boosty

I would say its your fuel with a very high sulphur content that your cat cannot burn off and filter. I have the same issue with my Is250 after heavy accelaration and the dealership pretty much cannot do anything, replacing the cat will not do much but give it a try.

I would say its your fuel with a very high sulphur content that your cat cannot burn off and filter. I have the same issue with my Is250 after heavy accelaration and the dealership pretty much cannot do anything, replacing the cat will not do much but give it a try.

The cat is designed to break down sulphur into sulfur dioxide but sometimes if the sulfur content is very high, or the engine is overfuelling, the ammonia smell and hydrogen sulphide compounds can overcome even a brand new cat.

Doesnt surprise me that your lexus does it. Toyota engines are renowned for running extremely rich

I would say its your fuel with a very high sulphur content that your cat cannot burn off and filter. I have the same issue with my Is250 after heavy accelaration and the dealership pretty much cannot do anything, replacing the cat will not do much but give it a try.

Hi, not sure if this post was referring to me, but replacing the cat should be the last (and I mean last) alternative. A good tune, O2 sensor and plugs etc should all be done first, along with 98 fuel and it should improve. Also, a very good drive to clear the cat out is needed. If all that fails, replace the cat. Thats what I did and its 100% fine. If you are on the throttle most times and giving the car good revs, you shouldn't have much of a build up. But because my wife drives slow and never revs the engine, those sulphur bits build up in the cat and become near impossible to remove.

My dad has a new Lancer, 3 years old now (so I guess not so new) but its got 38,000 KM's and Mitsubishi just replaced the cat because of the terrible smell. I told my dad off because he never puts the car past 3,000 RPM EVER and does loads of short trips. So the build up could not be cleaned out, and so they replaced the cat.

So always try the service, tune, O2 sensor and a fuel switch and a big ass drive and if all else fails, the last stop should be a cat replacement.

Boosty

Also, I forgot to mention, there will always be a slight egg smell to any unleaded car, but the smell I had was soooo bad, we nearly all threw up in disgust, it smelt like someone died, it was that bad. Especially more noticable inside our car garage etc, which leads into our home and thus the smell was moving inside the house. We had to fix it.

Mine doesnt smell eggy at all?

Use ethanol, makes the exhaust smell like sugar. lol

Use the method that I employed to get my parents cars going OK in the UK.

Drive slowly out of the estate, up the main road onto the Motorway.
GO for at least 10 minutes in one direction.
Floor it. Drive at good speed, i.e. 110KPH, use the lowest gear possible without valve bounce.
Off at an interchange and floor it again.
Back home - runs like a dream!!
Gerry

Ive never smelt an eggy smell from any car.. WTF eggs are you guys buying?!

Free range eggs, all the way.
Well I just replaced my dodgy o2 sensor and took the car for a spirited drive. Results are spectacular. No more rotten egg smell AT ALL.