Hey Everyone.

I have a 2010 Honda Fit Sport A/T that I purchased in December 2009. I have about 12,000 miles (mostly highway commute) on it and have done all of the scheduled maintenance since I've owned it.

During my commute to work, I have to drive up a rather large hill on Rt. 2 North in Lexington (outside of Boston) that typically has the car running in the 3500-4000 RPM range at 65-75 MPH, but can dip to 2750ish if I'm at 60 MPH. Without failure, with the air circulation open or closed, a burning smell comes in through from the vents. When I first bought the car, I figured it was a break in thing, and I was taking it easy on the car. Now almost 12,000 miles in, I'm starting to get worried. I don't smell this odor any time except during this uphill climb - cold or hot weather. Any thoughts? I'm getting really frustrated as I've had 3 other cars during this commute (including a Civic and CR-V) that never had this issue. I want to bring it into a dealership but need to know what I should say exactly...

 

hmm, wonder if the fit has oil starvation issues...how steep of a hill are we talking?

 

With the air on recirculate you are not allowing outside air into the cabin as I understand it.
Are there any other 'hills' you can find, or have found, where this does not occur?
You're suggesting that the smell is being generated within the cabin.

Can you further describe the smell? Very curious situation, for sure.

Thing to do is on the next 'uphill smell', pull over pop the hood and take a whiff. Don't shut off the engine. Sniff the tail pipe as well, not directly with your nose, but hold your hand in the exhaust stream and then sniff the hand.

Might be further clues their.

 

all good places to start, im curious as to what the cause could be. keep us posted!

 

It's definitely a steep incline - 300-400 feet at an almost diagonal angle if you can imagine it. The smell comes through the vents even when I'm letting in fresh air and not just recirculating. The smell reminds me most of burning rubber. Unfortunately on this stretch of road going up hill, it is a heavily trafficked in the morning and I doubt I'd be able to pull over very easily to do a quick check immediately after smelling the odor. As soon as I make it over the hill, the odor dissipates. It's weird because I'll run my car going 4000 RPM on a straightaway with no issues or smell, but just on this big hill.

 

try again in circulation mode on the a/c. it could be that you're smelling fumes from other cars.

also check your engine oil level. here's how:

before you start your engine in the morning, pop the hood and pull up on the yellow dipstick. make sure your car is sitting in a relatively flat ground.

wipe off the oil at the tip with a paper towel and re-dip.

count to 5.

pull out the dipstick. your oil level should be near the HIGH mark (upper dot or hash mark closer to the handle). if not, you need to add oil.

 

the smelling being consistant when you let in fresh air sounds normal, its taking in the air from right outside your car, very strange, have you poked around your engine bay and everything to look for anything that could be melting or rubbing? even though you cant pull over immediately, you may be able to find some sign if its been happening for a while. id most be worried about oil starvation, or something along that line.

 

I would visit stinky hill in the evening, when traffic is low. Miles before close the vents/windows. My guess is you're smelling other vehicles, but you need to eliminate the killer traffic to confirm.

 

All excellent ideas. Tomorrow I'll check the oil before my commute and report back. It is true the traffic around me could emit odor, but then again, when I'm in bumper to bumper traffic in the Big Dig tunnel (an underground freeway here in Boston), I don't smell a thing.

 

Maybe the incline is adding pressure to your abdomen making you secrete foul bodily smells j/k im intruiged on what it actually is keep us posted.

 

there are 2 reasons... one is that the cars around you in a tunnel is not emitting that much exhaust because it's not pushing the engines to run high rpm going up a hill.

also, tunnels have ventilation...otherwise everyone will die from carbon monoxide.

 

HA! Those famous 'Boston Baked Beans'

 

actually kinda related to this thread, i find myself putting my a/c to re-cirulate mode while driving behind toyota's. they have a very bad rotten egg odor at times...especially when they floor it.

 

What type of pavement is the surface of that you are diving on? If it is a very well worn surface you could possibly be losing just enough traction that it isn't noticeable to you but is enough to heat up your tires and give off the odor treasured by 60s muscle car owners.

 

Ya know Coyote, when the switch was made to cat converters the one thing that I first noticed was the change in exhaust smell. I didn't like it anymore. Sort of like Hoppes No.9. New stuff just doesn't cut it. Guess that's why I like hanging around dirt tracks and NASCAR. The sheer sound and smell of folks getin-it-done. F1 is a whole other story.

Can't imagine a FIT doing that, well maybe yours ;-)

 

You are probably smelling the exhaust of the cars in front of you. In order to accelerate up a hill, the cars will need more power. Most cars will enrich the air/fuel ratio when near wide-open throttle, which will not be removed fully by the cats. That will cause a peculiar smell, sometimes with a bit of rotten egg smell from the bit of sulfur that is in the gas that cannot be fully burned off by the cats because of the rich mixture. Every engine will do this, but of course not all cars will need to go full throttle on that hill.

You need to try going up that hill when there is no traffic in front of you, to see if the smell goes away.

 

If I didn't have an electronic throttle controller that allowed much slower than stock modulation there are driving situations that would be nerve racking not to mention expensive due to fuel consumption.... Taking it easy on the highway is good for 33.5 MPG with mixed city highway yielding as high as 31.7 MPG, 28 MPG when I am crazy with it..... It does have the exhaust fragrance us old guys are so fond of..... ON Topic... There are some steep old roads in Boston and 4000 RPM is just past where the VTEC transition occurs so it is possible that he could be right on the level of adhesion even with an automatic transmission.

 

Does Hoppes smell like bananas to you? not a fan of the smell, and my gf absolutely despises it.

 

Even though I had been using Hoppes when I was in my early teens I associate the aroma with the Quanset Huts at the Marine Corps Recruit Training Depot in San Diego and the two week period of marksmanship training at Edson Range at Camp Pendleton..The automotive additives Rislone and Marvel Mystery Oil both some what similar in odor but not nearly as strong.... The odor was so strong that we never used it on our M-16s in the bush in Vietnam because the enemy would be able to locate and find us by following their noses..... Some Guys that didn't like the prospects of the life expectancy of a Marine in combat chose to drown a bottle of the stuff as a means of committing suicide but I guess it must have tasted so bad that no one ever got enough down to die from it and the went through hell in the Motivation Platoon or even worse the Correctional Custody Platoon which made Guantanamo look like heaven in comparison.... I am pretty sure there were a number of aromatic essential oils used in the stuff and banana oil could of been one of them.

 

i feel like while holding an M16 and wanting to commit suicide, the last thing id reach for is a bottle of hoppes...but to each their own, suppose its a bit less messy, on a higher note, bananas or not, the odor still makes my gf complain for about an hour and leave the room....then again i feel the same way when she uses nail polish and remover...

sorry for the hoppes gun oil thread jack if you like bananas you could splash some under your seats to mask the smell