I do several highway exchanges on my commute so I get a chance to step on it on the regular. Recently I have been getting whiffs of exhaust smell in the cabin when driving hard, like wide open near redline.

I’m in the northeast and it’s only just getting warm here, so for the most part windows are closed.

Im thinking it’s an exhaust leak that’s just getting started. Hopefully not a plug issue! I’ll be checking in on those soon though.

Thoughts, ideas, similar experiences?

 

Agreed either upstream exhaust leak or spark plugs getting loose.

I would lean towards loose spark plugs on these cars. One symptom reported here is exhaust smell. Get it sorted ASAP or fixing head gets very expensive. There seems to be good evidence of increased spark plug torque specs posted here recently so study those threads. We just replaced plugs on 65k mile 2011 Fit Sport and I think #3 was a bit loose.

One test of exhaust leak is to start car cold and look under car to see if smoke or water drips from exhaust near engine. That is not foolproof and might require car on incline/decline. I suppose you could slightly plug the exhaust end to look for sound but there is risk of spark plug I fear so wouldn't try that.

 

Do you have much rust on your car? Are the floorboards/body pan in good shape?

 

Also forgot to say, it’s 2010 with 177k miles.

No rust that I know of but certainly a possibility in this area.

 

Check the spark plug torque TODAY.

 

Yeah I gave a feel to the coils while running and there was no movement like mentioned in other threads.

I was planning on changing plugs anyway so I’ll just move it up to this week

im aware this is risky, so anyone reading this thread later, don’t put it off because I did! If the thing blows tonight I have no problem sourcing a new head from a junkyard and putting it on myself.

 

Capable guy, right on. The other trick is vent hose of a reasonable diameter. 1/4" diam. would be decent. A good 2 feet aughta do yuh. Itll be your stethoscope. So with one end in your ear, use the other end and move it around by the plugs and where the header meets the exhaust pipe. Havent played with ours, but older ones had a lead/graphite donut between working as a gasket to seal the two. I would assume a failure there over any other location on the exhaust if theres no evidence of rust. Omitting the plugs, the catalytic converter (if its toast) can generate extra heat, you know, if its obstructed or whatever. Could lead to a leak. The other would be the manifold gasket (less likely because it doesnt have much strain on it).

You could also check the EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) valve i guess. Id be super interested if the EGR failed. It doesnt really have much to deal with.. cleaning the system up may be beneficial, but practically irrelevant

 

Well i changed plugs today. Look pretty good for almost 178k miles

they were still spec torque best I could tell by hand. Torqued the new ones to 20 😎

so the smell wasnt loose plugs. Not terribly concerned otherwise. Didn’t get a chance to take the egr off but it is super rusty on the outside.

was going to check valves too but it ended up being way too windy and sand was blowing all over 😩


and oh yeah... broke every. Single. Clip. On the cowl. Couple zip ties and the wipers holding it down for now. We’ll see how it does on the highway today 🤞🏼