there's a exhaust leak coming thru the cabin, BUT i'm not sure from where. i got new dual exhaust that was installed a year ago and also had my interior done a few years back but really didn't know if the guy actually made sure to seal everything on my floor. i feel like its' coming thru my steering wheel or foot pedals. I have a 62 cadillac. I have already placed a CO2 sensor and it never goes off, my car does have blow by. I know i need to fix it ASAP, but wont' be able to till i move to my new place. trying to figure out if i can at least seal the holes to get me by. Any where in specific i need to look under my pedals or steering wheel? the last two times i drove it gave me shortness of breath. I was ruling that it was my anxiety, BUT this is just too coincidential in the summer had to stick my head out cause i was literally almost passing out inside my car, but when i stopped to eat at a friends house, mind u hadn't eaten all day i thought that would of been the cause. That's already 3 times coincidence much? really dont want to move it anymore till i resolve this. your help would be greatly appreciated.
CO ( Carbon Monoxide) not CO2 (Carbon Dioxide)....There's a big difference. Widows Down? Look at the pipes for black staining. LA traffic would probably give me chest pains.... Noise??? Loud pipes/loud exhaust drone can make you sick. Blowby contains CO. CO will kill you. Vents?
That's a good point they are pointed straight out and it's right under the rear bumper. A friend was saying maybe fumes are going inside trunk BUT trunk seal is new I replaced it 2 yrs ago unless I did it wrong. I wish I pointed them to at a 90 degree rear left and right. My pipes are facing straight out to the rear I'll see if I can find a pic
Good point I meant Carbon Monoxide alarm I do keep windows down and vents are closed I shud of also opened corner windows. I always blamed myself when my dad passed from Parkinsons because when he would ride with me he would be in passengers side and fumes would get in on his side but my friends always said cuz I had leaky valve covers that would hit the mufflers and leak into cabin. I debunked the theory when I used that Carbon Monoxide alarm right where he Sat and newer went off, but till this day I blame myself
Check the seals around the steering column and any other things that penetrate the firewall. Are you sure it's exhaust gas? Exhaust and blowby have distinctively different smells. Do a sniff test to get used to them. The back of the car creates a low pressure effect as it goes down the road. Trunk seals and floor seals need to be in good condition as the lower pressure tends to suck the fumes forward toward the rear of the car. Plug both tail pipes and listen for leaks. You will need a helper for one side if you have two pipes and another to pinpoint leaks. Just hold the palm of you hand snugly against the pipe. Leaks will make an obvious sound. Some cars had a barrier between the back seat and the trunk, usually just paper or plastic film sealed with tape to the structure. Check that. It keeps the trunk isolated from the passenger compartment. Make sure your pipes exit at a point at or just past the back bumper. Pipe extensions that turn down sometimes help. If it's blowby, you need an engine overhaul. Blowby is combustion by products and contains bad stuff like the exhaust does. I would be hesitant to drive that car until it's fixed.
Get a couple of those cheap ex tips and experiment. when exhaust gets let out [especially] behind a bumper it gets sucked back towards wheel wells, trunk etc. If you crack a window it will suck harder. That will kill.
,yeah very true even tho the trunk seal is new i dont trust it now. i think after i move out at the end of the month, i'm going to get AAA and have it towed on a flat bed to my new place. it's less than a 100 miles and i believe if u pay $75 a year u get 3 or 4 tows
well i am not sure if it's exhaust gas but i know for sure my exhaust are NEW got it all done last year at a muffler shop so they are sealed and go all the way to back right under bumpre with straight pipes THO i think the fumes that go thru the stearing wheel are either BLOW BY or fumes hitting the leaky valve cover seals. thanks for the assurance i think i'm not gonna drive it anymore till it either gets hauled. gonna tow it at the end of this month to my new apt or actually it's a house. i'll have more time there to have my brother inspect it any maybe re do the rings
Exhaust manifold is where your exhaust pipe is connected to the engine. If a manifold cracks and the seal is missing between the back of the hood and the cowl, fumes will get drawn into the inside of the car through the ventilation system. Joe
hi joe Hi joe u bring up a good point i think at one point i had to snug in one of the bolts for the exhaust manifold and have no idea if the seals are good or not but that does sound like it could be the culprit. also on these intake manifolds when u remove the old carb and put an after market carb u are suppose to seal the holes that go on the intake manifold where the old (choke tube) was located. if those aren't sealed fumes escape from there SO that reminded me that i have not done to this apart from fumes from blow by and oil dripping from valve covers on exhaust pipes that sure doesnt help either. might just do an overhaul of the engine to avoid it. thanks so much for your input
If you do have blow-by (probably what you are smelling), I'd be looking at openings in the firewall area. Have someone shine a light up under the dash and around the firewall from the inside and look for light coming out under the hood in the firewall area. It doesn't take a very big hole to get oil or blow-by fumes inside the car.
Do you think if you sprayed oil or something similar that would make the engine smoke you would see the smoke coming into your car?
I vote blow by. Investigate a PCV system. Not certain of the year PCV was introduced. My 65 had it. It was sweet. If it needs a rebuild,,, it needs a rebuild
How about getting some colored smoke bombs, put a fan of front of the car to simulate moving and see where the smoke comes through?
i think so i mean if the valve covers were leaking BUT i have snugged them in a while back and i think i did a good job of re routing the blow by from the valve cover to the air cleaner but still i can smell something when i drive thru that steering wheel or pedals i always have to move to the side. i might just end up towing the car to the new place i'm moving to and have my brother rebuilt the engine.
A 62 Caddy should still have a road draft tube. If the motor has blow by, it will dump a lot of brunt oil through the road draft tube. Upgrading the motor to an enclosed PCV system will make a big difference. It doesn't take much of a seal leak to pull exhaust into a car. Open side windows exarate the process. Rather then using a smoke machine to check door & trunk seals, some baby powder in a sprayable bottle will show you where seal leaks are. You close the trunk (or door) and spray the baby powder all the way around the trunk lid seal (don't forget the front of the trunk lid as well as the back edge of the trunk lid. Then slowly open the trunk lid. You will be able to see every place where the baby powder has gone past the seal. It will leave a white trail across the seal and into the trunk where ever it leaks. Repair, add to, or replace the defective seals. Did I say that it doesn't take much of a seal leak for exhaust to be pulled into the car? I'd start with the trunk, then do around the outside of the doors and around the windows, then the firewall area. Clean up is by vacuuming. You might also want to have your car put on a hoist and have the bottom, back along the rear wheel wells, along the rear bumper mounting area, and the rocker area inspected for rust through holes. Small rust holes will allow a lot of exhaust to be pulled into the car, especially if its in stop and go traffic while running. The exhaust tends to rise up into the car. Moving the tail pipes towards the corners of the bumper, or adding turn downs may help. Gene
I didn't explain myself very well. What I really meant was to spray/pour something down the carburetor to make the engine smoke. Wherever it is leaking should produce enough smoke that would eventually seep through any opening into your car.
Essentially you have two problems here. CO source and CO entry path. There have been several good suggestions for finding the source. To find the entry path you might try to find a shop (maybe emissions or tune-up) with a smoke machine and smoke the inside of the car and see where it comes out. Even that is not fool proof because the entry path may be something that is only disturbed by the air flow around the car when it is motion.
Look for the source, and fix that. In addition: Get a caulking gun, a whole mess of tubes of seam sealer, a putty knife, some lacquer thinner, and some gloves. Pull the seats, carpet and pad, and re-seal your entire floor and firewall.
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