fagoff Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 I have an hq with a 186 engine with pretty much factory setup. Ever since I bought it It,it fumes in the car,smells like exhaust fumes not oil burning smell. .recently had motor reconditioned,rings rebore bearings etc. No difference with the fumes in car though. It doesn't fume around town below 70 km, mainly on open road when I put my foot down for a burst and usually when its decelerating almost always when im coming downhill and not accelerating. damned annoying.Things ive tried two mechanics cant figure out why it does it.had a recent tune up, timing was a bit off and was running a bit rich ,better now hopefully.checked exhaust and manifold for leaks, sealed up manifold joint with exhaust cement.check theres good suction at inlet hose off rocker cover. replaced PCB valve.made sure oil filler cap breather is clear,it does only have two small holes to breath through. made sure exhaust pipe sticks out past end of car.I sealed up all holes I could find in engine bay and boot,There are gaps at bottom of driver and passenger front doors. I can see light between bottom of doors and car body,door seals are a bit stuffed which causes a bit of wind noise.I recently noticed oil was spitting out of dipstick and running down over oil filter ,I got a rubber tap washer onto it and no more leaks. Don't know what else to do any ideas or had same experience . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SOHC Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 I have found bad boot rubbers can cause it to come into the car. Make your tail pipe turn 90 degrees sideways and see if that helps 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yetchh Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 Yeah, and anything like a door/window/bad seal in the cabin that is vaguely open when driving will cause a vacuum in the cabin, sucking fumes from other areas.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spencer Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 Is it exhaust smell or oily engine smell? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RUNAMUCK Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 +1 for a shit seal somewhere. I once owned a car with a sunroof. Whenever it was open the air passing by created vacuum in the cabin, and pulled it yucky zhorst gasses through the boot seal. Even my daily gets fumes in the car too. Fucking horrible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 Your smoking issue will be Valve stem seals, Valve guides could all so be worn. If the head was done with the rebuild whoever reassembled it forgot to put stem seals in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eke_zetec_RWD Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 Your smoking issue will be Valve stem seals, Valve guides could all so be worn. If the head was done with the rebuild whoever reassembled it forgot to put stem seals in. Lol that's a big call 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Threeonthetree Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 I have found bad boot rubbers can cause it to come into the car. Make your tail pipe turn 90 degrees sideways and see if that helps I guarantee that this is the case. H series Holden sedans are terrible for this. They have several massive holes in the boot which are poorly sealed with rubber grommets, even worse as they're 40 plus years old. Replace these grommets (new ones available from Kingswood Country and Rare Spares) and it will improve. Also , extend/benf the exhaust if possible. The original tailpipe poked out really far for this very reason. /my HQ would probably gas me to death, thankfully the window seals etc are crapm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moorepower Posted April 7, 2015 Share Posted April 7, 2015 Is the air cleaner in good condition? Could be getting a smell back through that if it is dirty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danger Posted April 8, 2015 Share Posted April 8, 2015 I find its best to run no door rubbers to control the fumes 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fagoff Posted April 8, 2015 Author Share Posted April 8, 2015 Some good ideas there Thanks.the exhaust has got a chrome pipe on the end I've extended that out another 4 inches and sealed around the bit where it tightens up so now pipe is well past end of car will see how that goes.next thing mite be replace boot seal it's OK but probably not as good a seal as when new.I don't suppose the fumes could be getting sucked in driver or passenger doors the door seals are pretty poked really.had new air filter a month ago.valve seals really I know I was charged for new ones the reconditioner is pretty good . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eke_zetec_RWD Posted April 8, 2015 Share Posted April 8, 2015 If it's fuming a lot when decelerating I'd be looking at ring tension. Or poor fitting rings in Pistons. Over run can create a poor ring seal with really wide rings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fagoff Posted April 13, 2015 Author Share Posted April 13, 2015 Extended exhaust pipe past end of car made a difference doesn't do it as much but still does occasionally Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fagoff Posted May 2, 2015 Author Share Posted May 2, 2015 I've replaced boot seal got it through rare spares ,cheaper than basics ,for a change found the old one was fitted the wrong way also found all door seals have been replaced and also put on wrong way round I've refitted front two made a big difference to the loud wind noise it's always made.still fumes in car when decelerating ,but I've discovered it only does it when front windows are open ,,which is OK in winter ,but a bugger in summer when you need them open a bit.used to leak water badly through front doors when it rains hopefully that's fixed now too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwibirdman Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 The HQ and onwards Holdens have what the marketing department called flow through Ventilation. The idea being that the air would come in through the vents in the front, especially the 6 inch drain pipes above your feet, through the car and out through the vents in the back door opening. All well and good and works when the windows are shut. Like a couple of people have said having the windows down stuffs up the internal pressure, as you have found. What this means is that air is being sucked in from the boot to the front of the car. This is happening all the time, you notice it on deceleration because of the massive engine vacuum is causing any oil to get past the rings and valve guides which you can smell worse than the nice exhaust on normal running. The exhaust is being sucked into the low pressure zone at the back of the car, which is the back bumper/bottom of boot lid area. So after the theory stuff, the big question is how to fix the bloody car. I had the same problem with a HX station wagon that the back window wouldn't go all the way up. The fix was easy, bend the tail pipe so the end pointed out the side into the airflow that didn't get sucked into the car. The pipe came out the side at about a 30 degree angle and didn't look too stupid. Shifting the tail pipe as close to the corner of the car will help. The closer to the centre of the car and the higher the pipe the worse the problem. I hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleeektoy Posted May 4, 2015 Share Posted May 4, 2015 Put a rag or something over the exhaust exit when idling to block it. If it stalls or almost stalls then your exhaust is good. If it keeps running then the exhaust has a leak somewhere. The smallest hole in the boot or back of the car will likely suck through fumes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steelies Posted May 4, 2015 Share Posted May 4, 2015 yep seals and holes at the rear of the car. my starlet was mega smoggy with a front window down, made a huge difference when i found and patched a rust hole in the bottom of the spare wheel well. side pipe helped this issue with the coon though haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted May 4, 2015 Share Posted May 4, 2015 I reckon Kiwibirdman is on the right track. I suffered the same issue with my van. Eventually rerouted the tail pipe to come out at the side with a slight kick down end that points the gases towards the road. Problem solved for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fagoff Posted July 21, 2016 Author Share Posted July 21, 2016 At Frosty 5.4.15. Turns out you were bang on m8.I recently had the head off to port it etc .redid valves and they were leaking. since its all gone back together no more fumes. I really didn't expect that after the motor was fully reconditioned top to bottom by a reputable reconditioner in CHCH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.