What’s That Smell?

While maintaining your vehicle can help to prevent major issues, even a fender bender can create or exacerbate major and minor issues. Even if you think you’ve just dented the side panel or broken a headlight in an accident, it’s a good idea to have your vehicle examined after a crash.

To protect the passengers inside, vehicles today are designed to direct the flow of damage from one part of the car to another, which can lead to hidden damage. Sometimes, you can tell that your car has an issue just by a certain smell, especially while you’re driving. If you’ve been in an accident and you’re noticing a strange smell, the sooner you have it looked at, the better, especially when it comes to insurance!

If your car smells like rotten eggs…

The smell of sulphur or rotten eggs often indicates an issue with your exhaust system, specifically the catalytic converter. The catalytic converter helps eliminate some of the harmful gases produced by the engine, so a malfunction could be hazardous to your health and the environment. Waiting too long to have this fixed can be extremely costly.

If your car smells sweet…

It could indicate that your coolant is leaking! Coolant is critical to keeping your engine at the right temperature while it’s running, and if it overheats, you’ll have a much bigger and more expensive issue on your hands.

If you smell gasoline away from the pump…

Gasoline can signal one of several issues. If you’ve just tried and failed to start your car, it could mean you’ve flooded the engine and you’ll need to wait a few minutes before trying again. If you smell gasoline at another time, you may have a leak in your fuel injector line, or in your gas tank. Any fuel leak is a fire hazard – have it checked out as soon as possible.

If you smell something burning…

Usually, a burning smell is a sign that there is an electrical short, or that oil is leaking and burning. Oil leaks can usually be seen on the ground below your vehicle, especially if it’s left sitting for a short period of time. Either issue should be repaired quickly to avoid further damage or excessive heat.

If you smell burning rubber…

Usually, burning rubber is an issue with brakes. You may not think a collision could cause brake issues, but anything from unbalanced tires to a misalignment can lead to uneven wear on the brakes and tires, leading to a burning smell. To be safely driven, every vehicle needs functioning brakes, so don’t waste time in having them repaired.