'04 330 ZHP w/ strange smell in trunk

[whitks]

My '04 ZHP has a strange smell which seems to be coming from the trunk. It has been there to some small degree since new but is becoming worse in the heat. Nothing has been spilled in the trunk and I rarely even use it. It isn't an exhaust or gasoline smell - it's more along the lines of a new tire but that's not it.

I can smell it inside the car sometimes and it will nearly blow you over when you open the trunk on a hot day!

Anybody else have an odd smell in their trunk?

[billyhead]

as they heat up. you might want to remove the tire and wipe everything down and maybe clean out the well for the spare with a little diluted pine sol. i also noticed that they're now selling febreeze for cars....could be worth a shot.

good luck

bill

[ShimShimHada]

I think that's a BMW signature weird trunk smell.

[whitks]

"I think that's a BMW signature weird trunk smell."

That's pretty funny, but I find it hard to believe that they all smell this strongly! I can smell it inside when I crack the sunroof.

[EscobarSLV]

wasn't this a seinfeld episode? anyway, when i was doing the sub rattle fix to my harmon kardons i smelled something awkward in my trunk too. i think it's just the lining material heating up, when i applied some dynomat over the interior foam lining in some places for sound dampening, this helped take away some of the smelll though. although....i do have kinda of a rubbery smell cause of the dynomat smell. don't know if that's honestly better. it's not as strong at least.

[02grey330i]

my vehicle has this smell too.

[aNoodle]

Originally Posted by 02grey330i

my vehicle has this smell too.

I think it's the recycled rubber materials they use....ever lifted up the rear seat to check out your build sticker? The smell from there will make you want to puke.

[sirtiger]

perhaps it burning rubber condoms

[Ianbiz]

my freind has an 02 325i. His trunk smells like strong crayons. VERY NASTEY smell. He left his trunk open in the garage for about 4hrs one day and the smeel was almsot gone, about 2weeks later it came back. He is looking for ways to keep it away forever.


I'll let u know if we find a solution.

[ShimShimHada]

I don't think that smell goes away, you just get used to it or you can put some kind of air freshener in there.

[02grey330i]

Originally Posted by Ianbiz

my freind has an 02 325i. His trunk smells like strong crayons. VERY NASTEY smell. He left his trunk open in the garage for about 4hrs one day and the smeel was almsot gone, about 2weeks later it came back. He is looking for ways to keep it away forever.


I'll let u know if we find a solution.

ROFL, this is exactly what I asked the owner before I purchased the vehicle. When I opened the trunk I asked, "Why does the trunk smell like crayons?" He said, "I dont know". ROFL

[tckr76]

I have an 01 Jetta that smells like crayons. It is the undercoating, apparently VW had an issue at its Mexico plant w/the car being assembled before the undercoating was dry. It is not bad in the winter but when it is hot it is almost overpowering-even w/windows down on the highway

[Loner533]

Ive had mine for about four months and am just now starting to get that smell in the trunk. I assume its the heat. Glad to hear Im not the only one.

[whitks]

I smell mine INSIDE the car now that it has really heated up outside.
If I open the sunroof or crack a window, it creates a low pressure inside the car which sucks it in from the trunk!

It probably does smell like rancid crayons more than anything else!

I'm thinking of putting one of those ionizing air cleaners in there overnight to see if it helps.

[eurotech78]

anyone smell by the battery??? Non-service batteries doesnt mean that they never leak. just a thought.

[whitks]

My battery is perfectly dry - that's one of the first things I checked.
I even took the spare out to check it.
One of the neighbors saw me out on my driveway sniffing a spare tire!

[HypnosisRacing]

The crayon smell is a BMW, VW, Audi, and Porsche commoness. Nearly every VW you get into will have that distinct crayon smell, most Audis past 1999 will, bimmers too and Porsche, after like 1998 (whenever the 996 came out), the same smell came into play. Im still not sure what it is but i know every person i know pretty much with one of these kind of european cars has that distinct smell in the interior and trunk.

My brothers 1998 M3, however, does not...so im thinking this is something specific to E46 bimmers.

Automotive Fabreeze seems to have covered the smell in my 325ci...

[SilverBeam]

That's from the dead hooker I left there.



Fabreeze it

[builder]

NOTHING says sporty luxury like the smell of fine crayons, I'm talkin' crayola here people not the kind of stuff you get with your kids meal at Friendly's.

I can't even remember what crayons smell like

[rmannion]

Originally Posted by HypnosisRacing

The crayon smell is a BMW, VW, Audi, and Porsche commoness. Nearly every VW you get into will have that distinct crayon smell, most Audis past 1999 will, bimmers too and Porsche, after like 1998 (whenever the 996 came out), the same smell came into play. Im still not sure what it is but i know every person i know pretty much with one of these kind of european cars has that distinct smell in the interior and trunk.

Do you know where I can find more information about this (e.g., where did you read about this)? My E46 325i's cabin occasionally smells like crayons, and its trunk always has that smell.

[HypnosisRacing]

^^^ I've just known it because my brother deals with bimmers, benz's porsches, ferrari's and audi's all day long at his brokerage dealership...(he's the lot manager and also delivers the higher line cars because of insurance reasons)...its just something that comes with them, go to a VW dealership and sit in ANY new volkswagen, the smell is almost unbearable...atleast BMW does a little bit of covering for that smell...the smell you have in your trunk is what the interior smells like on alot of the VW's...especially the GLi Jetta's...holy crap i almost passed out without the a/c on.

Its probobly just the molding or glue or something heating up in the sun, i couldnt tell you exactly what it is, but its just something you gotta live with...

[Bimmerista]

Febreeze will be the only thing that'll rectify the problem, and even thats temporary.

I used Axe Deodorant spray & it didn't do anything to mask the smell.