Hi,

I can smell inside my car from time to time an unpleasant burnt smell, like burnt oil. It’s a VW Golf, diesel, from 2009. The smell seems to turn up when i slow down at roundabout for example. Is it a known issue with old car and can it be fixed relatively cheaply by a garage?

thank you!

We had this on our Kuga. Leaking injector which dripped diesel onto the exhaust when stationary.

Que “parts darts” thread…

Could the DPF be regenerating and the smell being pulled through the ventilation system?

Possibly oil leaking from the back of the cam-cover (take a picture of the “back” of the engine, near the top) – the oil should be visible if it weeping enough to smell.

Have a look inside the air box (bit on top of the engine, sometimes contains the air filter) – any oil sloshing about? If so possibly blocked breather or something more expensive (worn rings/bore/pistons)

Probably a leak somewhere – oil, fuel or crankcase ventilation.

Take the plastic cover off the engine and have a really good look around for dirty bits.

But it’s impossible to tell if it’d be cheap or not. But it’s worth looking at. You are checking your oil levels regularly aren’t you? Won’t fix the problem, but if the oil leaks and it runs low it could ruin the engine.

Poltergeist

Long shot but do you have heated seats?

The element failed in mine and the seat caught fire…

Poor driver = clutch?

Is the seal around the rear hatch OK? Could be exhaust fumes being pulled back into the car. Get someone to follow you and see if there is a lot of smoke from the exhaust when engine braking – worn valve stem oil seals / shagged engine.

Next…! 🙂

I used to get an oily fumey smell similarly in my 2009 VW diesel when stationary which was traced to a failed gasket where the exhaust manifold pipes join to go into the final single pipe (had a test done where they blow white smoke back up the exhaust to spot leaks). £8 gasket, £100 labour to do & it did stop the smell.
Occasionally I use to get a similar whiff through the vents when the DPF decided to regenerate about every 1000 miles or so, not a lot could be done about that apart from shutting the vents, opening windows to let fresh air in.

Toaster?

The smell seems to turn up when i slow down

When you say ‘slow down’ what speed are you slowing down from? Anything over 88mph might indicate you’ve got a Sports Almanac in the glovebox.

A binding brake? Easy test: after a run or when you smell it: carefully feel how hot the wheels are – if one of them is significantly hotter than the others, especially if it’s a rear one, get the brakes looked at.

Check the wheels as edlong suggests, only takes a moment and allows you to rule that out. I have an Octavia with rear calipers shared across loads of VAG cars that have a tendency to bind, mostly solved with return springs from a Sharan and actually cleaning the car occasionally.

Otherwise you need to be looking for wet spots and fluid loss in the engine bay. Many fluids, seals and joints.