Acrid Smell

[GSD]

My son has an early 2004 (53 reg) 1.4 LX Xsara hatchback which has recently started to emit acrid smells through the central right right hand side ventilation grid only on the dashboard facia. In addition he has noticed a distinct whirring noise coming from somewhere in the engine compartment.

 

The local Citroen dealership, who have been very helpful, think that the whirring noise is coming from the alternator bearings and have arranged for the alternator to replaced under warranty. They have also sprayed some sort of scent on the pollen filter to try and eliminate the acrid smells. Has anyone any other ideas?

[chowwie]

My son has an early 2004 (53 reg) 1.4 LX Xsara hatchback which has recently started to emit acrid smells through the central right right hand side ventilation grid only on the dashboard facia. In addition he has noticed a distinct whirring noise coming from somewhere in the engine compartment.

 

The local Citroen dealership, who have been very helpful, think that the whirring noise is coming from the alternator bearings and have arranged for the alternator to replaced under warranty. They have also sprayed some sort of scent on the pollen filter to try and eliminate the acrid smells. Has anyone any other ideas?

dont know to much about xsara,s but if ya altinator bearing is going, could it be holding back slightly and making rubber belt slip slightly causing it to smell in engine compartment and making its way in to car through vents?

[GSD]

Thanks for the suggestion but when the Citroen dealer changed the alternator yesterday under warranty they didn't think that this or the drive belt were causing the smell. However they do suspect that the heater matrix may be seeping and causing the problem and will be changing this under warranty in a couple of weeks. I'll let you know what they find, but in the meantime they don't think that it's anything to do with the electrics or wiring, which is good news.

[DaG]

That smell is very likely the heater matrix, but I would have thought it would be coming out of all the dash grilles.

The matrix gets perforated over time by minute holes which allow stale antifreeze to leak into the airstream and cause the smell, it's common on older cars.

I had a fiat a few years back with that problem, it was so bad it misted up the windscreen, there was so much moisture in the airflow. :P

Yours seems a bit new to have this problem but if it's being done under warranty, why not.

[GSD]

Thanks very much for this but as the garage says that replacing the heater matrix could take more than a day I'm a bit concerned that a lot of things will need to be disturbed which might result in other problems.

 

As the acrid smell seems to be much less noticeable now I'm wondering whether I should simply advise my son to leave things as they are for the moment even though the work will all be covered under the warranty. The garage says that if this work wasn't covered under warranty they would probably advise him to live with the problem. However as the warranty expires in a couple of months time perhaps he should go ahead with the work anyway.

 

Any views?

[KRONOS]

hi there

i would get it done if its under warranty thats whats its there for and the work they do should have some warranty with it to give you peace of mind