Hi,
I have some sort of fumes coming into the cabin of my 1982 240d, and don't know where they are coming from. I know they're there because after driving the car for any amount of time, I feel woozy, and sometimes have a mild sore throat.

My first thought was exhaust leak
-and there was one, and it was fixed by a local mechanic who welded a new section of pipe.

But there were still fumes.
-I took it to another mechanic and told them my story... They searched around carefully for more exhaust leaks, and found none. They thought it could be that the air filter housing was loose. So they replaced it. They also suggested that the fumes could be coming from burning oil.

Still more fumes,
-I cleaned the engine

Still more fumes,
I have the car converted to run on veggie, and have a spare tank in the wheel well of the trunk. I thought perhaps fumes were coming off of this into the cabin (or that exhaust was getting sucked in through small holes where coolant hoses enter trunk)
-So I sealed off the whole tank from the rest of the trunk with an external fuel filler neck, and some elaborate fiberglass work.

-But there are still fumes.

-I talked to a mechanic this morning who suggested that it may be the heater core leaking, and asked if I smelled a "maple syrup smell". I'm not sure if I do or not. There is a sweet smell in the car, but I thought it was just mercedes smell.
-This mechanic suggested that I spray some lysol into the intake vents in front of the windshield, and said that would probably take care of things..

Don't know how that was supposed to work.

-But there are still fumes.

I don't know what to do. I am in a very rough situation, because I don't have the money for a new car, I can't drive this one, and I refuse to sell this car without letting the future owner know of the fumes.

My next move might be to replace the heater core, but this seems like a major expense.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Kurt

PS: the body is in good shape, with no rust holes.

Edited by kurtio 12/8/2005 3:49 PM

Are you sure it is fumes?
20 plus years leaves a lot of dust/rot in the vents and under the seats.
Maybe it is the diesel shake making you sick.

__________________
82 300D....went to MB heaven
90 350 SDL....excercising con rods

ever try taking out the Smoke adn CO detector you should have in your house for a ride with you......just to make sure some of the worst things aren't getting in.....

try rubber seals at firewall, around shifter....trunk etc....one of these is likely allowing it in.

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Are you losing any coolant? If you have a heater core leak, you should eventually lose some coolant. The smell of antifreeze is pretty distinctive. I guess it could also be mold in the heater vents, in that case you may be able to find a product to disinfect it.

If your car leaked before, mold could have grown in the carpet/rugs. Also, debris in the car could be a source of mold spores. A rug that had mold and dried (cleaned) may kill the growing mold, but the spores will continue to be present and will cause problems in allergic people. The problem can be specially bad when the car is started, and the spores are circulated by the car vents.

Could it be raw diesel fuel that you smell? That will make you sick.

Maybe coming from the little bypass hoses on each fuel injector that have deteriorated to the extent that they leak fuel.

Maybe the interior needs a good cleaning out, a dirty environment does make one sick. See if shampooing all of the interior carpets and cleaning off the interior panels helps.

-Joe

__________________
'81 MB 300SD, '82 MB 300D Turbo (sold/RIP), '04 Lincoln Town Car Ultimate

Sooner or later every car falls apart, ours does it later!
-German Narrator in a MB Promotion Film about the then brand new W123.

An old trick driving diesels is to always leave the blower on to provide positive pressure in the cabin to eliminate taking fumes in. Some of the old diesels I have owned leak oil on to the exhaust manifold in small quantities for example. This smell would make it's way in for sure without the positive cabin pressure. If you have tried the blower thing yourself and it still makes you sick another thing I can think of is perhaps if you have water leaks into the cabin and the resultant mold and whatever is bothering you. If it is anti freeze from the heater core it will have a sweet kind of smell. If you do not see any leakage from the core but suspect it why not disconnect one of the heater hoses clamp the other one off and see if the core holds pressure. Do not use more than 15 lbs for test though. You should get to the bottom of this pretty quick by being systematic. From your description I strongly suspect the leaking heater core. If so it's a lot cheaper than getting another car.

Does the 240D have the small flapper valves in the sides of the trunk for cabin pressure to vent? If it does, one of them may be hanging open. Just a thought.

__________________
Sam

84 300SD 350K+ miles ( Blue Belle )

if you are allergic this could cause problems.

and as noted above mold could cause a lot of trouble too.

tom w

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

This is an interesting thread. I often felt the same way when driving the smoker. It was kind of a dizzy headache type feeling. I always just figured it was the smoke somehow, and it didn't happen every time.

__________________
Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

I had the same thing happen to me when I first got the bimmer. My mom is really asmatic(sp?) and it would really bother her. I took a good look under the car and found a dime size hole on the passenger side of the muffler near the top, easy to miss. I replaced this and the smell is mostly gone but I still can't put my backpack in my trunk or it'll come out smelling like exhaust. I'm almost positive my valve cover is dripping oil onto my exhaust manifold and contributing to the smell. Good luck finding your problem.

__________________
Seth

1984 300D 225K
1985 300D Donor body
1985 300D Turbo 165K. Totaled. Donor Engine. It runs!!!
1980 300SD 311K My New Baby.
1979 BMW 633csi 62K+++? Dead odo

Something was nagging me about my response to your thread. I always try to use the most effective simple tests to establish faults when possible. Although they require some thought to recall or design sometimes. To absolutly eliminate exhaust fumes have a buddy put something over the tailpipe with engine running. Carefully examine your complete exhaust system while it is under heavy back pressure. If this does not locate a problem have a second buddy stop the engine and start it again several times if necesary for you to totally inspect your complete system with tailpipe partially obstructed. When restarting you get more smoke and this helps locate the site of leakage if present. Could even be a crack in the manifold or poor manifold gasket for example. Also liked the gentlemans ideal of taking a battery powered home carbon monoxide checker into the car with you. A positive test with one would also be conclusive. Or conversly a negative one would clear the exhaust. Do not know but suspect upon reflection that a heater core leak would not make you woosey. It also was no joke about also keeping the heater motor running to pressurize the cab. If that lessons the effects you are experiencing it should point you in the right direction. Discount what the garages did a little as the majority of their employees do not own diesels and are not very familar with the difference in effects and smell. Also one of my pre purchase tests on an old diesel is to turn on the heater blower and see what condition it is in. If extreme bearing wear present you pretty well know what the previous owner was doing. To give you an ideal of how bad some garages are but not all. I purchased a 240d in new jersey. Started to drive home about a thousand miles and smelt exhaust fumes. Went to four muffler shops to no avail. All it turned out to be when I got home was a loose header pipe to manifold connection. The blower motor at top speed kept the fumes out of the cab during the trip home. Found it really hard to believe the shops did not locate it. Just required the bolts to be retightened. Suspect someone might have loosened them to change motor mounts as the mounts were relatively new and forgot or neglected to tighten them after. Guess the only buisiness those muffler shops were interested in was complete system changes. Just glad not to be one of their regular customers. The other thing I noticed was there were no customers at those shops. At home the good shop always is busy and the local midas franchise always pretty well dead like the four shops I stopped at in new jersey.

Remove the radiator cap SLOWLY, WHEN THE ENGINE IS COMPLETLY COLD. Smell inside. Is that what you smell in the car?

Turn the temperature knobs on the console to cold. Drive the car for a while, and see what happens. When the knobs are in the cold position, coolant will not circulate through the heater core (after awhile there shouldnt be a leak).

I'm betting your allergic to something, or you have an exhaust leak.

Does anyone know how to check the vents at the rear of the car to see if they are working. I'm talking about the vents that allow stale air to exit the car. I believe they are located on the C pillar, between the passenger compartment window, and the pillar.

You really need to figure out what the smell is first by sampling a bunch of car fluids and exhaust smells.

You may be allergic to mold. Car's 20 years or so old. Dizziness, sore throat, etc is consistent with symptoms of sick building syndrome, a common cause of lawsuits in the construction industry caused by putting vapor barrier on both sides of an exterior wall when it should only be applied to the outside only, ensuring mold proliferation in the wall cavity. Contractors and developers and architects get sued for big money over this on a daily basis. It's very unhealthy so don't neglect the mold thing. Unless you smell a distinct mix of burned/unburned hydrocarbons for sure don't assume it's exhaust that's making you ill.

__________________
'02 BMW 325i
'85 300D 450k
'93 190E 2.6 170k(killed by tree)
'08 Ducati Hypermotard 1100S 6k
'06 Ducati S2R800 14k(sold)