Hah, let us know how it smells.

No clue about Indiana, but here in Oregon it wouldn't make an officer bat an eyelid.

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617 swapped Toyota Pickup, 22-24 MPG, 50k miles on swap

I used this stuff ( Chocolate ) when I was racing a car painted UPS brown.

Also look at candle scent as this is likely the origin. And remember, the exhaust fumes are still there, they just smell different.

All my thoughts pretty well mentioned already.

Two senarios. Do you smell it in the car? Or only if standing near the rear end? Any oil leaking down on to the exhaust manifold will produce unwanted odors. The same with even a small amount of exhaust leakage would be another.

As for the engine. The timinig naturally retards with time as the chain stretches. Reducing the temperature of the fuel burn. So check the injection pump timing. Also the injectors should be checked as well.

Another way to get an indication. Is there any smoke at ldle? This indicates a lack of more complete combustion. So the smelly byproduct will be greater. Another way might be just comparing your detection of odour with another similar car.

Then of course there is the quality of fuel available in your area. With the larger trucking chain stops. Their suppliers may be using other than the normal local fuel. If they can buy better elsewhere since they can dump the whole load at one of these outlets easy. . Plus for various reasons truck it in from farther away.

Your post reminded me that there is no noticeable smell from our 12 year old Jetta diesel. I never realized I missed this until your post. It runs a portion of the exhaust through a water cooled stainless steel heat exchanger. Then reburns it. In enough volume to build troublesome carbon issues in the induction system.

You cannot make that engine smoke at all.

Same exact thing with an OM642, which also has the EGR cooler that gets all gunked up. Because the government thinks that’s a good idea or something.

No way to make smoke on a 642, the electronically controlled injectors have too tight a control on the fuel to allow it to smoke.

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The OM 642/722.9 powered family
Still going strong
2014 ML350 Bluetec (wife's DD)
2013 E350 Bluetec (my DD)

both my kids cars went to junkyard in 2023
2008 ML320 CDI (Older son’s DD) fatal transmission failure, water soaked/fried rear SAM, numerous other issues, just too far gone to save (165k miles)
2008 E320 Bluetec (Younger son's DD) injector failed open and diluted oil with diesel, spun main bearings (240k miles)

1998 E300DT sold to TimFreeh
1987 300TD sold to vstech

Now if megasquirt would make a injector controller kit with high enough voltages to manage the injectors and a replacement pump that would replace the factory injector pump..... Common rail on an old Mercedes. Thats what dreams are made of. Maybe use cummins injectors with some sort of an adaptor.

There is always this...
Bad Diesel - a fragrance

__________________
The OM 642/722.9 powered family
Still going strong
2014 ML350 Bluetec (wife's DD)
2013 E350 Bluetec (my DD)

both my kids cars went to junkyard in 2023
2008 ML320 CDI (Older son’s DD) fatal transmission failure, water soaked/fried rear SAM, numerous other issues, just too far gone to save (165k miles)
2008 E320 Bluetec (Younger son's DD) injector failed open and diluted oil with diesel, spun main bearings (240k miles)

1998 E300DT sold to TimFreeh
1987 300TD sold to vstech

Whenever I had turpentine to my WVO to help clean the system out the exhaust smells like pine trees plus french fries.. kind of a unique smell but glorious nonetheless.

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04 Sprinter 3500 - 310k
"Ich mag die Dieselgeräusche"
https://youtu.be/YjrxHqNy5CQ
✞

You could always go to your local testing station for emissions test, this will reveal some content against intended readings.

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David


1996 Mercedes S124 E300TD - 129k - rolling restoration project -

1998 Mercedes W210 300TD - 118k (assimilated into above vehicle)

I use B99 biodiesel whenever I can and the exhaust smells like hot wok oil or fries, which is pleasant. Sadly, the nearest station to me is nearly an hour away and open 6AM-4PM Monday through Friday, so I only get the opportunity when I'm downtown and it just happens to be during this window of time. In the meantime, I have to use diesel, which doesn't smell as pleasant, and my car isn't as fast as with the biodiesel. I really wish there were more biodiesel stations around, especially along major highways.

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Stop paying for animal enslavement, cruelty, and slaughter. Save your health and the planet. Go vegan! I did 18 years ago. https://challenge22.com/

DON'T MESS WITH MY MERCEDES!


1967 W110 Universal Wagon, Euro, Turbo Diesel, Tail Fins, 4 Speed Manual Column Shift, A/C
1980 W116 300SD Turbo Diesel, DB479 Walnut Brown, Sunroof, Highly Optioned, 350,000+ Miles

Summer months I use rapeseed oil which is the main ingredient in Euro bio diesel, it benefits from high viscosity and similar calorific value to conventional diesel, doesn't smell too bad either.



OP, another thought is you may have an old batch of winterised diesel, perhaps try a different brand/filling stn.

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David


1996 Mercedes S124 E300TD - 129k - rolling restoration project -

1998 Mercedes W210 300TD - 118k (assimilated into above vehicle)

I'd look to see if that station sells / used to sell kerosene, putting winters left overs in the diesel tank would be an easy way to clear the stations kero tank.

Also look to see if they sell race gas in the summer, might be same pump as the kero in winter.

Electric vehicles don't smell at all, and have only 18 moving parts. They are also about 4 times as efficient as fossil vehicles. If you get the electricity from solar panels, you aren't burning the fossil fuels somewhere else for other people to smell.


Of course you might piss off T.Rump and the Koch Brothers.

I remember someone noticing a better smelling exhaust after dumping a bottle of Miracle Mystery Oil in their tank. I think they used it to clean the fuel delivery system.

MMO has a somewhat pleasant odor.

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84 300SD
85 380SE
83 528e
95 318ic

I'd think that moving all present non automotive electrical needs to solar would be impractical ( what do you do at night ? Batteries are $$$ and lossy when charging / discharging. )

Moving all fossil fueled systems to solar would require even more panels / surface area / storage.

Please provide calculations as to solar surface area required for present electrical loads. Also calculate all fossil loads to be replaced by solar. ( Heating / lawn mowing / construction equipment plus more. )

if we could come up with a light bulb big enough to charge car batteries at night. We could fire up a few more nuclear reactors to light the bulbs.

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84 300SD
85 380SE
83 528e
95 318ic