About 6mos ago i replaced the cat on my '86 with a Fabspeed euro and ever since, if i'm sitting at a light and the wind is blowing the 'wrong' way i get a pretty noxious odor. Now i replaced my O2 sensor with a generic, and i replaced my plug wires figuring 16 yrs & 128k mi it couldn't hurt but no change. My plugs always look lean to me, meaning almost wht, but in 8yrs of ownership thats been consistent. Rightly or wrongly i figured that was the nature of unleaded gas in Ca. Could my airflow meter be the problem? Thinking it might be a possibility i just picked up a NOS on ebay. Running an Automotion/Weltmeister
chip...i know, modified A/B, modded muffler and the fabspeed, car runs great other than the smell. Can anyone shed some light? tia.

 

It could be the gas. When I last took my car to California, 2001, the stuff smelled weird to me, distilled panther urine...not at all like the gas I buy in Oregon. No cat or 02 sensor on my car, so can't help you there...

 

Mike:

Paul is FAR too complimentary about California gasoline,........... I do not think as highly as he does of what is sold as motor fuel but, that is reality,....LOL.

Your gas is heavily oxygenated and this is why it runs dreadfully lean. The major oil companies call your fuel "Reformulated Gasoline" and its the additives and oxygenates that give it that smell after combustion.

You might try a tankful of Unocal 76 unleaded race gas (100 octane) and see if that helps helps or isolates the problem.

 

If it stinks like rotten eggs (hydrogen sulfide), you may have a bad voltage regulator and your battery is boiling over. Check the voltage going into the battery and see if it exceeds 13.5v, if so, change the reglator.

 

It won't be long before their adding perfume to it, California gotta love this place