Magown I know what you're talking about on my car one side of the hatch wouldn't latch and leaked my 87 car was urethaned in it finally popped out i thought it would break-you could always slip a piece of piano wire throught it and work it around i re-sealed mine with butyl tape as well

 

Magown, you are the man! The scientist in us I'm sure. You've described my issues so well in fact that I'm taking it to the Porsche Dealer exactly as you've responded. This is the first mention that it may be the lights, never thought about the key-hloe either but mine looks like it's still in good shape. ? Who woulda thunk?? To all who answered Thank-you. To be clear it is not fuel or burning oil I'm smelling but rather "exhaust fumes". I'm amazed that all this exhaust can be coming through those mini cracks around the lights....As I said, at this point I'm desperate and I'll try anything. Magown, the car goes into Porsche on the 13th of July to the only 1 of 2 dealers here in Toronto, Canada. Imagine, that's the wait time here to get your car even looked at by Porsche.

One other note, reader have also suggested that I should look at the "boot" under the shift lever for deterioration, I'm doin' that on the weekend...:-) Lastly, what is butyl tape and where can I get it. And Magown, I too have a "soot" problem. Fighting the rich running engine. It's much better since I last took it into Porsche but they say this is also contributing to the "smelly" car. Thanks again for your post! Very enlightening.

 

any auto parts store will have it-butyl tape

 

eddieviv, I wouldn't bother taking it to a dealer, you're only 6 bolts per side from having the lights out. If you are going to take it somewhere to be checked for a leak, I'd take it to a glass shop and have them use there ultra sonic leak detector, they’re probably better at finding leaks then any dealer service tech. Butyl tape is black goo that comes in a roll, it's used for sealing cooling ducts and 944 tail lights, do a good search for a picture. I'm going to try to find some today.

Your dealer is right about it contributing to the "smelly" car, but the thing is with the leak present, if the exhaust didn’t stink, you'd still be breathing it.

 

Magown Man,

I still have my car in the shop and I've listed every possible thing to check.

87944Turbo posted on "Funky Engine Smell" thread that he had found a small break fluid leak from an O-ring which would cause this "funky" smell that's not quite exhaust smell, but would obliterate when the break fluid hit a hot pipe, so it never showed up as a serious leak...like a spot on the floor.

I hope like hell that I can find that same culprit, and for your sake I hope you can also find it.

The other thing is that no one ever mentions the floorboard, but it seems to me that would be something to look into.

And it could be a bit of burning brake fluid, a bit of exhaust, and a bit of old car smell all mixed together.

On the one hand, if the air doesn't enter the cabin where it's not supposed to, you'd be fine even if you have a funk smell somewhere.....then again if all funk smells were eliminated, then even if there were cabin leaks you'd never smell anything other than exhaust. mine is funky engine smell, not just pure exhaust.

I wonder what it would smell like if I soaked the interior in gasoline and threw a match to it??

When I get my car back i'm going to have it detailed (to remove any accumulated funk smell) and report back.

 

Magown,

Ok...so let me know if you're successful with pulling the tail lights and resealing. Let me know if the exhaust smell disappears. Meanwhile I'll be putting electrical tape all over my hatch (at night) to see whether the hatch really is leaking...I'm thinking what's better? electrical tape or "duct" tape. I can't believe I'm actually going to try this!

 

Regarding my Smelly Car problem. AS per my previous post I first took some 1/2" electrical tape and totally sealed my whole hatch so no gaps anywhere...Had to do it at night. Guess what! No exhaust fumes.

I then went to the local hardware store and bought some 3/16" foam weather stripping (all of $3.35 CDN) peeled off the backing and then very carefully placed the stripping all along the edge of the hatchback that came into contact with the rubber seal. Ok. this was painstaking in that I had to make sure all the surfaces were clean and oil-free and aligned exactly with the outer edge. Bit of an eyesore when the hatch is open...But, I have success my friends! No more exhaust fumes coming into the cabin.

At least I now know that it is the hatchback which will have to be replaced. Luckily I've found one in very good shape for $500.00 which I'll promptly replace in the spring. Now the engine is still a running a little rich which I think is still a "vacuum" problem of some kind having to do with the MAF. Still sorting those issues out...:-(

Good Luck! I hope that this might help you out there.

 

I did the tail light reseal and am very impressed with the results, before the tail light reseal, I reeked of fumes after driving it, now I can drive it and not have to worry about taking a shower afterwards. I plan to do this on my other 951 as soon as I get it running.

 

Did all the stuff I listed including the shift boot and the key hole seal.......still smells

i taped off the hatch, still smells. sealed the hole in the spare tire well....no help.

GET THIS. after a hard hard rain, the left cubby hole had 6 inches of water in it. AND I can't find where the water got in! No wet carpet and I can't re-create the leak with a hose!

TURBO QUESTION FOR SOMEONE IN THE KNOW. Whenever my exhaust is checked for leaks it occured to me that the turbo is not on boost. Is there anyway that the exhaust entering the cabin might only be under boost, so it's not found in the shop? like somehow when the exhaust gasses come from the back to spool the turbo they leak somewhere or somethign?

The car itself also smells exhausty when you get out of it................help

 

I think I may have figured out the smelly car problem. I took my car to a different mechanic, who said that it's inherent in 944's.

He showed me all the 944's at his shop and most of them have one thing in common that is wrong with them. The hatch glass starts to move out of the frame and the frame gets longer. Even though your hatch seal is fine, it is no longer fitting properly to your elongated window/frame. Therefore you have a leak along the back of the hatch.

I got in the car, crawled back to the hatch and felt the rubber and sure enough there was an area right by the passenger side hatch anchor that is not tightly sealed. it's under the spoiler and not in a place where a water test for leaks would work.

Three signs to look for.
1. look at the top of the hatch glass and see if the glass has pulled away from the frame.
2. crawl in while the hatch is shut and feel if there are areas that the rubber isn't squished in tight
3. if your hatch doesn't open and close easily,( because the latches on top have been forced back.)

I am hoping this is my problem. It looks promising, but when i taped the hatch it still smelled so that doesn't seem possible, but i'll see.

No question though. Most of the 944's he had had the glass moving backward out of the frame.

 

I have had the same smelly issues and the culprit in my situation, was the carbon canister inside the drivers front fender. It was fully saturated and venting. I pulled it out ran compressed air through it at about 10psi in the sun and dried the charcoal out that is inside it. The Problem with this unit was that it was vented inside of the fender and is covered by the fender interliner. The difference in pressure of the cabin was significately less than the outside of the car and allowed the vapors to get pulled in on the drivers side door. With the windows down it wasn't as noticable, however with the sunroof opened slightly it was horrible. Anyway with my problem it was eliminated. I also put a ozone generator inside the car for a weekend. That eliminated the residual smell that persist after the repair. Now I have no odor issues. Just FYI and something to check. It takes about an hour to get inside that area and about a couple of hours to dry the canister out. Oh yea, I also squirted some rubbing alcohol to speed up the cleaning of the sealed canister. I was also unsuccessful in finding a new one.

 

+1 ... my wrench will be replacing said canister this week ... has one in stock.. I had the same issue as well as the inside windows would get a film on them.

He has replaced around 10 of them this year and has cleared up the problem.. Don't forget ... they have not been replaced for around 15 to 20 years!!!

 

I am considering just sitting in my car and have the wife run the leaf blower all over and stop up every where I feel air.

Hopefully the neighbors won't be watching

I'm pretty sure mine if from the seals by the vents through the firewall.

 

What if you pull the canister all together and just stop up the line?

 

"Is there anyway that the exhaust entering the cabin might only be under boost, so it's not found in the shop? like somehow when the exhaust gasses come from the back to spool the turbo they leak somewhere or somethign?"

My smell issue is more prominent when getting on boost.