Fiat Seicento Sporting 1.1 horrible smell on idling

[andy279]

I have a 2000 (X) Fiat Seicento 1.1 sporting, over the last few days i've noticed a strong smell of ammonia or similar when i've been driving and come to a stop at lights etc when idling, could this be overheating>?

 

[keyplayer]

Whats the temp. gauge telling you? Also, have you topped up the oil and spilled some onto the ex. manifold? Is anything touching the exhaust system which shouldn't be? Have you a coolant leak, anti freeze smells pretty rank. Could even be your battery boiling if your reg/rect. has gone. Thats pretty acrid!

 

[AdamW]

Perhaps if you drive around for a bit to get the smell, then pull up, lift the bonnet (with the engine still running) and see if you can spot anything suspicious.

If there is something spilt onto your exhaust you MAY get a little bit of smoke off it. If your battery is boiling you WILL see that, boiling sulphuric acid gives off thick white smoke. Safety: try not to breathe in the fumes of whatever you find, it is probably not that healthy.

Plastic bag? Years ago my driving instructor taught me that if a plastic bag gets melted on to your exhaust then it smells very bad (and is probably toxic). So look under with a torch and see if you can see any remnants of a carrier bag along the length of your exhaust.

 

[ali68]

Could it be your catalytic convertor rotten eggs smell?

 

[AdamW]

I dunno, a cat isn't normally so noxious you would worry about it, and newer cats don't appear to have any discernible smell at all. And ammonia smells nothing like hydrogen sulphide (the culprit of the rotten egg smell)...

However, it is a possibility. Andy, does your car smell like a rancid fart?