What Can Cause Your Car to Smell Like Rotten Eggs?

The smell of rotten eggs can be pretty unpleasant. If you sense this smell in your car, you should immediately have your vehicle checked by a mechanic.

The smell comes from small amounts of sulfur in your car's fuel. Typically, sulfur gets converted into odorless sulfur dioxide during the emission process. But, if you smell the sulfur, there is a chance that the combustion process did not happen as it should.

Here are some of the reasons why your car smells like rotten eggs.

Failing Catalytic Converter

The catalytic converter's function is to convert harmful gases into less toxic gases. If the converter gets broken, gases such as sulfur get cast into the air before converting into odorless gases. This explains why your car smells like rotten eggs.

A faulty catalytic converter should get replaced with a new one as soon as possible.

Dirty Fuel Filter or a Faulty Fuel Pressure Sensor

A faulty fuel pressure sensor can lead to clogging of the catalytic converter with oil. Too much oil hinders the catalytic converter from doing its conversion job. This results in harmful gases such as sulfur getting released into the air. Similarly, a flawed conversion process leads to a build-up of exhaust fumes, causing the converter to overheat and thus the awful smell.

An experienced mechanic can repair the fuel pressure sensor by replacing the regulators. A worn-out fuel filter can cause similar problems and should thus get replaced.

Old Transmission Fluid

If your vehicle is running on old transmission fluid, it may start leaking into other systems, causing the scent of rotten eggs. Transmission fluids should get flashed or changed as per the manufacturer's recommendations. Be sure to have your mechanic check all the leaks to avoid the same issue from reoccurring.

The smell of rotten eggs is not something you can eradicate by using a strong air freshener. You have to get to the root cause of the scent to prevent the problem from worsening. It might be more costly to wait till the issue gets worse, and that is why you should contact a mechanic immediately.

If you need a rotten egg car smell inspected, feel free to give our auto repair shop a call today!