# Weird smell in my car

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-smell-in-my-car/593121>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 18, 2011, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-smell-in-my-car/593121 "2011-08-18T05:31:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-smell-in-my-car/593121/1 "2011-08-18T05:31:44Z")

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I have a 2007 Ford Mustang [GT](http://www.rpmgo.com/images2009/2007-red-ford-mustang-gt.jpg). I bought it new. It now has 30K miles on it.  
I am the only person who drives it. The only other human being to be in the car besides me is my wife. However 99% of the time I am alone while driving it. This is not the car we take when we go places together.

For the last 3 days there has been a weird, very strong smell in the car when I first get into it. To me it smells exactly like finger nail polish (acetone, Butyl acetate, like that). It’s not from the air conditioner. When I run that the smells dies. I searched the car as though I had a warrant and found nothing that would be causing this smell. There are no fluids leaking on the outside either that I can see.

Any idea as to what is causing this smell? I’ve never experienced this before.

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**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-smell-in-my-car/593121/2 "2011-08-18T05:47:20Z")

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Smell the anti-freeze - is that it? Failing that, check out the other fluids under the hood.

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**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-smell-in-my-car/593121/3 "2011-08-18T06:32:08Z")

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I used to be great with diagnosing the next car problem based on the smell. (For instance a smell like wet wool felt predicts an imminent thermostat failure.) But those were older cars.

All I can think of for this one is that it’s some kind of finish in your car and maybe the temperature has brought out the smell. Has it been hotter/wetter than usual?

How about the windshield wash? Could it have dried out a little bit and concentrated?

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**Author:** ![Al\_Bundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@Al\_Bundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al_Bundy)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-smell-in-my-car/593121/4 "2011-08-18T11:08:32Z")

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Everybody’s sense of smell is different. The smell coming off the plastic type material in a car could alter other chemical smells coming from other areas. You definitely noticed something so you want to be on guard for a problem. Problems, and smells, often come from leaking fluids. Check everything. It could even be break fluid.