# What smells worse than gas gone bad? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 14, 2017, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-smells-worse-than-gas-gone-bad/782136 "2017-03-14T04:16:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-smells-worse-than-gas-gone-bad/782136/1 "2017-03-14T04:16:40Z")
Fuel pump went Tango Uniform on one of the old cars. Had to partially drain the tank of about 10 gallons of the oldest, most putrid gas I can imagine. Got some on my hands, of course, and MY GOD! Does this stuff REEK! Washed 'em over and over, but they still stink to high heaven. Dirty feet, Wet Weiner Dogs, Ski boots and Sheep Cheese, but nothing stinks as bad as rotten gas. So, I poured it into the Jeep. :rolleyes: Jeep don’t care. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-smells-worse-than-gas-gone-bad/782136/2 "2017-03-14T04:20:52Z")
\>\>What smells worse than gas gone bad? A trunk full of dead hookers. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-smells-worse-than-gas-gone-bad/782136/3 "2017-03-14T04:24:49Z")
A squirrel that dies in your garage. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-smells-worse-than-gas-gone-bad/782136/4 "2017-03-14T04:28:49Z")
A decaying raccoon. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-smells-worse-than-gas-gone-bad/782136/5 "2017-03-14T04:33:43Z")
> [@AncientHumanoid](#): > > \>\>What smells worse than gas gone bad? > > A trunk full of dead hookers. Three of those in the trunk _just above_ the tank, and didn’t even notice them. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-smells-worse-than-gas-gone-bad/782136/6 "2017-03-14T04:59:54Z")
A German hooker in the Rome police station, who reeked of every man she had been with, all of their body excretions, including her own (including shit and vomit), and everything she had to drink or smoke or shoot up. ---
**Author:** ![Randolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Randolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randolph)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-smells-worse-than-gas-gone-bad/782136/7 "2017-03-14T12:13:31Z")
Gear oil. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-smells-worse-than-gas-gone-bad/782136/8 "2017-03-14T12:42:03Z")
Gangrenous bowel. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-smells-worse-than-gas-gone-bad/782136/9 "2017-03-14T14:41:50Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > a squirrel that dies in your garage. lunch! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-smells-worse-than-gas-gone-bad/782136/10 "2017-03-14T15:27:28Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Three of those in the trunk _just above_ the tank, and didn’t even notice them. Slightly off-topic, but back in 2002 when my wife bought her Camry, a friend of mine was commenting on the size of the trunk: “You could fit three dead bodies in there!” (He did not specify hookers.) Ever since then, our standard unit of trunk capacity has been the number of dead bodies it can hold. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-smells-worse-than-gas-gone-bad/782136/11 "2017-03-14T15:58:38Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Fuel pump went Tango Uniform on one of the old cars. > > Had to partially drain the tank of about 10 gallons of the oldest, most putrid gas I can imagine. Got some on my hands, of course, and MY GOD! Does this stuff REEK! Washed 'em over and over, but they still stink to high heaven. > > Dirty feet, Wet Weiner Dogs, Ski boots and Sheep Cheese, but nothing stinks as bad as rotten gas. > > So, I poured it into the Jeep. :rolleyes: Jeep don’t care. Could someone explain to me how gas “rots?” I could see evaporation affecting the relative balance of volatile fractions, but… I can’t even imagine any process that would affect a pure mix of hydrocarbons and alcohols that would qualify as decay. But I’m not a petroleum engineer or a gas station attendant, so I’m askin’ here. Enlighten me. Fight my ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![BobArrgh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobarrgh/32/2881_2.png) [@BobArrgh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobArrgh)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-smells-worse-than-gas-gone-bad/782136/12 "2017-03-14T16:06:17Z")
I was cracking open and eating mixed nuts at Christmas one year. I had gotten into a rhythm … pick, crack, toss the shells into the fireplace, toss the nut into my mouth. One Brazil nut had gone bad, bad, bad. Unfortunately, I didn’t register that the putrid smell was coming from the nut I had just opened, until it was halfway chewed. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-smells-worse-than-gas-gone-bad/782136/13 "2017-03-14T16:17:40Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Fuel pump went Tango Uniform on one of the old cars. > > Had to partially drain the tank of about 10 gallons of the oldest, most putrid gas I can imagine. Got some on my hands, of course, and MY GOD! Does this stuff REEK! Washed 'em over and over, but they still stink to high heaven. > > Dirty feet, Wet Weiner Dogs, Ski boots and Sheep Cheese, but nothing stinks as bad as rotten gas. > > So, I poured it into the Jeep. :rolleyes: Jeep don’t care. So, have you ever smelled the delightful smell of ‘old gas’ that you’ve mixed with 2-cycle engine oil so you can run it through your chainsaw (or snow blower)? That’s one ‘manly scent’ that won’t bring women running… even of the snow is on their walks (or the branch is on their house). ---
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-smells-worse-than-gas-gone-bad/782136/14 "2017-03-14T17:06:43Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Gangrenous bowel. I was going to mention Durian, but this stopped me in my tracks. The words themselves stink to high heaven. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-smells-worse-than-gas-gone-bad/782136/15 "2017-03-14T17:12:50Z")
Old gasoline is certainly one of the worst smells in the world–I’ve had to clean out a couple gas tanks in my day–but for me the absolute worst, almost comically bad, was when Little R was a baby and ate dirt. The resulting diaper was beyond description. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-smells-worse-than-gas-gone-bad/782136/16 "2017-03-14T17:44:55Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Slightly off-topic, but back in 2002 when my wife bought her Camry, a friend of mine was commenting on the size of the trunk: “You could fit three dead bodies in there!” (He did not specify hookers.) Ever since then, our standard unit of trunk capacity has been the number of dead bodies it can hold. Many BMW’s come with a little plastic card with Velcro on the back that sticks to the inside lid of the trunk that illustrates how to correctly stow up to 4 dead bodies. Well, actually golf bags, but I re-labeled it. 😉 > [@gnoitall](#): > > Could someone explain to me how gas “rots?” > > Enlighten me. Fight my ignorance. Can’t. Not smart enough. Don’t know the chemistry. I’ll have to leave it to someone else. I can tell ya it stinks, though! ---
**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-smells-worse-than-gas-gone-bad/782136/17 "2017-03-14T18:32:57Z")
Chicken poop. Nothing worse although pig poop is close. ---
**Author:** ![excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e8c25b/32.png) [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/excavating_for_a_mind)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-smells-worse-than-gas-gone-bad/782136/18 "2017-03-14T18:49:30Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > Could someone explain to me how gas “rots?” > > I could see evaporation affecting the relative balance of volatile fractions, but… I can’t even imagine any process that would affect a pure mix of hydrocarbons and alcohols that would qualify as decay. But I’m not a petroleum engineer or a gas station attendant, so I’m askin’ here. Enlighten me. Fight my ignorance. Embarrassing username/post combo. To respond to the OP, rotten potatoes. It doesn’t stick to you like bad gas, but one one whiff will make you gag. If you can get them out of the house without tossing your cookies, you’re a better man than I. Maybe not as bad as Quadgop’s gangrenous bowel, but I suspect most people will not encounter gangrenous bowel. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-smells-worse-than-gas-gone-bad/782136/19 "2017-03-14T19:56:22Z")
> [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](#): > > Embarrassing username/post combo… Not embarrassing, ironic. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-smells-worse-than-gas-gone-bad/782136/20 "2017-03-14T20:02:59Z")
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