My new to me RX8 has an unpleasant gas station restroom urinal cake disinfectant smell.

At first I thought the seller had washed the upholstery with some kind of cheap and stinky soap, but the seats and carpeting don't smell. (Please refrain from visualizing me kneeling down next to my seats and sniffing them. That didn't happen, no matter what anyone says or what the photos allegedly show.)

Anyway, since it doesn't seem to be from some soap, I thought maybe the cabin air filters had some scent on them, so I checked them, and they just smell like paper.

I looked all throughout the car for a long lost Mr. T air freshener or some such thing, but I couldn't find anything.

I don't know where else to look, or sniff. Instead of coming from a particular place, it's like this ball of stink that floats above the gearshift lever, right at nose height.

Is this just the natural smell of these cars? I've been in a couple of other RX8s, but I don't remember them smelling the same.

Anyone have this same problem, or any ideas?

 

Do you think it could be transmission fluid smell? It does smell like pine. Since you localize it to the gear shifter, that might be the case. Take apart the shifter and leather boot and looks for smells or spills. Some people fill the trans with fresh fluid via the shifter and could have splashed some.

 

Definitely not normal. One thing you could try is removing the center console. The front cupholders actually sit inside a little recessed hole in the transmission tunnel and have some sound deadening material between the plastic of the cup holder and the actual transmission tunnel. On my car, something had been spilled in the cup holders and soaked into that sound deadening. Took forever to clean...

Random pic off Google but you can see the silver colored indentation for the cup holder right in the middle of the frame

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I thought the gear oil was a good suspect. I sniffed around the shifter and did smell some, but then I realized I like the smell of gear oil, I wouldn't mind at all if my car smelled like that. My car's smell is much more pungent and perfume-like. Bad perfume-like.

I haven't tried taking the console apart yet, but that's a possibility.

I was thinking of spraying a mild solution of water and vinegar into the hvac intake, hoping it would neutralize the smell, but then I read about people complaining about their hvac smelling like vinegar, so that might not be such a good idea.

Now I'm thinking that perhaps the original owner sprayed some sort of disinfectant into the hvac to get rid of a mildew smell. It could go round and round, he sprays disinfectant to get rid of mildew smell, I spray vinegar to get rid of disinfectant smell, then I need a spray to get rid of vinegar smell, and so on.

 

Vinegar is 5% acetic acid and will rust any steel part including if left on stainless. Not good if it aspirates into the blower motor and will corrode the motor bearing which I'm sure if not cheap. On my really old Honda cars, taking the plenum apart to clean the clogged drain ports and mold was the only solution. Last one fixed by this method was a 1992 Integra GS-R (sold) in 2009. Febreze Car air fresheners Car Deodorizer | Febreze CAR Vent Clip work wonders.

 

Thanks. I didn't know that about vinegar. I'd thought of using it because a lot of articles about household cleaning suggest it, but rust isn't a concern when cleaning your kitchen, so there was no mention of that.

I also thought of spraying some isopropyl or ethylene alcohol in there. I know that isopropyl at least is supposed to dissolve oils, and that some of these "freshener" products contain oils which might be causing the stink. On the other hand, I'm afraid alcohol might also dissolve some of the seals in the vents. Opinions?

 

Even if the alcohol dissolves the oils, the oils will still be there when the alcohol evaporates away. You'd need a way to absorb the alcohol while the oils are still dissolved in it.

 

Good point, thanks.

 

For the record, this may be my favorite thread just by title so far.

 

Antifreeze coolant has that sickly sweet smell.

Also, maYBE some mouse got up in engine compartment.

 

If it's coming from mold in the a/c, you could check the water drain isn't blocked.

In the arch above the clutch, on the other side from the oil filter.
Bitch to get at - a little rubber tube.


.

 

Thanks for that. I was wondering where that was. They do clog, I had one fully jammed up on a Scion xB. Easy to clean though, just stuck a wire up it.

 

Holy crap... Another thing in that location?!?

That's like the nexus of things that are important but impossible to reach...

Intake valve solenoids, oil filter, O2 sensor plug, A/C drain plug.

Mazda's like: Great idea: lets just put all the stuff right there! We'll make a killing on intake manifold gaskets!

 

I had the same problem when I got my car. That recessed hole was just coated in soda as was the cupholder and things surrounding it. It had been spilled on the passenger side carpet as well. After shampooing the carpet and cleaning up the center console the smell has almost completely gone away. I swear it seemed like they spilled a 2 liter pepsi in there.

 

When I started washing mine out, watching all the different colors going down the drain reminded me of this: