Interesting Fume Issue

[mally002]

Awhile back I had problems with fumes with the windows down, mine went away after a muffler change and sealing a few spots.

Today I drove the Z about 8 miles to the paint shop, my wife was following me as I had removed all the exterior trim, bumpers, lights, interior plastic, etc. It was UNREAL how bad the fumes were as soon as I rolled the window down. It just goes to show you that if you don't have all those areas sealed then you are going to have fume issues.

Since I have all this off, when I get the car back from paint I'm going to re-seal everything and replace all the gaskets. I'm also going to use the sound proof stick on sheets under all the plastic trim. Even though mine went away I'm going to make sure it never comes back.

If your still having fumes, I bet if you pull off all your interior plastic you will find some areas that need to be sealed.

[MikeW]

... I had removed all the exterior trim, bumpers, lights, interior plastic, etc. It was UNREAL how bad the fumes were as soon as I rolled the window down.

If you had the taillights completely out with two big holes remaining then I can see why the fumes would be horrible. I suspect that merely bad fumes come through openings that are smaller by multiple orders of magnitude.

The biggest improvement to exhaust fumes I ever made was to put on a cheap tailpipe extension. That did more good than when I replaced the hatch seal with an OEM gasket.

[ktm]

Another way to mitigate fumes is to make sure your car is properly tuned.

[rdefabri]

I have boatloads of fumes - I smell like them when I get out of my car...I suspect part of it is what KTM suggests - my car needs to be worked as I am burning some oil. But I can see how Mike's suggestion would help - the tailpipe is really close to the back end and if the aero isn't kosher on the back end, it pretty much recirculates back into the cabin.

I never thought to leave the windows closed, perhaps that's part of my problem?