Smoke coming through air vents

[Ben]

On the way to work this morning I started getting smoke coming though the air vents. I've often thought that I have a certain amount of exhaust fumes coming into the car as the air never seems as fresh as outside, but its never done this before.

I'd only just left home, so the engine wouldn't have been hot, so couldn't have been burning leaked diesel etc, and I was doing 70mph, so surely any fumes in the bay would have been blown about elsewhere.

So I thought the problem may infact be steam coming from the matrix. But the coolant wouldn't have been hot and my heating doesn't work anyway.

So basically I've ruled out the only ideas I had, and really need some help, because aside from possibly being gassed, I can't clear the windscreen even with the blowers on full!

[ginge191]

Check the fire ring; the wire? ring between the exhaust manifold and cat pipe.

sometimes if this is fubard or even become loose (the exhaust bolts) it can seep.

Is it worse when harsh accelerating/bogging/coaling?

[Ben]

Yeah I thought that, and I think it probably is leaking, but I think it has done for months. I wasn't driving it hard and it did it the whole way to work, the same amount of smoke coming out even at idle. I'd also be suprised if so much exhaust could be directed from there into the air ducting :/ Really can't think of anything else though so I'll get another graphite seal and see if that sorts it.

[Ryan@306]

this happened to me on my dt ...although when it happened to me it was a wire from the heaters burning out , i had smoke coming through both glove boxes and through air vents .......just an idea

[Ben]

Yeah that sounds more likely, because I didn't think it smelled particularly diesely. I guess that was a dash out problem?

[Ryan@306]

still haven't fixed it but yes it is a dash out problem and trace wires back to find any bare wire or anything to suggest an overheating of a wire or melted wires etc, when i cooked my heaters i found that in the fusebox under steering wheel I couldn't put a fuse in and turn heaters on without fuse blowing which suggests something is shorting out.

[KrisB]

I'd place a bet on it being the matrix! I can honestly tell you that this is the time of year they start going!

Check for wet footwells and wet carpet all under the dash. You probably won't notice a coolant loss yet, but I've seen, and had cases where it'll steam for a while, then it'll pop! Hot water all over your legs and no coolant for the engine.

£155 fully fitted if you wanna pm me.

[Ben]

Cheers for the replies guys. I'll try and check the wiring out whenever I get the chance as I think that is the most likely cause.

Kris, I don't think it was steam because the coolant wouldn't of been hot enough to make steam, but I'll change the matrix anyway as I've got a new one at home, but thanks for the offer.

[David]

I think it could be your car is producing AIDS gas which is leaking into your car to give you aids!

[Ruan]

Remember mate, just because the coolant gauge doesn't read 80c... That's the entire waterflow of the block as an average its reading... The heater matrix flow is straight off the back of the cylinder head, it gets hot within a minute or so... After idling for 2 mins it'd be steaming...

[Ben]

Yeah good point I didn't consider that. Well I'll change the matrix and have a look at the wiring at the same time in a couple of weeks. Hopefully one of them will sort the problem.