What is likely the problem with a '68 VW Beetle that has strong exhaust smell inside? This car has a new muffler.

350

Asked by MikeyI Mar 22, 2013 at 09:02 AM about the 1968 Volkswagen Beetle

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

We test drove a sharp looking '68 VW Beetle this week. BUT it has strong exhaust smell inside. New muffler, exhaust system. What is the likely problem?

6 Answers

They ALL have exhaust smell, dirty rotten polluters are best served up in a museum, I've had eleven of them by now and sounds to me like since the exhaust is pretty much the farthest thing from your nose that the exhaust is gettin clean by the heat exchangers there and sprayin out the side of the heat exchanger, rather than makin it up the tailpipe...what you must do is wear out the knees in your jeans and look at these clamps what hold the final noise cancelling pipes on, may have cracked by now, shimmy under there with a bottle of soapy water, and cut the engine on....it'll be circus time with the balloons before you know it.

2 people found this helpful.

convert it to a 'voltswagen' and save the planet, insead of upper atmosphere destruction. Technology has so moved on since the first voltswagens with Lithium Cells, Curtis speed controllers and improved deep-cycle technology, ain't what it used to be!

Really. There is no problem with that car there, Mikey. A '68 is going to smell like it's running in your garage with the door closed, even when you are outside.

2 people found this helpful.
175,825

Air cooled VW engines have an air box around the exhaust headers. If there is small leak in the exhaust, the smell goes into the cabin when the heat is on.

2 people found this helpful.
4,425

You have got a leak in the heater boxes,get it fixed before we read about you in the obits.

3 people found this helpful.
4,385

Heater boxes are the likely culprit. As for "they all are like that", we're talking 40-50 year old cars right now. The heat exchangers don't leak exhaust into the cabin when they're in proper operating condition.

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