I have a 2008 clubman and when I accelerate very fast, like floor it, I get a sulfer or rotten egg smell in the cabin. It happens in when the car is in regular drive mode but much more so in sport mode.

Any ideas? Thanks

 

The catalytic is toast

 

yup

 

I just traded my 2009 Clubman S for a Countryman S... one of the reasons was this exact same issue, my dealer always denied that there was something wrong with the car... they stated that everything was normal, that it was normal for all BMW and MINIs to do it... Mine was getting worse every day until i just had enough... the car was at the dealer almost 75% of the time... good luck with it!

 

I htought it was the catalytic. I'll have it checked out. Thanks

 

My 09 Clubman did the same thing, rotten egg/sulfer smell when I accelerated. It was pretty bad - I traded it in for a sweet smelling 2011 MCS.

 

It is caused by sulfur in the fuel reacting in the catalytic converter and making hydrogen sulfide (rotten egg) gas. The converter may be just fine, try changing the brand of gas you are buying. Your current gas brand probably has a relatively high sulfur content.

Dave

 

Farting under acceleration?

 

I have the exact same issue with my 08 Clubman. I brought it in to have them check it out and they replaced the in cabin filter.......well that wasn't the issue...

Going to take it back and have them check it again.

 

I really doubt the CAT is toast.....

The sulphur content of our gasoline ranges from 30 parts per million per gallon to as high as 80 ppm....

My guess is that the fuel you last purchased came from a refinery with the latter.

And anyone who had a high school chemistry set as a kid knows exactly what sulphur smells like when heated.......

 

If it could be the sulfer in the gas the big question is which brands have the lowest sulfer content? I would hate the problem really to be with he converter.

 

I always use Chevron Premium gasoline. Would even "top tier" fuel cause this?

What about a failure or leak in the EGR valve?

 

Stop accelerating so quickly - your passenger's pants will appreciate it.

 

If it is narrowed down to a time, one could think it is your breakfast of scrambled eggs being ejected through your esaphagus...otherwise known as acid reflux...or here at NAM... "Acceleration Reflux"

Might want to see a doctor, not a service advisor!

 

Agree here 100%

 

Just recently I did a comparison test using 3 different brands of gas ,all "top tier"Shell,Exxon,and BP, all were 92 and 93oct(assuming the posted 10% ethanol was that or lower...I concluded that Shell 93(their V-power)made my car run effeciently(better mpg's) and smoother.The worst was BP which caused a slight hesitation and gas mpg dropped.My case in point is that there is a difference in "top tier" gas and my'07 MCS will continue to use Shell.I also know that my local station here posts 8% ethanol content and I do believe it is accurate...The others I'm not so certain.

 

That can vary, your local brand may have received a batch of relatively high sulfur gas., it doesn't mean it's bad, it's just stinky.

Gasoline is a commodity, the base stocks can come from any supplier, whatever the brand. Different gasoline companies add their own additive packages before they ship it off to the gas stations. You could probably continue to buy gas at your regular gas station and suffer with the stinky stuff and after a while the stinky batch they received will be all sold and maybe they will get some lower sulfur gas the next time the gasoline tanker comes into port, then the smell will go away. Or, you could change brands for a while and get someone else's non-stinky gas.

Dave

 

Had my '08 clubman S to dealer for this exact thing. service manager said that they performed a recall on the turbo (something to do with cooling) and he said that should take care of the rotten egg smell. Unfortunately, two weeks later, I believe the turbo has failed on a longer drive the other day. Had to have car towed to driveway as was late on a friday night. We will see what the real diagnosis is. not sure I'm comfortable taking it to my local mini dealer with the last experience

 

If the aux pump was not properly cooling down the turbo before then failure of the turbo's bearings could be the end result. Have seen more than a few of these replaced.

But a direct correlation between a "rotten egg odor" and a failing aux pump ? That's a new one on me and highly unlikely.

 

ya...thus the reason why I will not go back to that mini dealer. I feel that the comment of "that should take care of the smell" was just a deflection to get me to move on and take the car back. It's looking through many threads that the smell is probably the cat. Well today I will try to get a diagnosis. Sure seemed like a turbo failure when the "reduced power" error came on. drove car for a little while longer to try and get home but steadily lost more and more power. finally had a big cloud of white smoke and pulled over. I'm hoping that it was just the turbo allowing a bunch of oil to blow through and not a cooked head gasket. car is an '08 with 28k miles but out of warranty because of time. Ironically, the car was into the mini dealer and they said they did the turbo/water pump recall then, when there was a couple weeks left of warranty. I'm sure if I determine the water pump failed and caused the turbo to fail, they will still screw me and not warranty their work. We shall see. It certainly sounds like problems well known to these cars. I hope I'm not dumping this car due to multiple problems. will update

 

I can remember even a few BMW lines / years having some issues, but still love that brand too. I guess it just boils down to how much you enjoy the brand vs how much you are willing to put up with. Sorry your having problems though.

Cats typically last well over 100K for the 1st gen., but have seen a few on the 2nd gen go bad before 80K mark.

Good news is the cats have a longer warranty than drivetrain ect. so don't hock your watch just yet

Did you trip a CEL with this new development ?

 

Yes, the check engine light did come on. Good to know about longer cat warranty. Will diagnose and see what we come up with. Looks like there may be some moisture in oil, so head gasket may still be suspected. Fault of car not having a temp gauge...how dumb is that? I guess I'm just an old car guy and can read gauges rather than relying on a computer to tell me.

We will see

 

It only happen to me when my boys are driving with me: too much driving=kids stomach fill with gas for lack of food

 

I can not find any doc's that verify the warranty is longer on the Cat's. any help?? Turbo is caked...so looking for a replacement or a shop that rebuilds in south florida or even the southeast if shipping is fair. any input appreciated.

 

You didn't look very hard.

http://www.epa.gov/oms/consumer/warr95fs.txt

"There are three specified major emission control components,
covered for the first 8 years or 80,000 miles of vehicle use on 1995
and newer vehicles:

* Catalytic converters.

* The electronic emissions control unit or computer (ECU).

* The onboard emissions diagnostic device or computer (OBD)."

Dave