The BMW Smell / Plus the Toxic Smell that nobody talks about

The BMW Smell & the Toxic Smell that nobody talks about (possible solutions) updated 1/23/2020

If you own an E90, by now you probably have noticed that there is a stinky smell, that always lingers, day after day.  I've heard it called the "BMW smell" because all BMW cars have a very particular smell.  But in this blog post we are going to talk about that smell and where I think it comes from.  But more importantly I am going to talk about a very Lethal smell that comes from the Plastic Oil Pan Catch under the motor that nobody talks about, that is TOXIC and gets so bad that it can hurt your throat and will make you sick.

Old Cabin Air Filter Smell  (NON Toxic ) :  -Most of the moldy old smell comes from an old Cabin Air Filter, I've noticed that if I don't replace the cabin filter regularly, about every 6 months, my car smells bad, moldy and dusty, this is very easy to fix and to replace.  I made a blog post before, if you are interested on how to replace it.. I will put the link here:  https://msauceda1.blogspot.com/2019/05/cabin-air-filter-replacement-e90.html

If you are interested in the Toxic smell keep reading...

Leather Smell AKA The BMW smell  (NON Toxic) :  The BMW smell that everybody refers to so commonly, I think comes from the Materials that BMW chooses to build the car from.  Mostly I think comes from the leather in the car, but some comes from the Glues and plastics that are used in the car.  It's hard to tell if the smell of leather and or glue is toxic, hopefully somebody out there does an air test on our cars someday.  When I first got my car it smelled like this, so I am very used to this smell, and honestly I don't think this is bad, but I could be wrong.  The real toxic smell is coming up next...

Dirt and Oil stuck to the plastic pan cover, the source
of the Toxic Smell

Burnt Oil smell (The Toxic Smell) :

The Toxic Smell comes from the Plastic Oil Drip Pan under the engine.  Hear me out...this will get interesting....  As you know most E90s have a problem with the Valve Cover Gasket Screws... They tend to break.... I think you know where this is going.... When you drive your car under normal circumstances, the Motor Heats up and then cools down... during this thermal expansion and contraction of the Aluminum Engine/ Aluminum Screws, the Valve cover gasket loses its seal and Oil starts to leak out of the valve cover.   The Oil starts to accumulate in the plastic drip pan under the engine and eventually gets filled with Oil and Dirt.

New replacement :)

Well... After a while the oil and dirt covering all of the plastic drip pan starts to stink up... then these  Toxic Fumes emitted from the Dirty Oil / and Dirt under the engine heat up from the HOT engine and where does it go???  as you know Hot Air moves UP... well the toxic fume smell moves up to the hood.... AND what up there... well the Cabin Air Filter... This Air intake goes straight into the cabin of the car.

YES! you are inhaling Dirty Burnt Oil... This is Toxic and very bad for you.  Now mix this with the BMW smell and it's hard to tell what you are inhaling...

Side Effects:  I got to a point where every time I drove my BMW I got a sore throat... I am not exaggerating... If you drive a lot, you will find that you get tired and sick all the time and you may not know why that is, sore throat and headache would be common too.  You see these are toxic fumes... You are not meant to inhale Motor Oil Fumes... or Worse Old Burnt Motor Oil...  This will make you very sick and if you drive your car every day you will not notice the stench smell... But when you give somebody a ride in your car they will notice  and they will say... what is that smell???and you will think ohhh... it's just the BMW smell... TRUE some of it is, but not all...So beware of this problem.


 Drip Pan Maintenance ( To Get rid of Toxic Smell) Not the BMW smell LOL,...
The Solution... Either remove the bottom panel and clean all of the oil from the Oil Catch (plastic) under the engine or replace it with a new one.  BUT most importantly, fix the Oil Leaks from the Valve cover gasket.  Fixing the oil leak will prevent the oil from accumulating under the engine and will prevent this problem.  I did it to my car and Boy did it make a HUGE difference... New oil catch pan and fixed oil leak by replacing Valve cover gasket... Check your car... you may have the same problem...

 The Valve Cover gasket is not very expensive.  A solid 3 hours to replace... but worth it.

Battery Fumes
The last thing I am going to talk about is something you wouldn't expect.  The battery fumes. 

You see... the battery is inside the car, and any fumes would go directly into the car.  As you know the battery is in the truck of the car, and any fumes that escape the battery from overcharging would linger inside the car.  Most of us don't leave the windows open during the night, specially if you park your car on the street or outside. 

Let me explain what is going on.  Last time I replaced the battery in my car I didn't plug in the battery vent.  When I replaced the battery in my car last time, about 5 years ago, the new battery didn't come with battery connector, it's an elbow, I will put a picture here.  I assume that because the new battery didn't come with this elbow it wasn't needed to be plugged in.  But all in needed to do was remove the elbow from the old battery to plug into the new battery... and I didn't do that.

All of the fumes escape via a small hose going down to the outside of the trunk.  Make sure you plug this vent hose into the battery, because the Battery DOES Leak fumes out... so make sure you are not breathing these fumes.  The OEM battery is a Lead based battery, and it does have 2 Vent holes.  One is plugged and the other is open to accept the elbow to plug into the vent hose.  Make sure your battery is plugged in, because this will make you sick too.

Buy a Battery Vent Hose kit, this is what you will get ( pictured on the left).  I got mine from Amazon, and it was a perfect fit.  I only used the Elbow, to plug the vent hose already on the car to the battery.

Toxic Fumes will make you tired, and sleepy, and will accept your nervous system and you brain, as well as fertility, it says right on the battery....  Google this, and you will see how bad this is....  Unfortunately most of us don't know better. 

Make sure you vent the fumes out of the battery properly, or you are going to breath those fumes, every single moment you are in the car!

I hope this was helpful to you.

I post a ton of BMW 330I E90 related content, I have a lot of other posts, check them out, link below to the main page.

Comment below if you have any questions...

Thank again and until next time

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